diff --git "a/AskNatureNet_data.json" "b/AskNatureNet_data.json"
deleted file mode 100644--- "a/AskNatureNet_data.json"
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-[{"Source": "discosoma coral's protein", "Application": "biodegradable fibers", "Function1": "create natural color", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/colorful-fibers-inspired-by-proteins-found-in-discosoma-coral/", "Strategy": "Colorful Textiles Inspired by Proteins Found in Discosoma Coral\nWerewool uses proteins found in nature to create color without the use of toxic chemicals or dyes.\n\nThe Challenge\nThe global textile market produces 1.2 billion tons of CO2 equivalent per year and uses dyes that are responsible for 20% of global wastewater. The industry also depends on petroleum based synthetic fibers that account for 35% of global microplastic pollution.\n\nInnovation details\nWerewool is creating a revolutionary fiber development platform to create biodegradable fibers with tailored aesthetic and performance properties. Inspired by nature, and utilizing the tools of biotechnology, Werewool is developing a platform to design fibers at the DNA level for sustainable textiles with inherent properties such as color, moisture management, and stretch, that meet the demands of today’s consumers. The team identifies protein structures found in nature, such as the red fluorescent protein found in some species of Discosoma, a coral relative. They then grow fibers that are reliant on these proteins, creating textiles without the need for toxic dyes, finishes, and petroleum based synthetics.\n\nBiological Model\nNature’s organisms have evolved structural proteins to support their ability to survive. For example, the Discosoma Coral depends on the structure of RFP (red fluorescent protein) as a source of colorant to support a symbiotic relationship with an algae to survive. Werewool is emulating proteins found in nature to create natural color, and apply it to create textiles without the use of dyes or pigments."}, {"Source": "symbiosis", "Application": "resource management", "Function1": "build mutually beneficial relationship", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/resource-management-inspired-by-symbiosis/", "Strategy": "Resource Management Inspired by Symbiosis\nAn industrial partnership where one company's by-products are used as resources for another company.\n\nThe Challenge\nCompanies create waste in the form of energy, materials, and water that can oftentimes be recycled and reused, but are usually discarded. Engaging in partnerships to share waste resources can help to reduce waste and CO2 emissions, as well as overall costs.\n\nInnovation details\nVarious processing companies, a waste handling company, and the Municipality of Kalundborg participate in industrial symbiosis, mutually using each other’s residual or by-products including energy, water, and materials.\n\nBiological Model\nSymbiosis is an important concept in nature, where two or more organisms engage in a mutually beneficial relationship to the benefit of everyone involved. Symbiosis is an important part of what allows ecosystems to function and thrive."}, {"Source": "human visual processing system", "Application": "event‑based vision for machines", "Function1": "detect a change or movement", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/event-based-vision-for-machines-inspired-by-the-human-visual-processing-system/", "Strategy": "Event-Based Vision for Machines Inspired by the Human Visual Processing System\nMetavision from Prophesee is a machine vision system that uses event-based vision to capture and record movement.\n\nThe Challenge\nThe conventional video camera takes an arbitrary number of frames per second, regardless of what motion it is trying to capture. When displayed rapidly, the images create an illusion of continuous motion, but between each individual frame, the camera is blind. Additionally, the camera repeatedly records background objects, creating an excessive amount of irrelevant data.\n\nInnovation details\nMetavision® is a sensor that utilizes event-based vision to capture a continuous stream of information. If the camera is looking at a static scene it will generate no events, but if there is a burst of action, the camera adapts automatically to capture it instantly, similarly to the human visual processing system. Each pixel is recorded independently and is only recorded when it senses a change or movement. This makes it easier and more cost effective to acquire and analyze very fast motion, even if it is interleaved with times or areas in which motion is absent.\n\nBiological Model\nThe photoreceptors in our eyes only report back to the brain when they detect a change in some feature of the visual scene, such as its contrast or luminance. Evolutionarily, it is far more important for us to be able to concentrate on the movement of a predator within a scene than to take repeated, indiscriminate inventories of the scene’s every detail. This process allows human vision to collect all the information it needs, without wasting time and energy reprocessing images of the unchanging parts of the scene."}, {"Source": "fibrous keratins of skin", "Application": "biomorphic polymer", "Function1": "strengthen skin", "Function2": "provide a structural support for lipids", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/biomorphic-programmable-polymers-inspired-by-naturally-occurring-polymers/", "Strategy": "Biomorphic Polymers Inspired by Naturally Occurring Compounds in Skin\nTISSIUM are proprietary polymers that enable tissue reconstruction and adhesion.\n\nThe Challenge\nTissue reconstruction after surgery presents many challenges. The tissue must be fully restored to its natural function while keeping scarring to a minimum. Traditional medical adhesives, such as glues or staples, are often not biodegradable and can sometimes cause further damage to the tissue.\n\nInnovation details\nTISSIUM™ is a group of proprietary polymers inspired by fibrous keratins found in skin. The polymers can conform to and integrate with surrounding tissue in order to enable tissue reconstruction. It works by activating a viscous pre-polymer with a visible blue light. The resulting bond is both adhesive and elastic, allowing the polymer to comply with the underlying tissue while remaining strongly adhered. The polymer building blocks enable customization to match the tissue-specific requirements of specific therapeutic areas. The polymers could be integrated with peripheral nerve, gastrointestinal and cardiovascular systems. The pre-polymer can also be used as a resin to build high-resolution 3D-printed devices, or pre-loaded with drugs to use as a delivery system at multiple locations within the body.\n\nBiological Model\nSkin needs to protect the body while still being able to exchange water and ions. Fibrous keratins help to strengthen skin while simultaneously providing a structural support for lipids, which control the flow of liquids, primarily water, across the skin."}, {"Source": "darkling beetle's body surface", "Application": "fog‑harvesting material", "Function1": "sip water", "Function2": "high-efficient water-harvesting", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/fog-harvesting-material-inspired-by-the-desert-beetle/", "Strategy": "Fog-Harvesting Material Inspired by the Desert Beetle\nInfinite Cooling captures vapor from cooling towers to reduce water usage.\n\nThe Challenge\n40% of all water used in the US is in manufacturing sites and power plants, primarily for cooling in manufacturing and energy generation. Much of this water leaves the facilities via high density water vapor from industrial cooling towers. This comes at significant cost to industrial plants, which pay nearly $30B per annum for cooling water. This water is released as vapor from cooling towers, generating plumes that lead to regulatory and safety hazards.\n\nInnovation details\nInfinite Cooling has developed an add-on process to capture cooling tower plumes, enhancing fog harvesting strategies deployed by animals such as the Namib desert beetle. By partially closing the water cycle loop at industrial facilities, Infinite Cooling helps customers save millions of dollars and hundreds of millions of gallons of water annually.\n\nBiological Model\nDarkling beetles can sip water from the air by using their own body surfaces to condense it. Micro-sized grooves and bumps on a beetle’s forewings accumulate water droplets like morning dew then direct the water towards its awaiting mouth. Hydrophilic (water-attracting) areas on these bumps and hydrophobic (water-repelling) areas work together to increase water-harvesting efficiency. For some species of Darkling beetles, merely raising their rear ends into a foggy wind is enough to get the water flowing."}, {"Source": "honeybee communication", "Application": "mesh wireless network", "Function1": "autonomous communication", "Function2": "coordinate individual behaviors", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/energy-efficiency-algorithm-inspired-by-honeybees/", "Strategy": "Energy Efficiency Algorithm Inspired by Honeybees\nSwarmLogic from Encycle uses a unique algorithm that allows power-consuming appliances to communicate with each other and save energy.\n\nThe Challenge\nHVAC systems are found in almost all major buildings, but they can be the biggest energy consumer, and therefore the biggest cost, of running a building. Different types of building equipment usually operate in isolation from each other, obeying a single thermostat or a timer that has no knowledge of what else is currently operating in the facility. Since these loads do not communicate with each other, they often operate simultaneously–unnecessarily boosting energy usage and increasing costs.\n\nInnovation details\nSwarmLogic® is an energy efficiency technology that integrates with a building’s controls to dramatically and instantly reduce electric costs. Swarm Logic controllers establish a mesh wireless network among power-consuming appliances, enabling them to communicate among themselves autonomously. Using a custom algorithm inspired by honeybee communication, the connected appliances spread out energy demand among them. The result is known as peak demand shaving.\n\nBiological Model\nHoneybees communicate with one another and coordinate individual behaviors to form a collective organization that efficiently acts to build hives and feed their colonies."}, {"Source": "microorganism's fermentation process", "Application": "foldable electronic devices production", "Function1": "break down sugar", "Function2": "produce byproducts by bacteria", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/material-for-electronic-film-produced-by-bacteria/", "Strategy": "Material for Electronic Film Produced by Bacteria\nHyaline from Zymergen is a bio-based transparent film that is flexible, thin, and versatile.\n\nThe Challenge\nElectronics are everywhere these days, and many of them require a transparent barrier for protection from scratches and other damages. Traditionally, clear, rigid films are used but they are typically manufactured using petroleum-based products and chemicals, resulting in carbon pollution and toxic waste by-products. Additionally, these rigid films limit the flexibility of electronic devices.\n\nInnovation details\nHyaline is a bio-manufactured polyimide film. It is made of monomers produced through fermentation by engineered bacteria. The bacteria have novel genes inserted into their DNA to cause the production of the desired monomers. The monomers are joined to create a dynamic, transparent optical film with excellent mechanical properties that can be used to create foldable electronic devices.\n\nBiological Model\nFermentation is a process in which bacteria, yeast, and other microorganisms chemically break down sugars to produce energy without using oxygen. Carbon dioxide, glycerol, lactic acid, and alcohol are all byproducts made during fermentation that can be further utilized in different applications. Humans have harnessed the process and byproducts of fermentation for thousands of years, often to make foods, like bread, cheese, and wine."}, {"Source": "organism's anti-freeze protein", "Application": "anti-freeze concrete", "Function1": "prevent ice crystals from growing", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/anti-freeze-concrete-inspired-by-organisms-that-live-in-subzero-environments/", "Strategy": "Anti-Freeze Concrete Inspired by Organisms That Live in Subzero Environments\nConcrete admixture from University of Colorado, Boulder uses a polymer that inhibits ice formation to increase the concrete's freeze-thaw resilience.\n\nThe Challenge\nConcrete is one of the most common building materials, yet is vulnerable to damage from environmental exposure. In regions that have large temperature swings, concrete roads and buildings go through ‘freeze-thaw cycles’, where the water freezes and expands inside the concrete, forming ice crystals that create enough pressure to create cracks and cause damage. To mitigate against the damage caused by freeze-thaw cycles, engineers add air-entraining admixtures, which add microscopic bubbles to the mixture to help prevent freezing. However, the bubbles lower the strength of the material and make it more porous, making it more likely that water and salt will get in. If water enters the concrete and the temperature drops to freezing, ice can form, and the structure can crumble and spall.\n\nInnovation details\nThe concrete admixture contains polymer molecules with anti-freezing abilities. The researchers mimicked anti-freeze proteins found inside the cells of certain organisms. The proteins bind to ice crystals and prevent them from growing. The bio-inspired polymers were able to effectively reduce the size of ice crystals by 90%. A concrete mix containing the polymer was able to withstand 300 freeze-thaw cycles without losing its initial strength.\n\nBiological Model\nFound in organisms that survive in sub-zero environments, anti-freeze proteins lower the temperature at which ice crystals enlarge. This protects the animal from ice crystal formation within their cells, which would otherwise be fatal."}, {"Source": "streptococcus pyogenes", "Application": "more effective vaccines", "Function1": "form unbreakable covalent bond", "Function2": "increase antigen signal", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/more-effective-vaccines-using-a-protein-from-streptococcus-pyogenes/", "Strategy": "More Effective Vaccines Using a Protein From Streptococcus Pyogenes\nSpyTag/SpyCatcher from SpyBiotech uses a protein from a common bacterium to increase the effectiveness of vaccines.\n\nThe Challenge\nVaccines help the body develop immunity to infectious diseases so we can fight them off if they enter our bodies. Many vaccines contain virus-like proteins (VLPs) bound to specific antigens that train the immune system to attack when an actual virus enters. To maximize the immune response, the presence of more antigens is better. However, it is challenging to attach antigens to VLPs. One common way is to directly fuse an antigen to a protein on the VLP, but this could cause the antigen and the protein to change shape, causing the immune system to learn an incorrect response. Another possibility is to fuse the antigen to the VLP through a chemical bond, but it is impossible to control the amount of antigen that binds or exactly how it binds, which could lead to a weakened immune response.\n\nInnovation details\nSpyTag/SpyCatcher splits a protein from the common bacterium, Streptococcus pyogenes, into two parts: the SpyTag peptide that binds to antigens, and SpyCatcher that binds to the virus-like protein. The two pieces of the original SpyTag/SpyCatcher protein then bind back together, forming an unbreakable covalent bond. The immune system then learns a more effective response due to the increased signal from the tightly packed antigens on the virus like particle.\n\nBiological Model\nWhile many people carry Streptococcus pyogenes in their throat without any problems, the bacteria can cause infections ranging from a sore throat to flesh-eating disease. The bacteria invades and binds to human cells with a specific protein, FbaB. Most organisms usually bind proteins with disulfide bonds. However, Streptococcus pyogenes lives in low oxygen environments, where it is hard to form disulfide bonds. It has thus evolved to bind proteins together with covalent bods, which are much stronger."}, {"Source": "cyphochilus beetle exoskeleton", "Application": "super‑white material", "Function1": "maximize light scattering", "Function2": "shine with bright white coloration", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/super-white-material-inspired-by-the-cyphochilus-beetle/", "Strategy": "Super-White Material Inspired by the Cyphochilus Beetle\nImpossible Materials created a cellulose-based white pigment technology that's safe for humans and animals.\n\nThe Challenge\nPaints contain toxic chemicals, pigments, and dyes to produce their color, and must be applied in multiple layers that need to be reapplied every few years. Titanium dioxide (TiO2) is a common white pigment found in many products, but it may have negative health effects. Citing an inability to rule out possible carcinogenic effects from long-term accumulation in the body, the EU has banned the use of TiO2 as a food additive (“E171”) because of the presence of TiO2 nanoparticles. Additionally, large scale strip mining and non-degrading nanoparticle usage make TiO2 a threat to the environment.\n\nInnovation details\nTitanium dioxide is the most used colorant in the world, found in the white traffic stripes painted on roads, in toothpaste, and even in powdered donuts. (Unlike conventional TiO2, nanoparticle TiO2 is not white, but it has additional non-colorant uses which are not addressed by this innovation.) However, titanium mining has an environmental cost, and nanoparticles of titanium dioxide (which can be found in small quantities in food-grade TiO2) have recently been labeled as a potential carcinogen. In search of an alternative white colorant, researchers studying the bright white Cyphochilus beetle found that the thin layer of scales on its exoskeleton acts as a highly optimized scattering structure, giving the beetle its bright white coloration. Impossible Materials is mimicking this structure with cellulose, creating a safer and better performing white pigment.\n\nBiological Model\nIn nature, color is not just the result of chemical pigments. Microstructures also scatter and interfere with lightwaves to reveal a rainbow of colors. Many of these light-bending structures are spaced at regular intervals, making them ideal for sparkling specific shades, like the cobalt of a bluebird’s feathers. In contrast, Cyphochilus beetle exoskeletons are covered with nonuniform scales that scatter all wavelengths of light. Irregularly spaced filaments maximize light scattering, making these beetles shine a brilliant white."}, {"Source": "schooling fish", "Application": "synergistic wind farm", "Function1": "lower the energetic cost", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/wind-farm-design-inspired-by-schooling-fish/", "Strategy": "Synergistic Wind Farm Design Inspired by Schooling Fish\nWind turbine farm from California Institute of Technology groups turbines together to increase energy output.\n\nThe Challenge\nWind turbines are a reliable source of clean energy but when placed together in a farm, they take up a large amount of space and can negatively interfere with one another.\n\nInnovation details\nInspired by the way fish can reduce the energetic loss by swimming in a school, vertical axis wind turbines are placed close together so that individual turbines can capture downstream airflow produced by neighboring turbines. This reduces the total area needed for the turbines while increasing energy output by up to 10-fold.\n\nBiological Model\nAs fish swim, they shed tiny vortices. When swimming in large schools, the individual fish transfer energy to each other with these vortices, lowering the energetic costs of swimming."}, {"Source": "owl feather", "Application": "turbulent‑reducing aerofoil", "Function1": "managing turbulence", "Function2": "minimize noise-generating turbulence", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/turbulent-reducing-aerofoil-inspired-by-owl-feathers/", "Strategy": "Turbulent-Reducing Aerofoil Inspired by Owl Feathers\nAn aerofoil from City University of London has finlets that stabilize flow and reduce turbulence.\n\nThe Challenge\nEnergy generation is one of the largest contributors to greenhouse gases, but it’s necessary for many day-to-day operations. Fans and other objects that use airflow to operate require large amounts of energy to be kept constantly running. If these objects were able to run more efficiently, they would use less energy.\n\nInnovation details\nThe biomimetic aerofoil mimics the design of owl wings, and has small finlets at the leading edge. Instead of creating vortices, the finlets actually work together as thin guide vanes to keep the air flowing for longer, resulting in greater stability that also reduces turbulence.\n\nBiological Model\nOwls are able to approach their prey silently at high speed through management of turbulence. Most of the noise as an object moves through air originates at the trailing edge as air flowing above and below the object meet. This can also increase drag. Many owls have a flexible fringe on the trailing edge of their wing feathers which serves to minimize noise-generating turbulence."}, {"Source": "oceanic mineralization of calcium", "Application": "cement supplement", "Function1": "hard, stable material", "Function2": "trap co2", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/innovative-cement-supplement-inspired-by-oceanic-mineralization-of-calcium/", "Strategy": "Innovative Cement Supplement Inspired by Oceanic Mineralization of Calcium\nReCARB from Fortera uses excess carbon dioxide to re-carbonate calcium oxide to make a cementitious material.\n\nThe Challenge\nCement is the second most consumed product on Earth after water. Concrete production is also one of the largest producers of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas. These gases absorb solar energy and keep heat close to the Earth, known as the greenhouse effect, leading to global warming.\n\nInnovation details\nReCARB™ re-carbonates calcium oxide with waste CO2 from kilns. This creates reactive calcium carbonate, similar to the material found in many marine organisms. When combined with water, the calcium carbonate transforms from a spherical shape to a dense network of rods. This increases the hardening and binding ability of cement while also trapping waste CO2.\n\nBiological Model\nCalcium carbonate is formed in the oceans when calcium ions dissolved from other minerals react with carbon dioxide. The resulting calcium carbonate is a very hard, stable material that is found in many organisms, including coral reefs."}, {"Source": "fin of manta ray", "Application": "autonomous underwater vehicle", "Function1": "high maneuverability", "Function2": "high agility", "Function3": "tight turn", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/autonomous-underwater-vehicle-auv-inspired-by-the-manta-ray/", "Strategy": "Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Inspired by the Manta Ray\nThe BOSS Manta Ray from EvoLogics is an AUV with excellent mobility and diving capabilities for exploring hard-to-reach areas.\n\nThe Challenge\nCertain underwater areas are constricted and hard-to-reach, making inspection difficult. In addition, the environments can oftentimes be dangerous, making it hard for humans to work. Traditional autonomous underwater vehicle (AUVs) are bulky, expensive, and lack agility and maneuverability, making them less than ideal for working in these areas.\n\nInnovation details\nThe BOSS Manta Ray moves using the Fin Ray Effect®, which was developed by studying the way manta rays move in the water. The AUV has a large wing surface that provides the vehicle with excellent dynamic depth control capabilities. It can hold depth with high precision and perform highly dynamic dives and climbs, as well as maneuvering abilities in the open ocean. It can precisely navigate over rugged seafloor terrain or in a closed-off environment, and is fitted with jet thrusters, allowing it to move in high-speed mode, similar to standard AUVs widely in use.\n\nBiological Model\nManta rays have large fins that extend out like wings on either side of their body. They are capable of high maneuverability and agility, as well as tight turns, despite their large body size. This is useful when escaping predators or catching prey, as well moving in/around obstacles in complex underwater environments."}, {"Source": "salvinia water fern's leaf structure", "Application": "marine coating", "Function1": "retain pocket of air", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/innovative-marine-coating-inspired-by-the-salvinia-water-fern/", "Strategy": "Innovative Marine Coating Inspired by the Salvinia Water Fern\nAIRCOAT is a marine coating that prevents biofouling and reduces friction by creating a layer of air along the hull.\n\nThe Challenge\nThe shipping industry is one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions due to the huge amount of fuel consumption from barges that transport containers across the ocean. When marine organisms attach to the bottom of the vessels it slows the ships down, requiring more fuel to travel the same distance. The emissions from this additional fuel consumption impact many elements of our daily lives, including increased air and water pollution.\n\nInnovation details\nThe Air Induced friction Reducing ship COATing (AIRCOAT) project aims to develop a passive air lubrication technology that utilizes the “Salvinia effect” to trap air underwater. The material is made up of micro and nanostructures with hydrophobic surfaces and hydrophilic tips that trap a layer of air. This material is then applied to a self-adhesive foil that can be attached to boat hulls, where it helps to protect the ship from biofouling and decreases the friction along the hull.\n\nBiological Model\nThe floating water fern, Salvinia, is a unique plant in that it retains pockets of air when fully submerged underwater. This capability, which provides the plant with buoyancy, is due to the surface structure of its leaves. The leaves are covered in tiny hairs, and each hair is coated in hydrophobic (water-repelling) wax crystals from its base almost to the tip. The very tip of each hair lacks the hydrophobic wax and is instead hydrophilic, which means it attracts water molecules. It is these hydrophilic tips that help retain air pockets when the plant is submerged. They enable the trapping of a thin layer of air between the leaf surface and the water that they attract, also known as the “Salvinia effect”."}, {"Source": "tidal stream", "Application": "hemp fiber degumming process", "Function1": "degrate plant fibers", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/hemp-fiber-degumming-process-inspired-by-tidal-streams/", "Strategy": "Hemp Fiber Degumming Process Inspired by Tidal Streams\nRenaissance Fiber creates high quality hemp fiber using a degumming method based on natural degradation of plant fibers observed in tidal streams.\n\nThe Challenge\nCotton and synthetic plastic fibers are a major threat to the planet (GHG emissions, pesticides, water, microfiber, degradation, etc.). Hemp, a natural fiber, addresses these problems, but softening it for textile use is expensive and polluting. Additionally, US hemp fiber is sourced through global supply chains. For market opportunity, US textile mills shipped $30B of yarn & fabric in 2019 that hemp can readily blend with or replace.\n\nInnovation details\nCultivating hemp for textile fiber is an ancient practice, however with the advent of modern agriculture and the invention of synthetic textiles, the processing required for hemp meant it could not compete economically with these alternatives. Renaissance Fiber has developed a degumming method based on natural degradation of plant fibers observed in tidal streams, using far less energy than traditional hemp processing and creating hemp fiber that is more affordable and higher quality than other fiber types. At the same time, their process sequesters carbon in the effluent, which can be returned to the ocean as a natural carbon sink.\n\nBiological Model\nThe stems of plants such as hemp and flax are made up of strong fibers surrounded by other, less durable cells and a gummy substance that holds it all together. After a plant dies, organisms such as bacteria and fungi that specialize in decomposing organic materials move in. They eagerly consume the nonfibrous materials, leaving clean, intact fibers behind."}, {"Source": "wetland ecosystem", "Application": "wastewater treatment", "Function1": "filter water", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/efficient-wastewater-treatment-technology-utilizes-naturally-occurring-bacteria/", "Strategy": "Efficient Wastewater Treatment Technology Utilizes Naturally Occurring Bacteria\nBio‐Domes from Wastewater Compliance Systems use naturally occurring biofilms to accelerate the removal of chemicals and organic materials in wastewater.\n\nThe Challenge\nWater is essential for human survival, and access to clean drinking water is critical for good health. Contaminated drinking water can cause numerous health concerns, including exposure to viruses. As the world population continues to grow, traditional wastewater treatment will quickly reach capacity. The machines will not be able to remove the additional contaminants, and there will not be enough land to construct more facilities. Wastewater lagoons offer a viable alternative by utilizing biofilms to remove toxins from water. However, biofilm growth is limited by the amount of surface area available for growth.\n\nInnovation details\nBio-Domes sit at the bottom of wastewater treatment lagoons and consist of concentrically nested domes that are infused with air from underneath. These domes are coated with naturally occurring biofilms and provide an additional 2800 square feet of space for biofilms to grow. This helps to more effectively reduce contaminants in the water such as ammonia and nitrogen, similar to the process that occurs in wetlands.\n\nBiological Model\nHealthy wetland ecosystems are commonly seen as natural water filtration systems because they can remove sediments and nutrients from the surrounding soil or water. Nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorous are taken from the water by bacteria and wetland plants that consume these nutrients as they grow. Physical processes like filtering and sedimentation can also remove nutrients and particles from the water. These biological and physical processes interact with many other factors, such as temperature and land structure, to affect a wetland’s overall function."}, {"Source": "eel's swimming process", "Application": "undulating tidal energy technology", "Function1": "conserve energy", "Function2": "help facilitate power transmission", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/undulating-tidal-energy-technology-inspired-by-undulatory-motion/", "Strategy": "Undulating Tidal Energy Technology Inspired by Undulatory Motion\nEel Tidal Energy Converter from Eel Energy moves with the tides to harness wave energy and convert it into electricity.\n\nThe Challenge\nMost energy is generated through the burning of fossil fuels, which releases carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. These gases absorb solar energy and keep heat close to the Earth, a phenomenon known as the greenhouse effect, which has led to global warming. Finding alternative, renewable sources of energy in the coming years will be essential for reducing climate change.\n\nInnovation details\nThe Eel Tidal Energy Converter has an undulating structure that moves with the tidal currents. This movement can then be converted into electricity by an electromechanical system. There is also a monitoring loop that ensures optimized energy conversion in response to changes in flow conditions and power transmitted.\n\nBiological Model\nEels and lampreys are able to swim long distances while conserving energy by using lateral undulation. During this movement, a wave travels from head to tail and increases in amplitude, also called a ‘lateral wriggle’. Many primitive invertebrate swimmers use this kind of locomotion. The wriggling is aided by vertical stabilizer fins that extend the sides of the body and help facilitate power transmission to the water."}, {"Source": "mushroom mycelium", "Application": "bio-based building materials", "Function1": "gel-like material", "Function2": "make things strong, flexible, compressible, expandable, moldable and durable", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/building-insulation-inspired-by-mushrooms/", "Strategy": "Building Insulation Inspired by Mushrooms\nBiohm uses mycelium from mushrooms to create more sustainable building insulation.\n\nThe Challenge\nThe World Economic Forum has identified global construction waste as a major sustainability challenge, expected to increase to 2.2 billion tonnes per year by 2025. Another 1.3 billion tonnes or ⅓ of all food produced globally is wasted. With the climate crisis becoming a priority for governments and organizations, carbon reduction and energy efficiency are at the forefront of global needs.\n\nInnovation details\nBiohm is a bio-based building materials company that makes insulation made from mycelium (the “root” structure of mushrooms) and a 100% natural sheet material called ORB (organic refuse bio-compound) made out of biowaste and a plant-based binder. Their building materials are more affordable and outperform current products on the market. By embracing circular design and the systemic nutrient cycling found in nature, Biohm is leading innovation in the construction industry to create a more sustainable built environment.\n\nBiological Model\nWoven through a single shovelful of soil are miles of fibers called mycelia that form the underground parts of fungi. These fibers are made of proteins, chitin fibers and sugars, all coated with a gel-like material. This structure makes them strong, flexible, compressible, expandable, moldable, and durable—a highly desirable combination of traits that provide inspiration for innovative design of packaging, clothing, insulation, and more."}, {"Source": "human platelet", "Application": "remote leak sealant", "Function1": "clog up wound", "Function2": "prevent blood loss", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/remote-leak-sealant-inspired-by-human-platelets/", "Strategy": "Remote Leak Sealant Inspired by Human Platelets\nPlatelets Leak Mitigation Sealant from Seal-Tite International uses free-floating, discrete particles to seal leaks at unknown locations.\n\nThe Challenge\nLeaks from pipes and other equipment can incur large costs and be harmful to the environment. Leaks are often in inaccessible and ambiguous locations, and common sealants have to be applied by someone at the exact location of the leak.\n\nInnovation details\nPlatelets® are free floating, discrete particles that are injected into the leaky pipe. The particles flow with the liquid, and when they reach the location of the leak, the fluid force of the leak pulls them to the side of the pipe, forming a sealant to seal the leak.\n\nBiological Model\nWhen you get a wound on your skin or in your body, platelets travel through your bloodstream and clog up the wound and prevent further blood loss."}, {"Source": "butterfly's wing", "Application": "flexible photonic crystals", "Function1": "reflect and absorb light", "Function2": "produce color", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/intricate-sensors-inspired-by-butterflies-peacocks-and-beetles/", "Strategy": "Intricate Sensors Inspired by Butterflies, Peacocks and Beetles\nSmart sensors from University of Surrey and University of Sussex have flexible photonic crystals that change color when heated.\n\nThe Challenge\nSensors are usually designed to react to certain stimuli one at a time, such as movement or temperature changes. Few sensors are able to detect multiple stimuli without having to change modes, and those that can are usually expensive and energy-intensive.\n\nInnovation details\nThe smart sensor has color-changing, flexible photonic crystals that respond sensitively to physical and chemical stimuli. The crystals are made with a small amount of graphene which causes the formation of colloidal crystals that have angle-dependent structural color, similar to butterfly wings and peacock feathers. By default the crystals appear green, but when the sensor is stretched or heated the crystals reflect the light differently, causing them to appear blue or even transparent. The change in color is visible to the naked eye and completely reversible when the stimuli revert back to the original condition.\n\nBiological Model\nButterfly wings and peacock feathers contain nanoscale structures that reflect and absorb light in different ways to produce color. This method of manipulating light results in brilliant iridescent colors, which the animals rely upon for camouflage, thermoregulation, and signaling to potential mates."}, {"Source": "wetland", "Application": "versatile water treatment garden", "Function1": "purify water", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/versatile-water-treatment-garden-inspired-by-wetlands/", "Strategy": "Versatile Water Treatment Garden Inspired by Wetlands\nBioHaven Floating Island from Floating Island West is a floating garden that naturally cleans water and improves habitats.\n\nThe Challenge\nWater is essential for human survival, and access to clean drinking water is critical for good health. Contaminated drinking water can cause numerous health concerns, including exposure to viruses. As the world population continues to grow, traditional wastewater treatment will quickly reach capacity. The machines will not be able to remove additional contaminants, and there will not be enough land to build more facilities.\n\nInnovation details\nThe BioHaven® Floating Island concentrates wetland plants and microbes on a fibrous matrix made of recycled material. The high surface area in the matrix promotes a large amount of growth of biofilms that filter contaminants such as phosphorus, copper, zinc, nitrogen, and ammonia out of the water. Additionally, the matrix acts as a filter for larger particles and an optimal location for plant roots and shoots to grow. All together, these features create a multi-purpose product that improves water quality in man-made and naturally occurring bodies of water.\n\nBiological Model\nHealthy wetland ecosystems are commonly seen as natural water filtration systems because they can remove sediments and nutrients from the surrounding soil or water. Nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorous are taken from the water by bacteria and wetland plants that consume these nutrients as they grow. Physical processes like filtering and sedimentation can also remove nutrients and particles from the water. These biological and physical processes interact with many other factors, such as temperature and land structure, to affect a wetland’s overall function."}, {"Source": "mushroom", "Application": "mushroom packaging", "Function1": "bond materials", "Function2": "thermally insulating", "Function3": "resistant to water", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/compostable-packaging-materials-made-from-mushrooms/", "Strategy": "Compostable Packaging Materials Made From Mushrooms\nMushroom Packaging from Ecovative Design uses mycelium to create a compostable, thermally insulating packaging.\n\nThe Challenge\nCommon packaging materials, like styrofoam, do not degrade over time. They also introduce durable toxins to the environment that can harm wildlife and people.\n\nInnovation details\nMushroom Packaging® is a customizable packaging system made of mycelium, the vegetative part of a mushroom, and cellulosic agricultural byproducts, such as corn stalks, hemp hurds, and wood chips. Because mycelium can strongly bond materials together it is therefore an effective alternative for molded packaging.\n\nBiological Model\nMushroom Packaging is an example of both bioutilization and systems-level biomimicry. Using biological materials in an innovative way has enabled Ecovative to create a system that mimics material cycling in nature, where natural “waste” material is transformed into a useful product that is fully biodegradable at the end of its life."}, {"Source": "sea anemone", "Application": "adaptable robotic gripper", "Function1": "shape change", "Function2": "re-inflate body part", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/adaptable-robotic-gripper-inspired-by-sea-anemones/", "Strategy": "Adaptable Robotic Gripper Inspired by Sea Anemones\nRobotic gripper from Southwest University of Science and Technology\n\nThe Challenge\nRobotic grippers are often designed with multiple finger-like components that help grasp objects. Although these have proven to be effective, the multiple components and joints can be difficult to control and are vulnerable to breaking. If the robots break, or are unable to grip a variety of objects, they will need to be re-made, leading to increased costs.\n\nInnovation details\nThe doughnut-shaped robotic gripper was inspired by the way sea anemones capture prey. Liquid pressure inside the ring controls how the robot grips and releases objects by adjusting a thermoplastic skin. When the inner skin of the ring is pulled, the exterior skin rolls inward to form a suction. By adjusting the length of the skin and the direction it rolls, researchers can control whether the robot picks up, fully engulfs, or releases an object.\n\nBiological Model\nSea anemones are able to drastically change shape due to two mechanisms. The first is their central cavity, which has ciliary pumps that can re-inflate parts of the body by pumping water. The second mechanism is a supportive, viscoelastic, gel-like substance (mesoglea) that makes up their walls."}, {"Source": "gila monster saliva's protein", "Application": "injectable medication for diabetics", "Function1": "stimulate insulin release", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/injectable-medication-for-patients-with-diabetes-inspired-by-the-gila-monster/", "Strategy": "Injectable Medication for Diabetics Inspired by the Gila Monster\nByetta from AstraZeneca is an insulin sensitizer that mimics proteins from Gila monster saliva to help Type 2 diabetics maintain glucose levels.\n\nThe Challenge\nIndividuals diagnosed with diabetes face a variety of issues that need to be managed daily. Diabetes is a chronic disease where a person cannot regulate the amount of sugar (glucose) in their blood. With use of insulin injections, diabetics are able to artificially control their blood sugar, helping to keep the disease in check.\n\nInnovation details\nByetta is an insulin sensitizer, which is part of a new class of drugs called incretin mimetics. These drugs mimic incretin hormones, which the body usually naturally produces to help stimulate insulin release after a meal. Byetta uses synthetic copies of a hormone from the saliva of the Gila monster (exendin-4), which serves a similar function, to improve blood sugar control in diabetics.\n\nBiological Model\nThe Gila monster is an opportunistic carnivore that eats large meals when they are available and fasts for long periods in between. It has a hormone in its saliva, exendin-4, that helps it maintain its blood sugar levels during long periods of food scarcity."}, {"Source": "fur of camel", "Application": "passive cooling system", "Function1": "reduce water loss", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/passive-cooling-system-inspired-by-camels/", "Strategy": "Passive Cooling System Inspired by Camels\nCooling system from MIT uses an evaporation-insulation cooling design that eliminates power usage.\n\nThe Challenge\nBiological samples and food products are often stored in refrigeration, which makes them vulnerable to equipment malfunction and oftentimes leads to decomposition over time. In addition, shipping these items in a refrigerated vessel or on dry ice can be costly and uses excessive materials.\n\nInnovation details\nThe cooling system is made of two layers. The inner layer is made of a hydrogel, from which water can readily evaporate, similar to sweat glands. The outer layer is an aerogel, which keeps out external heat, but allows the water vapor to pass through, similar to camel fur. The water vapor has a cooling effect as it increases the time it takes for the warm ambient temperature to reach the contents within the cooling system. The system is set up so that the hydrogel can be easily rehydrated. The entire material is less than a half-inch thick and can provide cooling of more than 7 degrees Celsius for five times longer than just the hydrogel alone.\n\nBiological Model\nCamels have a thick layer of insulating fur that reduces the amount moisture lost to the desert heat, which protects them from dehydration."}, {"Source": "shade tree", "Application": "ventilating shade structure", "Function1": "provide cooling", "Function2": "block sunlight", "Function3": "increase air moisture", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/ventilating-shade-structure-inspired-by-trees/", "Strategy": "Ventilating Shade Structure Inspired by Trees\nThe Fractal Shade from FootstepFloor uses fractal patterns to create well-ventilated sunshade and prevent radiant heat.\n\nThe Challenge\nThe ‘urban heat island effect’ is the phenomena in which cities experience much warmer temperatures than nearby rural areas. These high temperatures cause elevated energy consumption, increased air pollution, and other side effects harmful to humans.\n\nInnovation details\nThe Fractal Shade® structure uses Sierpinski Tetrahedrons, a fractal pattern based on the equilateral triangle, to mimic the shade provided by natural tree branches and leaves in a forest canopy. The result is dappled sunlight with continuous air movement, helping to cool the surrounding area.\n\nBiological Model\nStaying cool, especially in subtropical regions, is essential. Shade trees provide a cooling effect by blocking sunlight and increasing air moisture. Tree species with rough, dense foliage and light colored leaves provide the greatest cooling benefits to their surroundings."}, {"Source": "chameleon's iridophore", "Application": "colorful 3d printing", "Function1": "produce structural color", "Function2": "reflect specific wavelengths", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/colorful-3d-printing-inspired-by-chameleons/", "Strategy": "Colorful 3D Printing Inspired by Chameleons\n3D printing process from University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign uses bottlebrush-shaped polymers to produce multiple colors from the same ink.\n\nThe Challenge\nTypical 3D printing materials are made in single colors. When a different color is needed, the machine must take a new cartridge before it can continue on. This process may introduce mistakes and increases time of production, leading to an overall increase in cost.\n\nInnovation details\nThe 3D printing process produces photonic crystals that reflect visible light. By adjusting the thickness of the crystals, different wavelengths of light will be reflected, producing different colors. This process allows multiple colors to be created from a single ink. This is similar to the way different organisms such as chameleons are able to produce different colors. The ink itself is made of bottlebrush-shaped polymers with two bonded, chemically distinct segments. The material is dissolved into a solution that bonds the polymer chains just before printing. After printing and as the solution dries, the components separate at a microscopic scale, forming nanoscale layers. Controlling the speed and temperature of the ink deposition also controls for how thick the nanoscale layers will be, and ultimately what color the ink will be.\n\nBiological Model\nChameleons are able to change colors through a combination of pigments and structural colors. Below the layers of chromatophores (color-bearing) cells, there is a layer of cells called iridophores (iridescent chromatophores) that produce structural color. Rather than containing pigment, iridophores contain an organized array of transparent, nano-sized crystals that reflect specific wavelengths of light. The reflected light is perceived as color."}, {"Source": "natural ecosystem", "Application": "desert regeneration", "Function1": "increase biodiversity", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/multifaceted-desert-regeneration-system-inspired-by-ecosystems/", "Strategy": "Multifaceted Desert Regeneration System Inspired by Ecosystems\nSahara Forest Project creates a saltwater value chain to generate electricity, produce freshwater, and revegetate desert lands.\n\nThe Challenge\nThe world is facing intertwined challenges of food, water and energy security, as well as climate change and desertification. These challenges require new approaches to how the world generates electricity and reduces emissions. Most energy is generated through the burning of fossil fuels, which release carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. These gases absorb solar energy and keep heat close to the Earth, known as the greenhouse effect, leading to global warming.\n\nInnovation details\nThe Sahara Forest Project functions similarly to an ecosystem by using natural resources to produce food, water, and vegetation, and increase biodiversity. It is a commercially viable way to bring saltwater into the desert, and also works as an enabling technology, creating opportunities for a wide range of businesses to develop alongside it. These include salt extraction, traditional desalination, algae production, halophyte cultivation, mariculture, bioenergy and more. The core technologies include saltwater-cooled greenhouses, solar power for electricity and power generation, and technologies for desert revegetation. Additionally, the soil and plants within these processes also assist in sequestering carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.\n\nBiological Model\nNatural ecosystems react to low biodiversity levels by exploiting unused or poorly used resources to increase biodiversity. Additionally, diversity and the life-span of plants help ecosystems use water and nutrients efficiently."}, {"Source": "animal muscle", "Application": "pneumatic muscle", "Function1": "fluid or elastic movement", "Function2": "deliver power and flexibility", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/sturdy-pneumatic-muscle-inspired-by-human-muscles/", "Strategy": "Sturdy Pneumatic Muscle Inspired by Animal Muscles\nThe Fluidic Muscle is a strong tensile actuator with contractible elastomers that allow for fluid, elastic movement.\n\nThe Challenge\nPneumatic devices are used extensively in industrial and manufacturing processes. These actuators must be large enough to provide sufficient strength for the job, but this usually requires a lot of energy. The actuators are also subject to continuous maintenance due to contamination, which increases cost.\n\nInnovation details\nThe bionic muscles consist of contractible tubing made of a rubber diaphragm filled with heat-resistant, strong, synthetic fibers called aramid yarns. The diaphragm provides an air-tight seal to protect against outside elements. When the fluidic muscle fills with air, it increases in diameter and contracts in length, enabling sequences that closely approximate human movements. The fluidic muscle can exert ten times the force of a comparably sized cylinder, and can even be used under extreme conditions, including sand and dust.\n\nBiological Model\nMuscles are essential for animal movement, and they are made up of thousands of small fibers. The fibers move in a specific sequence when the muscles flex, in order to deliver power and flexibility quickly."}, {"Source": "forest tree", "Application": "water filtration system", "Function1": "clean and decompose waste", "Function2": "microorganism cleanup", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/chemical-free-water-filtration-system-inspired-by-forests/", "Strategy": "Chemical-Free Water Filtration System Inspired by Forests\nThe Biolytix BioPod is a waste treatment system that uses organisms to convert raw sewage and wastewater into high quality irrigation water.\n\nThe Challenge\nAgriculture is an essential source of food, but in order to grow crops, large amounts of ground and surface water are used. As the world population continues to grow, the demand for water for agricultural uses is increasing. Many wastewater treatment systems need a large amount of energy to run, are loud, and can often emit strong odors.\n\nInnovation details\nThe Biolytix® BioPod is a self-contained system that removes contaminants from used water, similarly to how waste is cleaned and decomposed in nature. First, solid waste is converted to liquid/humic material by tiger worms. Then, wastewater is cleansed by microorganisms as it trickles through a filter system to a pump chamber. The water is then pumped out of the system. The BioPod can be cleaned in-place if there is residual build-up.\n\nBiological Model\nForests support a variety of organisms, and the different interactions between species helps keep a forest healthy. The soil ecosystem of forests supports plant growth through interactions of millions of organisms that work together to decompose organic matter and aerate the soil."}, {"Source": "gecko feet's skin-bone-tendon system", "Application": "residue-free adhesion", "Function1": "leaving no residue", "Function2": "climb surface", "Function3": "maximize adhesion", "Function4": "distribute force", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/residue-free-adhesion-technology-inspired-by-geckos/", "Strategy": "Residue-Free Adhesion Technology Inspired by Geckos\nGeckskin from Felsuma is an adhesive technology that mimics the tendon system of geckos to create a strong adhesive that leaves no residue.\n\nThe Challenge\nAdhesives are used in every industry and are a constant part of everyday life. However, traditional adhesives are single-use and often use a strong glue that can leave a sticky residue once removed.\n\nInnovation details\nGeckskin™ is a technology, not a material. A Geckskin device can be made from an array of commercially available materials on commercial manufacturing equipment to address an application. Geckskin utilizes a phenomenon called ‘draping adhesion’, which mimics the skin-bone-tendon system of gecko feet to create a powerful adhesion device that leaves no residue. It is composed of two components, a soft elastomer and a stiff fabric. Together, the material can conform to a surface while maintaining high elastic stiffness.\n\nBiological Model\nGeckos are renowned for their sticky feet that enable them to climb a variety of surfaces. However, the tendon and bone structures behind the feet are just as important, and they help to maximize the gecko’s ability to stick. In most animals, soft tendons directly connect bones to muscles. However, in geckos’ feet, the tendons are stiff and stretch from the bone to the skin- all the way to the underside of the feet. This helps to stiffen the feet and evenly distribute forces, making it easier for the gecko to stick."}, {"Source": "owl wing", "Application": "low‑noise retrofit", "Function1": "managing turbulence", "Function2": "minimize noise-generating turbulence", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/low-noise-retrofit-for-wind-turbine-blades-inspired-by-owl-wings/", "Strategy": "Low-Noise Retrofit for Wind Turbine Blades Inspired by Owl Wings\nDinoTail Next Generation from Siemens Gamesa has fine combs and serrated edges that help to reduce turbulence and noise while increasing power in wind turbines.\n\nThe Challenge\nWhen air moves, it generates sound. The more movement, the greater the sound. Onshore wind farms can create a lot of noise, but must comply with local noise regulations. As a result, many onshore wind turbines have to run at reduced power, resulting in less energy, in order to keep noise levels down.\n\nInnovation details\nDinoTail® Next Generation is a retrofit for wind turbines applied to the trailing edge of blades. The DinoTail concept was originally introduced in 2000, and they got their name because they resembled the highly recognizable back plates of a Stegosaurus. DinoTail Next Generation was introduced in 2016 and improve on the original DinoTail design by adding finer combs in between the teeth, inspired by the flexible fringe on the edge of owl wings. The fine combs on the DinoTail generate small flow structures, further reducing noise. This results in over 10% noise reduction at all wind speeds without a loss of power. DinoTail Next Generation also has serrated edges that break up air flow, helping to reduce turbulence. Furthermore, they increase the area of a blade, which adds lift, resulting in more power.\n\nBiological Model\nOwls are able to approach their prey silently at high speed by managing turbulence. Most of the noise that’s created as an object moves through air starts at the trailing edge as air flowing above and below the object meet, which can also increase drag. Many owls have a flexible fringe on the trailing edge of their wing feathers which serves to minimize that noise-generating turbulence."}, {"Source": "gecko's foot", "Application": "residue‑free adhesives", "Function1": "adhere to surfaces", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/residue-free-adhesives-inspired-by-geckos/", "Strategy": "Residue-Free Adhesives Inspired by Geckos\nSetex Geckotape from nanoGriptech has fiber tips and a release film that help adhere to surfaces without leaving a residue.\n\nThe Challenge\nAdhesives are used in every industry and are an essential part of everyday life. However, traditional adhesives are single-use and often use a strong glue that can leave a sticky residue once removed. Additionally, many adhesives quickly lose their effectiveness when wet.\n\nInnovation details\nSetex Geckotape™ has thousands of anti-slip microstructured fibers on its surface, similar to a gecko’s foot. This enormous surface area creates a large region of attraction that allows it to stick to a variety of surfaces, even in wet or oily conditions.\n\nBiological Model\nGeckos have amazing adhesive abilities and can stick to almost any surface. Their toe pads are covered in millions of small hair-like projections called setae. These setae branch further into hundreds of nano-scale structures that end in tiny discs called spatulae. This multi-scale branching gives gecko feet a very high surface area. Spatulae stick to surfaces by van der Waals forces that occur between all molecules. Although these forces are individually weak, the high surface area of all the spatulae combined makes the force quite strong, which enable geckos to adhere quickly and easily to surfaces."}, {"Source": "aquaporin", "Application": "water filter membranes", "Function1": "selective filter", "Function2": "regulate water volume", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/a-selective-membrane-inspired-by-aquaporin-channels-filters-and-purifies-water/", "Strategy": "A Selective Membrane Inspired by Aquaporin Channels Filters and Purifies Water\nAquaporin Inside water filter membranes from Aquaporin improve water treatment and re-use for a wide range of industries.\n\nThe Challenge\nWater is essential for human survival, and access to clean drinking water is critical for good health. Contaminated drinking water can cause numerous health concerns, including exposure to viruses. Traditional water filtration membranes are mostly dense polymeric films that require advanced chemistry to function properly.\n\nInnovation details\nAquaporin Inside® water filter membranes are biomimetic membranes that mimic the function of aquaporin channels. They treat and purify water by selectively allowing water to enter while filtering out chemicals and other toxins.\n\nBiological Model\nAquaporins are a family of channel proteins that are found in all kingdoms of life. Aquaporins allow water molecules to pass across cell membranes while excluding most other molecules. This allows cells to regulate how much water is moving in and out of them."}, {"Source": "shark skin", "Application": "low‑noise coating", "Function1": "decrease drag", "Function2": "help suction and forward thrust", "Function3": "increase swimming speeds", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/low-noise-surface-coating-for-wind-turbine-blades-inspired-by-shark-skin/", "Strategy": "Low-Noise Coating for Wind Turbines Inspired by Shark Skin\nRiblet Coating from Riblet4Wind is a surface coating that creates a textured surface to reduce turbulence and noise while increasing power in wind turbines.\n\nThe Challenge\nWhen air moves, it generates sound. The more movement, the greater the sound. Onshore wind farms can create a lot of noise, but must comply with local noise regulations. As a result, many onshore wind turbines have to run at reduced power, resulting in less energy, in order to keep noise levels down.\n\nInnovation details\nRiblet Coating is a surface coating that is applied to wind turbine blades. The small riblets in the coating mimic shark denticles, which help to reduce drag and increase lift. This allows the wind turbine to operate with the same effectiveness at lower wind speeds, while also reducing noise.\n\nBiological Model\nSome species of sharks can swim at impressive speeds of 50 km/h (31 mph). Their skin is covered in small bony scales called dermal denticles. It has long been hypothesized that shark scales reduce drag by managing the water flow closest to the skin. In addition, shark denticles may help vortices (low-pressure regions of swirling water) stay attached to particular areas of the shark’s body, resulting in more suction and forward thrust. Thus, a shark’s denticles may increase swimming speeds by increasing thrust in addition to reducing drag."}, {"Source": "elephant's trunk", "Application": "soft robotic gripper", "Function1": "high dynamism", "Function2": "multi-directional movement", "Function3": "move with strength and precision", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/soft-fabric-robotic-gripper-inspired-by-the-elephant-trunk/", "Strategy": "Soft Fabric Robotic Gripper Inspired by the Elephant Trunk\nRobotic gripper from University of South Wales has an intricate sensor to prevent damage to the object it is handling.\n\nThe Challenge\nRobotic grippers are often designed with multiple finger-like components that help grasp specifically shaped objects. Although these have proven to be effective, the multiple components and joints can be difficult to control and are vulnerable to breaking. If the robot is damaged and unable to grip a variety of objects, it will need to be re-made, leading to increased costs.\n\nInnovation details\nThe robotic gripper wraps around objects in order to grasp them, similar to an elephant’s trunk. The gripper has a force sensor that detects the strength it is using, to prevent damage to the objects it is handling. Additionally, the gripper has a thermally-activated mechanism that enables the robot to easily vary from stiff to flexible. The gripper is able to hold objects up to 220 times its own weight.\n\nBiological Model\nAn elephant’s trunk is highly dynamic, it is able to move in a variety of directions with immense strength and precision. Yet, the trunk has no skeletal support or fluid displacement throughout the muscle to support it. Instead, it works through antagonistic movement; while one muscle group contracts an opposing muscle group elongates, allowing the trunk to bend."}, {"Source": "olive trees's alkaloid", "Application": "antibacterial alkaloids", "Function1": "antitumor", "Function2": "anti-inflammatory", "Function3": "antifungal", "Function4": "antioxidant", "Function5": "antiviral properties", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/antibacterial-alkaloids-inspired-by-russian-olive-trees/", "Strategy": "Antibacterial Alkaloids Inspired by Russian Olive Trees\nNaturally-derived alkaloid from from Guizhou University has antibacterial, antifungal, and antiviral properties that protect fruit from spoiling.\n\nThe Challenge\nAgricultural crops are vulnerable to infection from bacteria, viruses, and fungi. When crops are infected, there can be a significant loss of yield and quality. If this happens, the entire supply chain suffers: farmers lose profits and consumers lose access to fresh fruits and vegetables. Although some compounds have been developed, very few of them work on a wide variety of crops, and an increasing number of bacteria are developing resistance.\n\nInnovation details\nThe alkaloid, also called eleagnine, is naturally produced by Russian olive trees and has antibacterial, antifungal, and antiviral properties that effectively protect crops from infection, such as rice, kiwi and citrus plants. It can also be used to treat an infection that is already occurring. It works by increasing the levels of reactive oxygen species in the bacteria, which kills the cells.\n\nBiological Model\nRussian olive trees contain tetrahydro-β-carboline (THC) alkaloids which are known to protect the tree from external elements. The alkaloid has antitumor, anti-inflammatory, antifungal, antioxidant and antiviral properties."}, {"Source": "lotus leaves", "Application": "antifouling coating", "Function1": "prevent water adhesion", "Function2": "carry away dirt particles", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/paint-inspired-by-lotus-leaves-creates-self-cleaning-and-antifouling-surfaces/", "Strategy": "Paint Inspired by Lotus Leaves Creates Self-Cleaning and Antifouling Surfaces\nLotus-Effect Technology from Sto Corp. creates a microtextured and superhydrophobic surface that repels dirt and water.\n\nThe Challenge\nThe soiling of a building façade becomes increasingly visible over time. On weather exposed sides in particular, microorganisms find an ideal environment for colonizing due to excess moisture and nutrients from dirt deposits. Building owners often have to use harsh chemicals to remove dirt and microbes, and may re-paint the building several times, which produces unnecessary waste.\n\nInnovation details\nLotus-Effect® Technology from Sto Corp. keeps facades clean and protects them from algae and fungi in a sustainable way. The microtextured and super-hydrophobic surface maintains an extremely small contact area for dirt and water. The dirt particles, which are loosely adhered to the surface, are simply carried away by the rain.\n\nBiological Model\nLotus plants stay dirt-free, an obvious advantage for an aquatic plant living in typically muddy habitats. The surface of the lotus leaf contains microscopic bumps that prevent water molecules from adhering to the surface. Instead, the water rolls right off, and picks up any dirt or oil on the surface of the lotus leaf along the way."}, {"Source": "ribosome", "Application": "systematic reaction system", "Function1": "create, cleave, collect production", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/systematic-reaction-system-inspired-by-ribosomes/", "Strategy": "Systematic Reaction System Inspired by Ribosomes\nµLot Platform Technology from Swedish Biomimetics 3000 uses discrete reaction units that help improve peptide manufacturing.\n\nThe Challenge\nTwo families of pharmaceuticals, peptides and oligonucleotides, have the potential to treat a very wide range of diseases. However, they are very expensive to produce and are often made using batch manufacturing, which produces unnecessary waste.\n\nInnovation details\nµLot® Platform Technology uses a reaction system of multiple reaction and purification stages to create a chemical assembly line, similar to how ribosomes transcribe RNA to form proteins. An elongated cord or ribbon containing reactive chemical groups is moved continuously between the reaction and purification stages. A product is then slowly created, cleaved and then collected using acid. This process requires less space and significantly reduces waste and energy use.\n\nBiological Model\nRibosomes are found in every living organism. They continuously move along RNA to transcribe it into proteins for use by cells."}, {"Source": "buoyant marine phytoplankton", "Application": "optimization software", "Function1": "lightweight design", "Function2": "float on the water surface", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/optimization-software-inspired-by-marine-phytoplankton/", "Strategy": "Optimization Software Inspired by Marine Phytoplankton\nGenerative Engineering from ELISE utilizes software to design lightweight materials by optimizing the material used.\n\nThe Challenge\nDeveloping technical parts can take a lot of time and resources, and the majority of the design process is manual. Using software to find optimum designs for specific constraints can save time, money, and materials.\n\nInnovation details\nInspired by the lightweight design of buoyant marine phytoplankton, ELISE designed software known as Generative Engineering that automatically generates lightweight designs and optimal load paths based on the user’s technical specifications. Unlike conventional serial development processes with sketch-based construction and manual iterations, Generative Engineering allows for real time adaptations to changing boundary conditions in one software environment.\n\nBiological Model\nMarine phytoplankton are microscopic algae that provide the foundation for many food webs. They require sunlight in order to grow, and many species have a buoyant, lightweight design that allows them to float on the surface of the water."}, {"Source": "kingfisher's beak", "Application": "the front end of the train design", "Function1": "reduce noise", "Function2": "eliminate tunnel booms", "Function3": "reduce impact force", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/high-speed-train-inspired-by-the-kingfisher/", "Strategy": "High Speed Train Inspired by the Kingfisher\nThe Shinkansen bullet train from JR-West\n\nThe Challenge\nThe Shinkansen bullet train travels along high-speed railways throughout Japan at speeds of 240–320 km/hr (150–200 mph), carrying millions of passengers every year. However, when it was first designed, the high speeds caused an atmospheric pressure wave to build up in front of the train. When it would travel through tunnels, the wave would cause a loud “tunnel boom” at the exit, disturbing nearby residents. The engineers had to find a way for the train to travel more quietly without sacrificing speed or using more energy.\n\nInnovation details\nThe engineers looked to nature to re-design the bullet train. They noticed how kingfisher birds are able to slice through the air and dive into the water to catch prey while barely making a splash. They then re-designed the front end of the train to mimic the shape of the kingfisher’s beak. Not only did this help to reduce noise and eliminate tunnel booms, it also allowed the train to travel 10% faster using 15% less electricity.\n\nBiological Model\nThe kingfisher is a bird that dives into water to catch its prey. It has a long, narrow pointed beak that allows it to enter the water while barely making a splash. The beak steadily increases in diameter from the tip to the head, which helps reduce impact when the bird hits the water."}, {"Source": "aquatic ecosystems", "Application": "refined wastewater treatment system", "Function1": "purify water", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/refined-wastewater-treatment-system-inspired-by-aquatic-ecosystems/", "Strategy": "Refined Wastewater Treatment System Inspired by Aquatic Ecosystems\nThe Eco-Machine from John Todd Ecological Design is a custom-built wastewater treatment system that purifies water without chemicals.\n\nThe Challenge\nMore than 80% of waste waters (some 1,500 billion tons every year) flow untreated into rivers, lakes, and coastal zones, threatening health, food security, and access to safe drinking and bathing water. Traditional wastewater treatments require the use of hazardous chemicals and large amounts of energy.\n\nInnovation details\nEco-machines use sunlight, biodiversity and natural processes to create clean water with the byproducts of natural gases and biological material. They also use naturally occurring organisms to break down waste and organic materials, which are then used by other organisms in the machine. This can jumpstart the ecology of a water body, digest sediments and reduce nutrient levels, bringing the water body back into ecological health. They can also serve as a habitat for wildlife and as a recreational amenity within a community.\n\nBiological Model\nHealthy wetland ecosystems are commonly seen as natural water filtration systems because they can remove sediments and nutrients from the surrounding soil or water. Nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorous are taken from the water by bacteria and wetland plants that consume these nutrients as they grow. Physical processes like filtering and sedimentation can also remove nutrients and particles from the water. These biological and physical processes interact with many other factors, such as temperature and land structure, to affect a wetland’s overall function."}, {"Source": "mammal fur", "Application": "durable-waterproof fabric", "Function1": "protect from rain", "Function2": "force water droplets away", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/durable-waterproof-fabric-inspired-by-mammal-fur/", "Strategy": "Durable, Waterproof Fabric Inspired by Mammal Fur\nNikwax Analogy from Nikwax is a dual-layered fabric that draws water away from the body, helping keep the user dry.\n\nThe Challenge\nWaterproof jackets usually consist of a membrane that keeps water out and traps water in. If the water remains inside of the jacket, the user may become cold. Many jackets are treated with chemicals to provide waterproofing and insulation.\n\nInnovation details\nThe Nikwax Analogy® system has an inner layer, called the pump liner, which mimics the action of animal fur by pushing water outwards to protect from rain, condensation and perspiration, while also providing insulation. The pump liner is covered by a durable densely woven outer layer, which provides windproofing and deflects rain.\n\nBiological Model\nMammals are able to force water droplets away from their skin due to the arrangement of their fur. The dense, water repellent layer of fur along the skin forces water droplets away from the body where fur is less dense, causing “directionality” of the water droplets"}, {"Source": "the surface of the lotus leaf", "Application": "ultra-thin glass finish", "Function1": "stay dirt-free", "Function2": "hydrophobicity", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/stain-repellent-water-bottle-coating-inspired-by-the-lotus-leaf/", "Strategy": "Stain Repellent Water Bottle Coating Inspired by the Lotus Leaf\nPurist Technology from Specialized has a unique surface that helps keep water bottles free from mold, stains and odors.\n\nThe Challenge\nIf a reusable water bottle is filled with a sugary drink or a protein shake, the bottle retains the smell and taste of that drink long after it is gone. This leads consumers to dispose of their water bottles more quickly, creating unnecessary waste.\n\nInnovation details\nPurist technology uses silicon dioxide to create an ultra-thin glass finish on the inside of water bottles that is similar to the surface of a lotus leaf. The glass finish is just 60 nanometers thick – thinner than a fraction of one strand of human hair. This technology provides all the benefits of typical glass, but due its ultra-thin nature, it will not crack or break. This finish creates a barrier between your beverage and the raw stainless container, making the surface completely smooth and pure for better taste and easier clean.\n\nBiological Model\nLotus plants stay dirt-free, an obvious advantage for an aquatic plant living in typically muddy habitats. The surface of the lotus leaf contains microscopic bumps that prevent water molecules from adhering to the surface. Instead, the water rolls right off, and picks up any dirt or oil on the surface of the lotus leaf along the way."}, {"Source": "the pitcher plant", "Application": "surface coating for glass and ceramic", "Function1": "reduce friction", "Function2": "thin wet film", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/surface-coating-for-glass-and-ceramic-inspired-by-the-pitcher-plant/", "Strategy": "Surface Coating for Glass and Ceramic Inspired by the Pitcher Plant\nspotLESS from spotLESS Materials is a sprayable coating that keeps surfaces clean without the use of harsh chemicals.\n\nThe Challenge\nSurface contamination affects multiple industries and can be costly and time-intensive to treat. An estimated 3.58T L of fresh water (enough to sustain 68% of the global population’s drinking needs) is used to flush waste away each year in the US. Reducing the labor, cleaning chemicals, and flush volumes required to keep toilets and other surfaces clean has enormous global water and energy-saving potential.\n\nInnovation details\nspotLESS is a sprayable coating that repels liquid, sludge, bacteria, mineral deposits, and more. It contains a liquid-infused nanosponge that was inspired by the slippery surface of the pitcher plant. spotLESS can keep surfaces like toilets clean, drastically reducing the amount of water and cleaning chemicals required. It is available for home use, and can be sprayed onto glass and ceramic at ambient conditions.\n\nBiological Model\nPitcher plants trap insects and other small prey when they land on the rounded rim of the pitcher and fall in, ending up in a pool of digestive juices. The surface of the rounded rim is especially slippery, making it difficult for insects to grab hold and escape. The pitcher owes its slipperiness to a thin wet film on the surface, which drastically reduces friction between the plant and insect feet."}, {"Source": "prairie ecosystems", "Application": "permaculture", "Function1": "use water and nutrient efficiently", "Function2": "control pest", "Function3": "control erosion", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/sustainable-industrial-agriculture-inspired-by-prairie-ecosystems/", "Strategy": "Sustainable Industrial Agriculture Inspired by Prairie Ecosystems\nNatural Systems Agriculture from The Land Institute uses mutually beneficial relationships to create self-sustaining crop production.\n\nThe Challenge\nTraditional industrial agriculture cultivates a few crops in isolation, which rely on industrial intervention to sustain production. Industrial agriculture also uses large amounts of irrigated water, as well as petrochemical fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides, which can be damaging to the environment and wildlife.\n\nInnovation details\nPerennial grain cropping, or permaculture, is a form of agriculture developed to mimic natural systems. Natural Systems Agriculture is an industrial agriculture system that uses perennial polycultures and mutually beneficial relationships to increase the health and productivity of crops.This strategy takes advantage of benefits found in natural systems, such as pest control, fertility and nutrient cycling, erosion control, drought resistance and water management, and carbon sequestration.\n\nBiological Model\nThe diversity of a prairie ecosystem allows plants to utilize water and nutrients efficiently. Natural systems also have increased resilience to most perturbations, are able to self-regulate, have more stable soils, and have increased carbon sequestration, nutrient cycling, food production, and biodiversity."}, {"Source": "spider's silk", "Application": "bio‑based synthetic silk", "Function1": "strong", "Function2": "flexible", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/bio-based-protein-materials-inspired-by-spider-silk/", "Strategy": "Bio-Based Synthetic Silk Inspired by Spider Silk\nBrewed Protein from Spiber is a synthetic form of spider silk produced from plant-derived biomass that provide an alternative to traditional textiles.\n\nThe Challenge\nTextile production often utilizes a great amount of energy, which emits greenhouse gases. These greenhouse gases are harmful to people and the planet. Additionally, many textiles are made of petroleum-based materials that take hundreds of years to degrade. When these materials are discarded, the entire item or part of it could end up as pollution.\n\nInnovation details\nBrewed Protein™️ materials are made from synthetic spider silk using plant-derived sugars as primary raw ingredients. Spiber designs genes that code for the desired structural proteins that will form the silk. Microorganisms are then engineered to produce these proteins with high productivity using fermentation. The proteins are then separated from the liquid mixture containing the microorganisms. These purified proteins are then dried and the resulting synthetic silk is processed into a variety of forms, such as fibers and films.\n\nBiological Model\nSpider silk is extremely strong and flexible despite being an incredibly thin and lightweight material. This is due in part to the multiple different protein chains that are interlinked to help provide stability. Between the connections are unlinked protein chains that also allow for significant elasticity."}, {"Source": "photosynthesis", "Application": "dye-sensitized solar cells", "Function1": "produce energy", "Function2": "produce oxygen", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/dye-sensitized-solar-cell-technology-inspired-by-photosynthesis/", "Strategy": "Environmentally-Friendly Solar Cells Inspired by Photosynthesis\nDye-Sensitized Solar Cells use non-toxic materials to convert light to electricity.\n\nThe Challenge\nAlthough solar energy is a progressive, sustainable approach to energy generation, the production of solar panels can generate toxic byproducts such as silicon tetrachloride, nanoparticles, and hexafluoride. These toxins can be very dangerous to human health. Additionally, in the manufacturing of most solar cells, silica (SiO2) must be heavily heated to separate the silicon from oxygen, which is an energy-intensive process.\n\nInnovation details\nDye-Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSCs) contain a porous layer of titanium dioxide nanoparticles covered in a dye that absorbs incoming photons from the sun, similar to the way plants absorb light for photosynthesis. The excited electrons in the dye are then collected for powering a load. An electrolyte solution replaces lost electrons back to the absorbent dye so the cycle can continue. DSSCs are generally considered much more environmentally benign to produce than conventional solar cells because they use relatively non-toxic materials that require little energy to manufacture. They are also able to produce the same amount of energy as a silicon-based solar cell while reducing their life-cycle environmental impact.\n\nBiological Model\nPhotosynthesis is essential for life on Earth. It is the process by which plants produce energy and oxygen using just sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide."}, {"Source": "mammalian bone", "Application": "mammalian bones", "Function1": "provides strength and support", "Function2": "protects against impact", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/sponge-like-battery-structure-inspired-by-mammalian-bones/", "Strategy": "Sponge-Like Battery Structure Inspired by Mammalian Bones\nBattery from Sungkyunkwan University has a porous structure that remains stable at high voltages.\n\nThe Challenge\nSodium-ion batteries have advantages over lithium-ion batteries because sodium is cheaper and much more available. However, they offer disadvantages as well. Sodium-ion batteries are heavier than lithium-ion batteries, making them less versatile and harder to work with. Additionally, sodium-ion batteries cannot handle the same voltage levels as lithium ones.\n\nInnovation details\nThe battery mimics the inner and outer structure of mammalian bones. Bones are porous on the inside to allow for the movement and transport of bone marrow. The outside is hard and compact, providing strength and support, especially in times of stress. Similarly, the battery has a sponge-like architecture made from a sodium cathode material called NVP (Na3V2(PO4)3), which is surrounded by a dense shell of reduced graphene oxide (rGO). NVP is excellent at transporting sodium and has a better cycling stability, a flatter voltage profile, and stronger thermal capabilities than common cathode materials. However, it is structurally unstable, so being encase in rGO provides support, while also facilitating charge transfer, which contributes to the high charging rate and long life cycle. Overall, the bonelike architecture makes the battery more structurally sound, reducing permanent damage from electrochemical and mechanical stress. The battery can charge at ultrahigh rates and maintain over 90% of its capacity after 10,000 cycles of discharging and recharging, depending on the charge rate.\n\nBiological Model\nBones are made up of two types of tissue, a hard layer on the outside called compact tissue, and a spongey inner tissue called cancellous tissue. The compact tissue provides strength and support, especially in times of stress. The cancellous tissue is made of thin rods and plates arranged along lines of stress, creating a porous structure that protects against impact while also allowing for the movement and transport of bone marrow."}, {"Source": "spider's web", "Application": "bird protection glass", "Function1": "attract insects", "Function2": "warn away large animals", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/bird-friendly-glass-inspired-by-spider-webs/", "Strategy": "Bird-Friendly Glass Inspired by Spider Webs\nORNILUX Bird Protection Glass from Arnold Glas has a patterned, UV reflective coating that birds are able to see, helping to reduce collisions with buildings.\n\nThe Challenge\nIt is estimated that hundreds of millions of birds are killed each year due to collisions with glass on human-built structures. Glass is reflective and transparent and is oftentimes not visible to birds.\n\nInnovation details\nORNILUX Bird Protection Glass is insulated, transparent glass designed to reduce bird collisions. The glass has a patterned, UV reflective coating that is visible to birds, but virtually transparent to the human eye, similar to spider webs. This helps to reduce bird collisions with glass buildings.\n\nBiological Model\nSome species of spiders incorporate UV-reflective silk strands into their webs. This attracts certain insects while simultaneously distracting or warning away larger animals, including birds. This is to the spider’s advantage, because if a bird were to fly through the web, the spider would temporarily lose its ability to capture prey."}, {"Source": "plant", "Application": "plant robot", "Function1": "transpiration", "Function2": "track the sun", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/self-repairing-robots-inspired-by-plants/", "Strategy": "Self-Repairing Robots Inspired by Plants\nPlant robot from Bilkent University is made of soft organic material that behaves autonomously.\n\nThe Challenge\nRobots are typically rigid, robust machines that are programmed to perform specific tasks. These machines are unable to grow or repair themselves if they break. Repair requires human intervention, which can be costly and time-consuming.\n\nInnovation details\nThe plant robot is made of simple materials: folded paper cut-outs and sugar gel, with no batteries or motors. This forms a simple organic compound that follows the instruction of biochemical reactions, not pre-programmed software. The plant uses a transpiration-like process with hydration and dehydration to send feedback. The robots also move with the sun, which maximizes the amount of solar energy available to the leaves, similar to a real plant.\n\nBiological Model\nPlants use transpiration to help move water from their roots to their leaves by evaporation. Plants also respond to the presence or absence of light in multiple ways. Heliotropism is the directional growth of plants toward sunlight. Nyctinasty is the mechanism in which plants close their petals at night, or in the absence of light. A specific example of this is how flower stalks of snow buttercups track the sun using differential cell growth."}, {"Source": "limbs joint", "Application": "hybrid sliding-rocking bridge", "Function1": "absorb energy", "Function2": "enable sliding motion", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/resilient-bridge-column-inspired-by-limbs/", "Strategy": "Resilient Bridge Column Inspired by Limbs\nThe hybrid sliding-rocking bridge from Texas A&M University has flexible joints that help reduce impact and damage to the overall structure.\n\nThe Challenge\nBridges are oftentimes made of concrete- a stiff, hard, inflexible material. When an earthquake or other natural disaster hits, the components may be forced to move, but because they are unable to, the structure ends up cracking and breaking. If structural damage occurs, the repairs can be costly, or could lead to catastrophic failure of the overall structure.\n\nInnovation details\nThe hybrid sliding-rocking bridge is made of columns with joints and segments inspired by limbs. The column is made of precast concrete with steel rebar inside. The steel is post-tensioned, a method where lengthened steel cables are placed before the concrete is poured. The column is connected to the rest of the structure with rocking and sliding joints. In the event of a major catastrophe such as an earthquake, the joints absorb some of the energy while the segments slide over one another, rather than bending or cracking. The columns exhibited little damage when exposed to high-intensity shock similar to what would be delivered by earthquakes, and the damage that did occur could be repaired quickly with grout and carbon fibers.\n\nBiological Model\nA joint is where two bones meet in the body. Different joints allow for different types of movement. Cartilaginous joints are connected by cartilage, and allow for small types of movement, for example the vertebrae in the spine. Synovial joints are more freely moving and can move in many directions, such as hip or shoulder joints. These joints are filled with fluid that acts like a lubricant, helping the joints to move more easily."}, {"Source": "butterfly's wing", "Application": "precise hydrogen sensor", "Function1": "reflect light", "Function2": "absorb light", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/precise-hydrogen-sensor-inspired-by-butterflies/", "Strategy": "Precise Hydrogen Sensor Inspired by Butterflies\nLow-temperature hydrogen sensor from RMIT University has bumpy microstructures that efficiently create energy from light rather than heat.\n\nThe Challenge\nCommercial hydrogen sensors are used to detect potentially harmful hydrogen gases. These sensors require high temperatures (150-400°C) to run, using a large amount of energy which increases costs.\n\nInnovation details\nThe hydrogen sensor has bumps that mimic those found on the surface of butterfly wings. The bumps on the sensor are made of microstructures called spherical photonic crystals. These crystals are incredibly efficient at absorbing light, allowing the sensor to be powered by a beam of light rather than heat. This allows the sensor to work efficiently at room temperature. Additionally, the photonic crystal surface can be consistently fabricated, providing repetitive accurate sensing.\n\nBiological Model\nButterfly wings appear black not because of pigment, but because they are able to absorb light and reflect almost none of it back. This is achieved by a mesh-like surface of bumps, ridges and holes on the scales of the butterfly wing, which channel light into the scale’s interior. There, pillar-like beams of tissue scatter light until it is almost completely absorbed."}, {"Source": "butterfly's wing", "Application": "anti-reflective solar panels", "Function1": "reflect light", "Function2": "absorb light", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/antireflective-solar-panels-inspired-by-butterfly-wings/", "Strategy": "Anti-Reflective Solar Panels Inspired by Butterfly Wings\nSolar panels from Anhui Polytechnic University have patterned nanostructures that reduce light reflection.\n\nThe Challenge\nLight reflection is a common problem that occurs in many applications. For example, any light that is reflected off solar panels reduces the total amount of energy that can be used, which decreases efficiency. Additionally, when particles such as dust adhere to a surface, they block potential light from entering, further reducing efficiency.\n\nInnovation details\nButterfly wings appear black not because of pigment, but because they are able to absorb light and reflect almost none of it back using specialized structures. Researchers mimicked these structures and placed them silicon-based solar panels, to help reduce light reflection. If less light is reflected, that means more of it can be absorbed, increasing the overall efficiency of the panels. Researchers found that these structures decreased light reflection from more than 35% down to less than 5%. As a result, the short-circuit current (the largest current that can be obtained from the photovoltaic cell), was increased by 66%.\n\nBiological Model\nButterfly wings appear black not because of pigment, but because they are able to absorb light and reflect almost none of it back. This is achieved by a mesh-like surface of ridges and holes on the scales of the butterfly wing, which channel light into the scale’s interior. There, pillar-like beams of tissue scatter light until it is almost completely absorbed."}, {"Source": "protein", "Application": "drug discovery platform", "Function1": "different sites control different functions", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/systematic-drug-discovery-platform-inspired-by-proteins/", "Strategy": "Systematic Drug Discovery Platform Inspired by Proteins\nSpotFinder from HotSpot Therapeutics uses an allosteric approach that identifies new binding sites for disease-fighting drugs.\n\nThe Challenge\nA drug does its job by binding to a protein to initiate or block activity. Typical drug discovery focuses on finding compounds that target the ‘active site’— a small location where a protein binds to another molecule and causes a chemical reaction. However, drugs that bind active sites can oftentimes lead to side effects caused by accidentally binding to the wrong site, or blocking natural molecules that use the same site.\n\nInnovation details\nSpotFinder™ is a drug discovery platform that identifies new binding sites, known as regulatory hotspots, for disease-fighting drugs. Unlike active sites, regulatory hotspots are more difficult to find and require a deep understanding of protein structure and function. SpotFinder™ takes a systems-wide view across all proteins to uncover previously unknown regulatory hotspots. The platform identifies drugs and regulatory hotspots across multiple classes of proteins, and has been able to identify protein classes that were previously considered undruggable.\n\nBiological Model\nDrugs selectively correct for chemical imbalances and dysregulation to restore health and proper functioning by precisely altering the sites that control the function of a protein. For example, when an oxygen molecule binds to a non-active site on hemoglobin, it causes other locations of the protein to become more receptive to additional oxygen molecules, making the hemoglobin able to deliver more oxygen to the body."}, {"Source": "coral reef", "Application": "algal turf scrubber", "Function1": "remove nutrient pollution", "Function2": "breakdown toxic chemicals", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/algae-mat-cleans-polluted-water-by-pulsing-water-like-a-coral-reef/", "Strategy": "Algae Mat Cleans Polluted Water by Pulsing Water Like a Coral Reef\nAlgal Turf Scrubber from Hydromentia pulses water to stimulate algal growth, creating an efficient environment for pollutant removal.\n\nThe Challenge\nNutrient pollution is an incredibly challenging and costly environmental problem. It is caused by excess nitrogen and phosphorus in the air and water, often as a result of fertilizer runoff from crops. Nutrient pollution has impacted many streams, rivers, lakes, bays and coastal waters for the past several decades, resulting in serious environmental and human health issues, and impacting the economy.\n\nInnovation details\nThe Algal Turf Scrubber® system cleans pollutant-laden water by pulsing water down a sloped substrate to stimulate algal growth, similarly to coral reefs. The algae remove nutrient pollutants, including phosphorus and nitrogen, from the water. The algae also produce pure oxygen as a byproduct, which can be used aquatic organisms and also helps to breakdown other toxic chemicals, such as lead and mercury. The algal mat can then be harvested and processed into marketable commodities such as soil-enhancing compost or biofuel feedstock.\n\nBiological Model\nThe use of algae to remove nutrient pollution is bioutilization. However, the Algal Turf Scrubber also mimics coral reef wave action by pulsing water over the algae. Coral reefs have a dense, biodiverse turf of filamentous algae that cover roughly 40% of their surfaces. Many coral reefs rhythmically pulse water over the algae, which enhances water and nutrient mixing, stimulating algal growth. It also prevents refiltration of water by neighboring polyps and enhances the coral’s photosynthesis."}, {"Source": "ocean diatom", "Application": "natural water purification", "Function1": "desalinate and purify water", "Function2": "draw  mineral silica", "Function3": "form hard surface", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/natural-water-purification-inspired-by-ocean-diatoms/", "Strategy": "Natural Water Purification Inspired by Ocean Diatoms\nRetein stabilizes aquaporins in lipids and silica to desalinate and purify water.\n\nThe Challenge\nWater scarcity affects every continent, with more than 2 billion people lacking access to safe drinking water. Small, harmful pollutants, such as pharmaceutical residues, pathogens, and microplastics, are wreaking havoc in our oceans, lakes, and rivers. And although we have powerful water purification systems, forcing millions of gallons of water through the membrane of a filter takes a significant amount of energy. So, if we want a higher purity of water we must use a higher energy input, therefore pumping more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, and creating a much greater cost for clean water.\n\nInnovation details\nRetein is on the cusp of revolutionizing the water purification industry. The team is mimicking the way diatoms form their cell wall out of silica and utilizing aquaporins, proteins that transport pure water across cell membranes throughout nature. Their energy-efficient and selective technology produces high purity grade water in a single filter pass, desalination at any scale, and removes industrial pollutants and contaminants such as arsenic, microplastics, and pharmaceutical residues.\n\nBiological Model\nWater is an indispensable component of living cells—in a Goldilocks sort of way. Too much and the cell will burst; too little and it will dry out and die. How does a cell keep its water content just right? It makes aquaporin molecules that form hourglass-shaped tunnels through its otherwise water-repelling membranes. Electrical charges inside the tunnels ensure that only water (and sometimes a few select other molecules) can get through, and only in small amounts, maintaining the balance needed to maintain life.\n\nTo embed aquaporins in a stable, usable material for humans, Retein looked to single-celled organisms found in lakes, rivers, and oceans around the world. Diatoms use special proteins to draw the mineral silica from water into a sac inside their cell. There, other proteins link the silica atoms together to form the hard surfaces. Yet other proteins connect the hard parts to form a box around the cell and to make a pinch point that holds them together. Sugar and other organic materials add yet more stability and create different shapes for different species."}, {"Source": "morpho butterfly's wing", "Application": "anti‑counterfeiting technology", "Function1": "produce structural color", "Function2": "unique identification", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/anti-counterfeiting-technology-inspired-by-the-morpho-butterfly/", "Strategy": "Anti-Counterfeiting Technology Inspired by the Morpho Butterfly\nKolourOptik from Nanotech uses microstructures to secure products and make them difficult to counterfeit.\n\nThe Challenge\nCounterfeiting is a major problem worldwide and costs companies and governments billions of dollars every year. Passports, banknotes, immunity certificates, identification documents and tax stamps all require enhanced security in order to protect from counterfeits.\n\nInnovation details\nKolourOptik® combines sub-wavelength nanostructures and microstructures to create security features with a unique and customizable visual effect. KolourOptik pure plasmonic color pixels mimic the nanostructures found on butterfly wings that produce structural color. The result is a unique identification that produces full color, 3D depth and movement that is nearly impossible to replicate. At less than 5 microns thick, KolourOptik products seamlessly integrate into banknotes and other secure government documents. Nanotech has also modified this technology to make labels for consumer products, such as packaging and pharmaceuticals. This technology is known as LumaChrome®.\n\nBiological Model\nBlue morpho butterflies do not use pigment to create the bright blue color on their wings. Instead, their wings have a layered microstructure that causes light waves that hit the surface of the wing to diffract and interfere with each other, so that certain color wavelengths cancel out while others, such as blue, are intensified and reflected."}, {"Source": "human visual processing system", "Application": "convolutional neural network", "Function1": "respond strongly to certain inputs", "Function2": "respond spatically inviriantly", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/dynamic-machine-learning-inspired-by-the-visual-processing-system/", "Strategy": "Dynamic Machine Learning Inspired by the Visual Processing System\nConvolutional Neural Networks use a deep learning algorithm to efficiently process information.\n\nThe Challenge\nComputers are capable of processing a lot information faster than humans can. However, when it comes to visual information, computers slow down to process the breadth and variety of information presented in an image. The computer needs to keep track of the information, creating a lot of storage and using a lot of computing power.\n\nInnovation details\nA Convolutional Neural Network is an algorithm that takes an input image, assigns importance to various aspects of the image, and then can differentiate between the aspects within the image, similar to the human visual processing system. The entire computer system is able to identify what is in the image because the levels of importance become features on a map that the computer recognizes. This system can then thoroughly process the entire image without creating a large amount of extra data.\n\nBiological Model\nThe human visual system is comprised of several different types of cells. Simple cells have have ‘preferred locations’ on the image, meaning they respond most strongly to certain types of inputs (for example, a line at a particular angle). Complex cells receive input from many simple cells and thus have more spatially invariant responses. These operations are replicated in a convolutional neural network."}, {"Source": "rock ant", "Application": "negative trails' algorithm", "Function1": "leave chemical trail", "Function2": "transmit information", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/mathematical-sampling-technique-inspired-by-rock-ants/", "Strategy": "Mathematical Sampling Technique Inspired by Rock Ants\nSampling technique from University of Bristol tracks all sampled components to avoid repetition.\n\nThe Challenge\nSampling methods used in many probability-based algorithms do not track previously sampled components. This methodology leads to inefficiency because the program cannot remember what it has already done and could end up repeating the process.\n\nInnovation details\nRock ants leave chemical trails as they explore new spaces. These trails tell other ants where not to go, to avoid exploring the same area twice. Researchers mimicked this method by creating an algorithm that made ‘negative trails’ of what data it had already sampled, which decreased redundant data gathering and increased efficiency.\n\nBiological Model\nRock ant colonies find nests by exploring nearby areas, and leave behind chemical trails as they explore new spaces. These trails tell other ants where not to go, to avoid exploring the same area twice. This allows ants to collectively explore more space as a group. This is different from food foraging, in which ants leave chemical trails so other ants can follow them to new sources of food."}, {"Source": "pitcher plant's rim", "Application": "liquid containers coating", "Function1": "thin wet film", "Function2": "reduce friction", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/coating-for-industrial-liquid-containers-inspired-by-pitcher-plants/", "Strategy": "Coating for Industrial Liquid Containers Inspired by Pitcher Plants\nSLIPS Repel from Adaptive Surface Technologies has an ultra-thin slippery surface that helps reduce residue build-up.\n\nThe Challenge\nIndustrial liquid containers often have excessive residue build-up. This residue needs to be removed consistently, resulting in down time of the containers and high product waste. Additionally, the cleaning products are often harmful to the environment and produce unnecessary waste.\n\nInnovation details\nThe SLIPS® Repel™ system has a polymeric coating that is applied to the container walls and a liquid lubricant layer that is held in place by the polymeric substrate. The lubricant layer enables the coating to remain permanently wet, causing viscous liquids to easily slide off, reducing residue.\n\nBiological Model\nPitcher plants trap insects and other small prey when they land on the rounded rim of the pitcher and fall in, ending up in a pool of digestive juices. The surface of the rounded rim is especially slippery, making it difficult for insects to grab hold and escape. The pitcher owes its slipperiness to a thin wet film on the surface, which drastically reduces friction between the plant and insect feet."}, {"Source": "bone", "Application": "self-repairing concrete", "Function1": "encourage cell growth", "Function2": "encourage cell mineralization", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/self-healing-concrete-cracking-repair-solution-inspired-by-bones/", "Strategy": "Self-Healing Concrete Inspired by Bones\nSelf-repairing concrete contains bacteria that produce limestone to fill any cracks that occur.\n\nThe Challenge\nCement is the second most consumed product on Earth after water. Concrete production is one of the largest producers of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas. These gases absorb solar energy and keep heat close to the Earth, known as the greenhouse effect, leading to global warming. In addition, repairing cracked concrete in roads and buildings costs governments and companies billions of dollars every year.\n\nInnovation details\nSelf-repairing concrete utilizes a limestone-producing bacteria, which is normally dormant inside the concrete. When a crack emerges, it lets in air and moisture. This forces the bacteria out of dormancy, where they start to feed on the calcium lactate inside the concrete. They also consume oxygen, which converts the soluble calcium lactate into insoluble limestone. The limestone solidifies in the cracks, sealing them again. This process was inspired by the ability of bones to self-heal after damage.\n\nBiological Model\nOsteoclasts and osteoblasts work together to help bones heal by encouraging cell growth and mineralization. The osteoblasts work in groups to deposit calcium and phosphate crystals into the damaged site, which combine with collagen to form new bone. Osteoclast cells remove any unwanted bone around the fracture site, until the repaired bone assumes a shape similar to its appearance before injury."}, {"Source": "baleen whale's mouth", "Application": "self‑cleaning filter technology", "Function1": "separate water from solids", "Function2": "filter-feeding mechanism", "Function3": "stay clean", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/self-cleaning-filter-technology-for-wastewater-treatment-inspired-by-baleen-whales/", "Strategy": "Self-Cleaning Filter Technology for Wastewater Treatment Inspired by Baleen Whales\nBaleen Filters from Baleen Filters Pty Limited use self-cleaning filters to clean wastewater without the use of chemicals.\n\nThe Challenge\nMore than 80% of waste waters (some 1,500 billion tons every year) flow untreated into rivers, lakes, and coastal zones, threatening health, food security, and access to safe drinking and bathing water. Traditional wastewater treatments require the use of fossil fuels or thermal energy to separate and filter wastewater.\n\nInnovation details\nThe Baleen Filter is a self-cleaning filter technology that cleans large amounts of wastewater without using chemicals. It uses pressurized water to push wastewater through a mesh screen, which separates water from solids, similarly to a baleen whale.\n\nBiological Model\nBaleen is a filter-feeding mechanism found inside the mouths of baleen whales. Mostly made of keratin—the same substance found in human fingernails and hair—baleen is similar to the bristles on a brush. Because Baleen whales feed on small organisms such as plankton and fish, they need to capture and eat as many of them as they can at one time. When a baleen whale consumes a huge mouthful of krill, fish, and water, it partially shuts its jaws and then presses its tongue against its upper jaw to force the water through the baleen, leaving the krill and fish on the inside of its mouth. This enables the whale to capture and strain large amounts of food while keeping its baleen clean and free from long-term deposits."}, {"Source": "anhydrobiosis", "Application": "room temperature biological sample storage", "Function1": "stabilize and protect biological materials", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/room-temperature-biological-sample-storage-inspired-by-anhydrobiosis/", "Strategy": "Room Temperature Biological Sample Storage Inspired by Anhydrobiosis\nRNAstāble from Biomatrica uses synthetic chemistry to stabilize biological samples at room temperature.\n\nThe Challenge\nBiological samples are often stored in a freezer, which makes them vulnerable to equipment malfunction and oftentimes leads to sample degradation over time. In addition, shipping of frozen samples requires dry ice, which is costly and uses excessive materials.\n\nInnovation details\nRNAstāble™ mimics the trehalose protein to stabilize and protect biological materials at room temperature. It is a thermostable, dissolvable glass that packages every single molecule in a sample.\n\nBiological Model\nAnhydrobiosis is the process by which organisms such as brine shrimp and tardigrades become almost completely dehydrated, losing up to 95% of their free and stored water and entering a state of suspended animation. They can survive in this state for several decades. To enter this state, the organism creates different proteins and sugars that help protect its cells. One sugar, trehalose, is known to help organisms survive dessication. Although it is not known exactly how trehalose works, it is hypothesized that this protein helps with water absorption and prevents ice crystal formation, which can damage cells. Once the organism takes up water again from its surroundings it can re-activate its cells and come back to life."}, {"Source": "pufferfish", "Application": "aerial robot", "Function1": "inflate", "Function2": "erect spines on the skin", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/safer-aerial-robot-inspired-by-pufferfish/", "Strategy": "Safer Aerial Robot Inspired by Pufferfish\nPufferBot from the University of Colorado Boulder has a protective shield that prevents dangerous collisions.\n\nThe Challenge\nAlthough drones provide a convenient method of aerial surveillance and videography, they can be harmful when a collision occurs. The rotating blades that control the movement of drones can cause cuts and gashes due to the fast rotation speeds. Adding heavy armor around the blades increases costs and limits maneuverability.\n\nInnovation details\nThe aerial robot has a collapsible plastic shield that can be deployed at a moment’s notice. When it gets close to an obstacle, the shield deploys, lessening the effect of the impact on the robot and the external object. The shield is made of plastic hoops that can inflate from ~20 inches to 33 inches in diameter, creating a lightweight, flexible protection device.\n\nBiological Model\nPufferfish inflate when threatened by a predator to protect themselves. The fish ingest water to enlarge their bodies, making them more dangerous looking. Their skin also contains embedded spines that become erect when inflated, further scaring off predators."}, {"Source": "mussels' adhesive protein", "Application": "non‑toxic underwater adhesive", "Function1": "adhere to surfaces", "Function2": "underwater adhesive", "Function3": "sticky protein", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/non-toxic-underwater-adhesive-inspired-by-mussels/", "Strategy": "Non-Toxic Underwater Adhesive Inspired by Mussels\nMussel Polymers mimicked mussel proteins to create an adhesive that works even in extreme marine environments.\n\nThe Challenge\nCyanoacrylate and epoxy are used in coral restoration. However, these adhesive chemistries were not designed to work on wet surfaces, let alone on sensitive living tissues. Both bind poorly to wet surfaces and have toxicity problems. NOAA scientists recently argued that improved adhesive technology was the single most powerful leverage point for scaling reef restoration efforts.\n\nInnovation details\nMussel Polymers has developed a high-performance, non-toxic adhesive known as poly (catechol)styrene, or PCS, mimicking the adhesive proteins mussels use to adhere to surfaces in extreme marine environments. PCS is 300% stronger than other underwater adhesives, and bonds to a wide range of materials. Mussel Polymers will be used in a number of industries, but they are bringing their product to market first for coral restoration, solving a critical problem within the conservation ecosystem.\n\nBiological Model\nWhile humans have spent decades trying to make adhesives that stick underwater, mussels have been doing it for hundreds of millions of years. They tether themselves to rocks or each other with stringy fibers called byssal threads that have ends that contain a mixture of sticky proteins. In particular, two proteins called dopa and lysine work together to help mussels stick. When lysine approaches positively charged ions on rocky surfaces, it pushes them out of the way, like a magnet turned the wrong way, clearing a path for clingy dopa to latch on."}, {"Source": "fruit fly's nervous system", "Application": "machine learning model", "Function1": "adapt behavior based on past experiences", "Function2": "form a distributed memory", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/machine-learning-model-inspired-by-insects-nervous-systems/", "Strategy": "Machine Learning Model Inspired by Insects’ Nervous Systems\nA network model from the University of Cologne integrates fast, parallel processing with recognition of experience to enable an artificial agent to learn more efficiently.\n\nThe Challenge\nComputers rely on a binary system, consisting of 0’s and 1’s, to operate. They follow a code to compute and complete tasks, and they do not have a dynamic memory. Because of this, computers only can perform the tasks they are made to do, and can’t learn new processes unless there is a change in programming. If a computer is faced with a decision, it can only follow its code, it cannot remember what happened during past computations before the code was changed.\n\nInnovation details\nThe researchers analyzed how fruit flies learn to find food in their environments and built a computational model that mimics the process. Normally, researchers train flies by presenting a specific scent with a reward and a second scent without a reward. The fly learns to quickly associate certain scents with rewards, and they can remember this information when searching for food in more complex environments in the future. The researchers looked at the computational processing involved in the process and applied it to a computational model that mimics the biological information processing of fruit flies. What distinguishes biological computation is that it uses fast and parallel processing with input from brief nerve pulses. In addition, it creates a distributed memory by constantly changing and modifying contacts between neurons throughout the learning process. This allows a machine learning model, such as AI or an autonomous system, to learn much more efficiently and to apply what it has learned in a changing environment, using only a small database of training samples.\n\nBiological Model\nInsects are able to cope with problems in their environments by changing their behavior based on knowledge from past experiences. Their nervous systems use fast, parallel processing with brief nerve impulses to form a distributed memory."}, {"Source": "infectious bacteria", "Application": "infection‑detecting bandage", "Function1": "break down cell wall", "Function2": "release compounds", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/infection-detecting-bandage-inspired-by-human-cells/", "Strategy": "Infection-Detecting Bandage Inspired by Human Cells\nSmartwound from the Jenkins Group at the University of Bath is a bandage with a special gel matrix that alerts the user when an infection has occurred.\n\nThe Challenge\nBurn victims are vulnerable to a variety of diseases due to the bacteria that can colonize in the open wounds. The bacteria are invisible to the naked eye, but are capable of causing life-threatening complications. Often, doctors and patients find out about the infection after it’s too late, resulting in a severe injury, or even death.\n\nInnovation details\nSmartwound is a bandage that produces a fluorescent signal when bacteria are present in a wound and should be treated for infection. It was inspired by the way infectious bacteria break down cell walls, releasing compounds that alert the body that an infection has occurred. To mimic this effect, the bandage is covered in thousands of small capsules containing fluorescent dye. Toxins released by bacteria in the wound break down the capsules, releasing the dye. Doctors can see if the dye is present using UV light.\n\nBiological Model\nWhen bacteria start to colonize a wound they create a biofilm that releases toxins. These toxins break down host tissue cells and allow the bacteria to enter the body."}, {"Source": "sunflowers’ fibonacci spiral", "Application": "showerhead", "Function1": "optimize the packing of seeds", "Function2": "maximize the number of seeds", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/efficient-showerhead-inspired-by-the-fibonacci-spiral/", "Strategy": "Efficient Showerhead Inspired by Sunflowers&#8217; Fibonacci Spirals\nImmersion Rainshower technology from Moen uses Fibonacci-inspired, spiral-shaped nozzle patterns to provide optimal water pressure while using less water.\n\nThe Challenge\nShowers are a large part of human water consumption, and finding ways to decrease water use helps to save resources and reduce energy use.\n\nInnovation details\nThe Immersion Rainshower Technology Showerhead uses small water nozzles arranged in the Fibonacci spiral to provide the most efficient spray coverage while maintaining water pressure.\n\nBiological Model\nPlants such as sunflowers must maximize the number of seeds they can pack into each plant, to increase their chances of reproductive success. The seed heads of sunflowers optimize the packing of seeds by arranging them in Fibonacci spirals. This allows them to fit the largest number of seeds into a given area."}, {"Source": "animal's tail", "Application": "self‑balancing robot", "Function1": "maintain balance", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/self-balancing-robot-inspired-by-animals-with-tails/", "Strategy": "Self-Balancing Robot Inspired by Animals with Tails\nRobot from Beijing Institute of Technology has an artificial 'tail' that predicts uncertainty and automatically adjusts to control balance.\n\nThe Challenge\nRobots are designed to navigate on their own, but when encountering rough terrain, they may lose balance and fall over. Unfortunately, if a robot tumbles over, it may be difficult to recover because it doesn’t have arms or other limbs to assist it in standing back up.\n\nInnovation details\nThe self-balancing robot is made of two wheels, a main body, and a tail component. The tail is controlled by an adaptive hierarchical sliding mode controller, which predicts uncertainty in dynamic and changing environments and adjusts accordingly. To adjust, the tail rotates in different directions, parallel to the robot’s wheels, to help the robot keep its balance.\n\nBiological Model\nAnimals with non-prehensile tails use this extra limb to enhance balance while moving through the environment. These animals use their tail as a counterweight, when their body moves in one direction, the tail moves in another to balance out."}, {"Source": "fungi", "Application": "soil remediation", "Function1": "break down pollutants", "Function2": "harmful chemicals", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/soil-remediation-using-natural-organisms/", "Strategy": "Soil Remediation Using Natural Organisms\nNovobiom uses fungi and microorganisms for the remediation of contaminated industrial soils.\n\nThe Challenge\nThe Global Bioremediation Market was valued at USD $105.7 Billion in 2019 and is forecasted to reach USD $334.70 Billion by 2027. Focusing on soil contamination in Europe, only 650,000 site have been identified as requiring remediation but only 15% have been treated so far. Soil contamination addressable via mycoremediation represents about 64% of all the contamination occurrences.\n\nInnovation details\nNovobiom is tapping nature’s most powerful recyclers, fungi and microorganisms, for use in brownfields, Superfund sites, and other contaminated industrial land. By selecting for naturally occurring fungi that target specific contaminants such as oil or heavy metals, they perform mycoremediation on site, without the need for hauling away soil to a central treatment facility. Novobiom has the potential to revitalize millions of contaminated sites around the world by naturally decomposing harmful toxins through this systems-level biomimetic approach.\n\nBiological Model\nAll living things contain enzymes, proteins that help other molecules react with each other by juxtaposing them in just the right way. As organisms that specializing in decomposing things, fungi have a particularly impressive array of enzymes at their service. Many of these break down fungus food such as plant parts. Some, it turns out, are also incidentally very good at breaking down pollutants that humans introduce into the environment. The reactions they catalyze can turn harmful chemicals into harmless substances such as carbohydrates, water, and oxygen."}, {"Source": "anhydrobiotic organisms", "Application": "vaccine storage", "Function1": "long term preservation", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/long-term-vaccine-storage-inspired-by-anhydrobiotic-organisms/", "Strategy": "Long-Term Vaccine Storage Inspired by Anhydrobiotic Organisms\nVitRIS and HydRIS from Nova Laboratories use sugar-glass stabilization to improve long-term vaccine storage.\n\nThe Challenge\nBiological samples are often stored in a freezer, which makes them vulnerable to equipment malfunction and oftentimes leads to sample degradation over time. In addition, shipping of frozen samples requires dry ice, which is costly and uses excessive materials.\n\nInnovation details\nThe vaccine is first spray-dried using sugar syrup to form microscopic glass spheres (VitRIS™ technology). This was inspired by the process anhydrobiotic organisms use to protect themselves during suspended animation. The dry vaccine is then suspended in an inert liquid, which can be injected into muscle where bodily fluids reactivate the vaccine (HydRIS® technology). Since the stable liquid formulations are anhydrous, they are inherently bacteriostatic, as bacteria require water to multiply. Thus the need for antiseptics is eliminated. Sugar beads also prevent the interaction of vaccines prior to injection; therefore, multiple or multivalent vaccines can be developed using this technology and given in the same shot. The sugar can also be adapted to dissolve more slowly, thereby releasing vaccines over time and eliminating the need for boosters.\n\nBiological Model\nAnhydrobiosis is the process by which organisms such as brine shrimp and tardigrades become almost completely dehydrated, losing up to 95% of their free and stored water and entering a state of suspended animation. They can survive in this state for several decades. To enter this state, the organism creates different proteins and sugars that help protect its cells. They do this by replacing the water with a sugar solution that thickens to a point of solidifying as a glass. Once the organism takes up water again from its surroundings it can re-activate its cells and come back to life."}, {"Source": "butterfly's wing", "Application": "color-changing pigments", "Function1": "absorb certain wavelengths of light", "Function2": "reflect light", "Function3": "provide pigment and structural color", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/color-changing-pigments-inspired-by-butterflies/", "Strategy": "Color-Changing Pigments Inspired by Butterflies\nChromaFlair Color Shifting Pigment from Viavi is a multi-layer pigment containing flakes that give paints and other coatings the ability to change color when viewed from different angles.\n\nThe Challenge\nColor-shifting hues are difficult to manufacture and may use several different types of dyes and pigments to achieve the desired effect. In addition, the color can fade over time, requiring reapplication.\n\nInnovation details\nChromaFlair® Color Shifting Pigment is a unique material consisting of an ultra-thin, multi-layer interference film that forms micron size flakes. Unlike ordinary and many special-effect pigments, ChromaFlair pigment is opaque, thin, flat, and highly specular (mirror-like). ChromaFlair pigment is manufactured by the deposition of ultra-thin layered structures similar to those sometimes found in nature, such as soap bubbles, butterfly wings, or sea shells. Precisely controlling the thickness of the multi-layers in the pigment’s flake structure produces different colors that are highly saturated and bright.\n\nBiological Model\nColor in butterfly wings comes from two sources: pigment and structural color. Pigments are chemicals that absorb certain wavelengths of light and reflect others- the wavelengths that are reflected are the colors that you see. The most common are orange, brown, and yellow, which come from melanin, the same pigment that is found in our skin. When light hits an orange butterfly wing, for example, the pigment absorbs all the colors except orange, which is reflected back."}, {"Source": "snake's body", "Application": "snake-like robot", "Function1": "move over a variety of surfaces", "Function2": "bend spine into coil", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/self-propelled-flexible-robot-inspired-by-snakes/", "Strategy": "Self-Propelled, Flexible Robot Inspired by Snakes\nSoryu-C from HiBot has a flexible body that helps it inspect narrow structures and harsh terrain.\n\nThe Challenge\nLarge infrastructures often contain small, inaccessible spaces that are dangerous and difficult to get to. Parts of the structure oftentimes have to be temporarily dismantled or shut down in order to access a hard-to-reach area.\n\nInnovation details\nSoryu-C is a slender snake-like robot designed for remote navigation and inspection of confined spaces, as well as uneven and unstructured environments. It can operate in mud, water, and sand, and can move over highly irregular surfaces such as debris. It is also equipped with two high-definition cameras for remote operation.\n\nBiological Model\nSnakes are limbless animals, so they must move over a variety of surfaces using only their flexible and slender bodies. Snakes typically swim, climb or crawl by bending their spine into serpentine coils or using their scales to push off objects."}, {"Source": "butterfly's wing", "Application": "tunable structural color coatings", "Function1": "produce brilliant color", "Function2": "naturally-occurring nanostructure", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/light-reflecting-coating-inspired-by-butterfly-wings/", "Strategy": "Light-Reflecting Coating Inspired by Butterfly Wings\nCypris Materials creates structural color coatings that reflect UV and infrared light without toxic chemicals or dyes.\n\nThe Challenge\nCoatings and color are restricted by aesthetics, ease of application, expense, range, and toxicity. Innovation in industries from various sectors like automotive, construction, and consumer products are all similarly limited by their surface chemistry. In industry, colors are typically produced by the inclusion of potentially toxic pigments, dyes, and binders within the coatings.\n\nInnovation details\nCypris Materials has developed a tunable structural color coatings made from commodity materials. When formulated and applied onto a surface, the coating self-assembles into a robust nanostructure that reflects UV, visible, and infrared light, eliminating the need for toxic pigments and dyes. The simplicity of this approach makes it possible to replace multimillion-dollar manufacturing equipment with a simple paint brush. These coatings are designed to replicate the naturally-occurring nanostructures that produce the brilliant colors observed in butterfly wings, peacock feathers, and opal gemstones.\n\nBiological Model\nBlue morpho butterflies do not use pigment to create the bright blue color on their wings. Instead, their wings have a layered microstructure that causes light waves that hit the surface of the wing to diffract and interfere with each other, so that certain color wavelengths cancel each other out while others, namely blue, are intensified and reflected."}, {"Source": "chameleon's  tongue", "Application": "gripper", "Function1": "grip object", "Function2": "shoot out like a rubber band", "Function3": "firmly enclosing", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/versatile-gripper-inspired-by-the-chameleon-tongue/", "Strategy": "Versatile Gripper Inspired by the Chameleon Tongue\nThe FlexShapeGripper from Festo is a more energy-efficient and reliable adaptive shape gripper that encloses objects to fit around them.\n\nThe Challenge\nManufacturing is going through an automation revolution, and robots need to have the precision and capability of a human in order to create a reliable step in the process. Movements such as gripping and picking up objects can prove challenging, and can use a lot of time and resources if done improperly.\n\nInnovation details\nThe FlexShapeGripper consists of a double-acting cylinder, of which one chamber is filled with compressed air whilst the second one is permanently filled with water. This second chamber is fitted with elastic silicone moulding, which equates to the chameleon’s tongue. During the gripping procedure, a handling system guides the gripper across the object so that it touches the article with its silicone cap. Simultaneously, the handling system guides the gripper further across the object. In doing so, the silicone cap wraps itself around the object to be gripped, which can be of any shape, resulting in a tight form fit. The elastic silicone allows a precise adaptation to a wide range of different geometries. The high static friction of the material generates a strong holding force.\n\nBiological Model\nA chameleon can catch all kinds of insects by putting its tongue over the respective prey and securely enclosing it. Once the chameleon has its prey in its sights, it lets its tongue shoot out like a rubber band. Just before the tip of the tongue reaches the insect, it retracts in the middle, while the edges continue to move forward. This allows the tongue to adapt to the shape and size of the respective prey and firmly enclose it. The prey sticks to the tongue and is snapped back into the chameleon’s mouth."}, {"Source": "clams and other shellfish", "Application": "mechanical joining systems", "Function1": "attach to rock", "Function2": "high tensile strength", "Function3": "strong hold", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/versatile-mechanical-joining-systems-inspired-by-mollusks/", "Strategy": "Versatile Mechanical Joining Systems Inspired by Mollusks\nStriplox has edge hooks that securely join materials together permanently or temporarily.\n\nThe Challenge\nThe joining of materials creates everything that we depend on in our daily lives, including products, machines, buildings, cars, airplanes, computers, medical innovations, and many more. However, many current joining systems are complicated, aesthetically troubling, and permanent. Additionally, the glues used in them can be toxic to humans and not environmentally friendly.\n\nInnovation details\nStriplox® attachments are formed by wedging together two or more parts that have intermeshing, castellated edge hooks. These are then joined with a castellated Joinlox® key, which bends to take the loads imposed by the parts on the joint. This design was inspired by clams and other shellfish that attach to rocks with incredible force. They do this by many special threads to tiny overhangs and crevices on rocks. The cumulative effect of all those attachments converts the shear forces into tensile and flexural forces, just like in the many small points of contact on the Striplox design.\n\nBiological Model\nBlue mussels attach to rocks in wave-battered intertidal seashores. They attach using stringy fibers called byssal threads that emerge from their protective shells, secreted by glands on the soft bodies inside. These fibers, while thin and flexible, also have a high tensile strength and produce a very strong hold when their combined strength is added together."}, {"Source": "spider's silk", "Application": "textile fiber", "Function1": "spin fiber", "Function2": "turn liquid proteins into a strong, solid silk", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/textile-fiber-inspired-by-spider-silk/", "Strategy": "Textile Fiber Inspired by Spider Silk\nSpintex Engineering's unique technology creates high-performance biodegradable silk fibers at room temperature.\n\nThe Challenge\nMore than 50% silk’s total environmental footprint lies in the raw material processing, primarily cocoon reeling, which boils thousands of liters of water every day. Currently, there are no sustainable alternatives to traditional silk, one of the top three luxury materials in high-end fashion. However, silk is incredibly energy intensive to produce due to its high temperature processing, giving it an environmental impact among fashion materials second only to leather.\n\nInnovation details\nSpider silk is often cited as one of the strongest biological materials in the world, and scientists have long been searching for a way to artificially synthesize this silk for human use as a textile fiber. Spintex Engineering has finally cracked the spider’s code and has developed a solution that mimics a spider spinnerets’ ability to spin fiber at room temperature without harsh chemicals, from a liquid gel. The process is 1,000 times more energy efficient than synthetic, petroleum fibers, with water as the only byproduct.\n\nBiological Model\nSpiders are masters at turning liquid proteins into a strong, solid silk. Inside its body, a spider stores the silk-making proteins in a folded configuration held together by ‘salt bridges’, which causes the parts of the proteins that would otherwise link together to be temporarily inaccessible. As the proteins move into the spider’s spinning duct, they encounter a lower pH gradient. This changed environment dissolves the salt bridges and allows the protein to unfold into a new configuration that can be used to make silk."}, {"Source": "red blood cell's carbonic anhydrase", "Application": "carbon-capture technology", "Function1": "accelerate co2 capture", "Function2": "increase co2 conversion rate", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/high-performance-enzyme-for-carbon-capture-inspired-by-carbonic-anhydrase/", "Strategy": "High Performance Enzyme for Carbon Capture Inspired by Red Blood Cells\nIndustrial Lung by Sapiem is a non-toxic carbon capture process that uses a synthetic form of the enzyme carbonic anhydrase.\n\nThe Challenge\nGreenhouse gases are at the highest levels ever recorded. These gases absorb solar energy and keep heat close to the Earth, a phenomenon known as the greenhouse effect. Carbon dioxide is the primary greenhouse gas and is emitted from burning materials like fossil fuels.\n\nInnovation details\nIndustrial Lung is a carbon capture solution that uses a synthetic carbonic anhydrase enzyme to dramatically accelerate CO2 capture. Unlike conventional carbon-capture technologies, the process neither requires nor produces toxic products. It is a carbon-capture solution that is clean, stable, has extremely fast absorption kinetics and low energy consumption, and poses no danger to human health or the environment. The technology allows post-combustion emissions to be captured directly from industrial sources like chimneys. The CO2 is then extracted for purification in order to be reused or converted. It is adaptable to all types of gaseous effluents and helps companies reduce their environmental footprint.\n\nBiological Model\nCarbon dioxide is used in the body in different ways. The majority of it (70%) is converted to carbonic acid to be carried to the lungs and breathed out. An enzyme present in red blood cells, carbonic anhydrase, helps convert carbon dioxide to carbonic acid and bicarbonate ions. Carbonic anhydrases are found in mammalian tissues, plants, algae and bacteria. When red blood cells reach the lungs, the same enzyme helps to convert the bicarbonate ions back to carbon dioxide, which we breathe out. Although these reactions can occur even without carbonic anhydrase, its presence can increase the rate of these conversions up to a million fold."}, {"Source": "earth", "Application": "temperature regulating house building system", "Function1": "store and utilize heat", "Function2": "create a stable climate", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/temperature-regulating-house-building-system-inspired-by-earth/", "Strategy": "Temperature Regulating House Building System Inspired by Earth\nEnertia Building System from Enertia Homes mimics how the Earth draws energy from the sun and geothermal stability from the ground to create a stable climate.\n\nThe Challenge\nTraditional “stick-frame” houses are built with heating and cooling systems that use a large amount of energy throughout the year. These homes are not optimized to take advantage of the ambient temperatures outside, and as a result the internal temperatures can vary widely.\n\nInnovation details\nThe Enertia® Building System utilizes multiple components to heat and cool buildings without using electricity or fuel. The homes are built with natural materials and are arranged to create an air flow/access channel that runs around the building, just inside the walls, creating a miniature biosphere. This is similar to how the Earth is able to absorb and store solar energy.\n\nBiological Model\nNovosphingobium aromaticivorans bacteria thrives in soil rich in aromatic compounds such as contamination from petroleum products. The bacteria can digest lignin into smaller aromatic hydrocarbons."}, {"Source": "mammalian tongues", "Application": "artificial tongue", "Function1": "translate taste perception signals", "Function2": "pass electrical signals", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/artificial-tongue-inspired-by-mammalian-tongues/", "Strategy": "Artificial Tongue Inspired by Mammalian Tongues\nSoft artificial tongue from Ulsan National Institute for Science and Technology has a saliva-like chemiresistive ionic hydrogel that is able to taste astringency.\n\nThe Challenge\nArtificial tongues have been developed to detect the five basic tastes, including sweet, sour, bitter, salty and umami. However, more complex tastes such as astringency (acidity or bitterness) is more difficult to detect. These artificial tongues have been developed based on lipid/polymer membranes or stripped epithelium cells, giving the tongue reduced selectivity and a narrow detection range.\n\nInnovation details\nThe specific molecules that cause the perception of astringency can be found mainly in unripe fruits, wines and teas. The thin layer of saliva on the tongue is important for tasting because it absorbs the molecules and enables them to bind to receptor cells, which send signals to the brain that it is tasting an astringent food. Researchers mimicked this salivary layer by creating a thin hydrogel layer on top of a 3-D porous polymer network that facilitates the flow of electrolytes. The hydrogel absorbs the astringent-causing molecules, causing them to clump together. This enhances the ion-conductivity of the hydrogel, causing an increased current that sends a signal that astringent molecules are present.\n\nBiological Model\nTongue are soft, flexible muscular organs responsible for the sense of taste. The tongue has mechanical receptors and ion channels that assist in the translation of signals used for taste perception. In addition, saliva plays a key role in tasting because it absorbs the water-soluble tastants, allowing them to bind to receptor cells. The receptor cells pass electrical signals to the brain with information about the taste."}, {"Source": "rainbow trout", "Application": "hydroelectric power generator", "Function1": "save energy", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/consistent-hydroelectric-power-generator-inspired-by-schools-of-fish/", "Strategy": "Hydroelectric Power Generator Inspired by Swimming Fish\nVIVACE from Vortex Hydro Energy creates electricity from the transverse motion of cylinders caused by water currents.\n\nThe Challenge\nHydroelectric power is a one of the original forms of renewable energy, paving the wave for an industry that is helping protect our planet from greenhouse gases. Traditional hydroelectric power is the dam, which stops the flow of water and releases it through turbines at high speed. This process can have negative impacts on marine life, flora, and people.\n\nInnovation details\nVIVACE is a hydroelectric generator made up of large open boxes with cylinders that sit at the bottom of a river or ocean. The cylinders take advantage of vortex shedding from the currents, similarly to trout. As water currents moves over the cylinders, it creates vortices that make them move up and down. Each bobbing cylinder moves a magnet up and down a metal coil, creating a DC current. The DC current is changed to AC, which can then be used to power homes and buildings. Cylinder oscillations are slow (about one cycle/sec), creating no direct physical threat to fish or other organisms.\n\nBiological Model\nFish can use a significant amount of energy when swimming for long periods of time or in rough waters. While swimming upstream, rainbow trout are able to save energy by using the vortices that come from the water currents to their advantage. Vortex Induced Vibration (VIV) occurs when vortices are released (or “shed”) on the downstream side of objects, such as rocks or other fish, in a fluid current. This shedding alternates from one side of an object to the other, creating a pressure imbalance that results in an oscillatory lift. Trout adjust their swimming behavior to produce a ‘slalom-like’ movement between the vortices , to take advantage of the oscillatory lift and use less energy while swimming."}, {"Source": "sharkskin", "Application": "antibacterial film", "Function1": "inhibit bacteria", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/antibacterial-film-inspired-by-sharks/", "Strategy": "Antibacterial Film Inspired by Sharks\nSharklet from Sharklet Technologies has diamond shaped micropatterns that inhibit bacterial growth without using antibiotics.\n\nThe Challenge\nSince the discovery of bacteria, conventional thinking has led people to kill microorganisms to control them. Yet, overuse and abuse of antibiotics, disinfectants and other strategies that focus solely on killing bacteria have contributed to the creation of superbugs commonly found in hospitals and the general population. As biocidal approaches have made bacteria stronger, new strategies are needed to manage bacterial growth while contributing to an overall healthy environment for humans.\n\nInnovation details\nSharklet® is a synthetic surface inspired by the skin of sharks that deters colonization by certain disease-causing microbes. Because the artificial surface works without killing microbes, there is no selection for resistance. The surface topography is made of millions of microscopic diamonds that disrupt the ability for bacteria to adhere, colonize, or develop into biofilms. The Sharklet pattern is manufactured onto adhesive-backed skins that may be applied to high-touch areas to reduce the transfer of bacteria among people.\n\nBiological Model\nObjects submerged in water can become covered by unwanted films of bacteria or larger organisms such as algae and barnacles. This is referred to as biofouling. Sharks are unique in that they do not suffer from biofouling. Sharkskin has dermal denticles with evenly spaced ridges that inhibit bacteria or other organisms from attaching and growing."}, {"Source": "coral reef's structure", "Application": "carbon sequestration", "Function1": "sequestrate carbon dioxide", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/scalable-carbon-sequestration-inspired-by-the-common-stony-coral/", "Strategy": "Scalable Carbon Sequestration Inspired by the Common Stony Coral\nCarbon Capture from Blue Planet uses the carbon mineralization process to produce carbon neutral coarse and fine aggregate made from sequestered CO2.\n\nThe Challenge\nGreenhouse gases are at the highest levels ever recorded. These gases absorb solar energy and keep heat close to the Earth, known as the greenhouse effect, causing global warming. Carbon dioxide is the primary greenhouse gas and is emitted from burning materials like fossil fuels.\n\nInnovation details\nSequestered carbon dioxide is used as a raw material for making carbonate rocks, similar to the process that coral reefs use to make their hard exteriors. It works by taking CO2 from flue gas and converting it to carbonate rocks. The carbonate rocks are used in place of natural limestone rock mined from quarries, which is the principal component of concrete. This differentiates Blue Planet from most CO2 capture methods because the captured CO2 does not require a purification step, which is an energy and capital intensive process. As a result, Blue Planet’s capture method is extremely efficient, and results in a lower cost than traditional methods of CO2 capture.\n\nBiological Model\nCoral polyps are tiny, soft-bodied organisms related to sea anemones and jellyfish. At their base is a hard, protective limestone skeleton called a calicle, which forms the structure of coral reefs. Carbon dioxide created from cellular metabolism in the coral polyp diffuses into a closed space directly above the existing coral skeleton. This CO2 is transformed into a building material for its exoskeleton."}, {"Source": "octopus suckers", "Application": "soft manipulator", "Function1": "contract and shrink tissue", "Function2": "create suction", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/soft-manipulator-inspired-by-octopus-suckers/", "Strategy": "Soft Manipulator Inspired by Octopus Suckers\nElectrothermal manipulator from University of Illinois Urbana Champaign has a temperature-responsive layer of soft hydrogel that allows handling of fragile, thin tissue.\n\nThe Challenge\nDoctors use tissue or cell sheets to repair injured or diseased tissues in the human body. Unfortunately, it is challenging to handle these fragile, easily wrinkled tissues. Using tweezers and other surgical tools often damages the tissue sheet, interrupting the surgery and wasting precious material. Additionally, traditional methods of tissue grafting can take up to an hour to safely transfer a single sheet, creating extra room for error.\n\nInnovation details\nThe soft manipulator was inspired by the suckers of octopus tentacles. It is made of a temperature-responsive layer of soft hydrogel attached to an electric heater. To move the tissue, the hydrogel is heated, causing it to contract, then placed on the tissue and turned off. As it turns off, the hydrogel slightly expands and creates a suction with the tissue. Then the tissue can be transported to the desired location. After it’s in place, the hydrogel is heated again, causing it to shrink and release the tissue in its new location. This entire process takes approximately 10 seconds.\n\nBiological Model\nOctopus tentacles have suckers that allow the organisms to hold small objects. The suckers have small, 3-micrometer-diameter pegs called denticles. The denticles use small pressure changes to engage suction to hold onto the small objects."}, {"Source": "forest floor", "Application": "carpet tiles", "Function1": "produce cohensive", "Function2": "please visial effect", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/non-directional-carpet-tiles-inspired-by-the-forest-floor/", "Strategy": "Non-Directional Carpet Tiles Inspired by the Forest Floor\ni2 carpet tiles from Interface have variable patterns and color that allow them to be installed non-directionally while still creating a cohesive design.\n\nThe Challenge\nStandardization has been the operating principle of interchangeability of parts in human-made manufacturing since the Industrial Revolution. However, standardization in carpet tile design and color made matching of replacement tiles with pre-existing carpet extremely difficult. When traditional broadloom carpet becomes dirty or damaged, entire rolls of carpet are replaced and carted off to landfills, resulting in increased waste, as even tiles in good condition had to be replaced for aesthetic reasons. Additionally, later in the lifetime of the carpet, it is challenging to find a replacement tile that seamlessly blends in.\n\nInnovation details\ni2® carpet tiles feature random patterns and gradations of colors that allow the tiles to be installed non-directionally. No matter how the tiles are arranged on the floor, the colors and patterns work together to form a cohesive design, similar to a forest floor. i2 carpet tiles can be replaced individually and many of the components can be recycled, resulting in significant reductions in waste and cost. The intentional color variations eliminate common concerns over dye lots, meaning that consumers no longer need to purchase large quantities of “attic stock” in order to ensure matching replacement tiles. The color variations also make it difficult to perceive small stains and soil.\n\nBiological Model\nThe forest floor has a wide variety of colors and textures, and features shapes that repeat but in infinitely varied arrangements. Still, humans perceive the forest floor––with leaves, twigs, rocks, and more––to have a cohesive and even potentially pleasing visual effect. The varied appearance also allows a wide variety of creatures to exist on the the forest floor without being easily detected by predators."}, {"Source": "darkling beetles", "Application": "lightweight water collection system", "Function1": "collect water", "Function2": "form water droplet", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/lightweight-water-collection-system-inspired-by-darkling-beetles/", "Strategy": "Lightweight Water Collection System Inspired by Darkling Beetles\nWarka Tower from Warka Water uses a mesh net to collect water from humid air.\n\nThe Challenge\nA major health problem in developing countries is the spread of diseases perpetuated by the lack of clean water and sanitation systems. Often contaminated by human and animal waste, the impact of tainted water on the health of communities is severe. Each year, many people die of diarrhea and other illnesses, such as malnutrition, pneumonia and malaria. In many areas of the world, gathering water can be a strenuous or dangerous task. Additionally, systems that transport and create potable water can be expensive and complicated.\n\nInnovation details\nWarka Tower is made of a bamboo frame that supports a mesh polyester material. It costs very little to make and is easy to build. Atmospheric water vapor from either rain, fog, or dew condenses against the cold surface of the mesh, forming droplets of liquid water that trickle down into a reservoir found at the bottom of the structure, similar to how a darkling beetle collects water from fog. A fabric canopy shades the lower sections of the tower to prevent the collected water from evaporating.\n\nBiological Model\nDarkling beetles live in the Namib Desert, one of the driest habitats in the world. They get the water they need from dew and ocean fog in the air. The beetle has special tips and bumps on its wing scales that help it to collect water. Water in the air condenses on the tips to form water droplets, which then flow off the bumps and into the beetle’s mouth."}, {"Source": "pangolin's horny scale", "Application": "durable backpack", "Function1": "provide protection", "Function2": "flexible movement", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/durable-backpack-inspired-by-the-pangolin/", "Strategy": "Durable Backpack Inspired by the Pangolin\nThe Pangolin Backpack from Pangolin has overlapping scales that protect the contents within.\n\nThe Challenge\nBackpacks are often used to carry expensive items such as laptops. Many cloth backpacks do not offer the protection needed to keep these items safe.\n\nInnovation details\nThe backpack storage space is created by layers that overlap. This creates a durable and flexible bag for transport that allows the user to access the contents with ease when needed.\n\nBiological Model\nThe pangolin has several dangerous predators such as leopards and hyenas. To protect itself, the pangolin has an armour of horny scales that overlap like shingles on a roof. At the slightest danger, the animal tucks its head into its stomach and the scales overlap to allow the pangolin to wrap itself into a ball. This design helps to provide protection while allowing for flexibility of movement."}, {"Source": "lotus leaves", "Application": "spacecraft's dust‑repellent coating", "Function1": "dust and dirt resistant", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/dust-repellent-coating-for-spacecraft-inspired-by-lotus-leaf/", "Strategy": "Dust-Repellent Coating for Spacecraft Inspired by the Lotus Leaf\nLotus coating from NASA repels dirt and dust to protect space equipment.\n\nThe Challenge\nDust is prevalent on lunar surfaces and can be incredibly damaging to spacecraft and other equipment. It adheres to every surface, including skin and metal, creating a restrictive, friction-like action. Highly abrasive lunar dust has also been known to adhere to astronauts’ spacesuits, causing damage.\n\nInnovation details\nThe coating is made from silica, zinc oxide and other oxides, and was originally developed to reduce the need for window cleaning on spacecraft. It is now being developed and tested to perform under multiple conditions, including extreme temperatures, ultraviolet radiation, solar wind, and electrostatic charging. Different variations of the coating may also be developed depending on different needs. For example, a coating that’s applied to spacesuits would need to adhere to a flexible surface, while a coating developed to protect moving parts of the spaceship or lunar equipment needs to be exceptionally durable to resist wear and tear. The team is also looking to add a biocide to the coating, which would kill bacteria that thrive and produce foul odors wherever people are confined to a small space for long periods, like the space station. NASA could also apply the same biocide-infused coating on a planetary lander to prevent Earth-borne bacteria from adhering and potentially contaminating the surface of an extraterrestrial object.\n\nBiological Model\nLotus plants stay dirt-free, an obvious advantage for an aquatic plant living in typically muddy habitats. The surface of the lotus leaf contains microscopic bumps that prevent water molecules from adhering to the surface. Instead, the water rolls right off, and picks up any dirt or oil on the surface of the lotus leaf along the way."}, {"Source": "pitcher plant's rim", "Application": "antifouling coating", "Function1": "thin wet film", "Function2": "reduce friction", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/coating-to-keep-consumer-products-clean-inspired-by-pitcher-plants/", "Strategy": "Coating to Keep Consumer Products Clean Inspired by Pitcher Plants\nSLIPS Zero from Adaptive Surface Technologies has an ultra-thin slippery surface that allows containers to be emptied completely.\n\nThe Challenge\nPlastic containers filled with viscous liquid are often not completely emptied. The contents stick to the inside of the container, reducing the amount the consumer can use, and increasing the amount wasted. This oftentimes also makes the containers more difficult to clean and recycle.\n\nInnovation details\nThe SLIPS® Zero™ system has a polymeric coating that is applied to the container walls and a liquid lubricant layer that is held in place by the polymeric substrate. The lubricant layer enables the coating to remain permanently wet, causing the liquids to easily slide off and out of the container.\n\nBiological Model\nPitcher plants trap insects and other small prey when they land on the rounded rim of the pitcher and fall in, ending up in a pool of digestive juices. The surface of the rounded rim is especially slippery, making it difficult for insects to grab hold and escape. The pitcher owes its slipperiness to a thin wet film on the surface, which drastically reduces friction between the plant and insect feet."}, {"Source": "squid skin", "Application": "temperature‑adaptive space blanket", "Function1": "adjust the pigment and iridescence", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/temperature-adaptive-space-blanket-inspired-by-squid-skin/", "Strategy": "Temperature-Adaptive Space Blanket Inspired by Squid Skin\nAdaptive space blanket allows users to regulate their temperature by stretching the blanket to allow heat to escape.\n\nThe Challenge\nSpace blankets are found in a variety of places including outer space, marathon races, and first aid kits. They are made from a thin sheet of plastic, which is a static material that that is not able to adapt to changing conditions. This makes it difficult to effectively regulate body temperature.\n\nInnovation details\nThe space blanket was inspired by the way squid and other cephalopods are able alter their skin color and texture to blend into their surroundings. They do this by adjusting tiny sacs called chromatophores on their skin, which contain pigment. Similarly, the space blanket contains tiny metal ‘islands’. In the relaxed state, the islands are bunched together and the material reflects and traps heat, like a traditional space blanket. When the material is stretched, the islands spread apart, allowing infrared radiation to go through and heat to escape. It can be stretched and returned to its original state thousands of times.\n\nBiological Model\nCephalopods such as squid and cuttlefish often use adaptive camouflage to blend in with their surroundings. They are able to match colors and surface textures of their surrounding environments by adjusting the pigment and iridescence of their skin. On the skin surface, chromatophores (tiny sacs filled with red, yellow, or brown pigment) ab­sorb light of various wavelengths. Once vis­ual input is processed, the cephalopod sends a signal to a nerve fiber, which is connected to a muscle. That muscle relaxes and contracts to change the size and shape of the chromato­phore. Each color chromatophore is controlled by a different nerve, and when the attached muscle contracts, it flattens and stretches the pigment sack outward, expanding the color on the skin. When that muscle relaxes, the chro­matophore closes back up, and the color dis­appears. As many as two hundred of these may fill a patch of skin the size of a pencil eraser."}, {"Source": "oyster's shell", "Application": "concrete mix", "Function1": "weaken water stress", "Function2": "easily attachment", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/concrete-mix-inspired-by-oysters/", "Strategy": "Concrete Mix Inspired by Oysters\nGROW Oyster Reefs encourages growth of oyster reefs to restore coastlines.\n\nThe Challenge\nCoastlines worldwide are threatened by the impact of climate change. The oyster, a keystone species, has declined by 85% since the 1850’s and has been protecting the world’s coastlines for thousands of years. GROW Oyster Reefs products work with the oyster to build self-healing coastal defense infrastructures, attenuating wave energy and sequestering carbon.\n\nInnovation details\nOysters are critical to maintaining healthy coastlines. They clean the water and create reefs that protect from ocean swells. To help revitalize oyster populations, GROW Oyster Reefs has created proprietary concrete mixes that are chemically similar to oyster shells, and micro- and macro-designs that attract and retain healthy oyster populations. By working with nature to restore coastal ecosystems, GROW’s products enable long-lasting habitat restoration.\n\nBiological Model\nHuman buildings are uniform structures because we design elements like bricks to fit together perfectly. But oysters build amorphous reefs out of their irregular shells that climb from the ocean floor up rocks and seawalls. The irregular structure of an oyster reef shields a complex inner world of crevices, fissures, and gaps that develop from the oysters’ nonuniformity. Larvae find protection within these “interstitial folds,” where calmer waters exert weaker stresses, allowing them to attach to reefs more easily and live longer."}, {"Source": "burr seed's hook", "Application": "velcro", "Function1": "easily attachment", "Function2": "strong bond", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/versatile-fastener-inspired-by-burrs/", "Strategy": "Versatile Fastener Inspired by Burrs\nVelcro has tiny hooks that fit into small loops to create a secure closure.\n\nThe Challenge\nMany conventional fasteners create permanent changes to the textiles they are attached to. Additionally, common fasteners often only hold items together in a certain direction.\n\nInnovation details\nVelcro® was inspired by burr seeds, which are covered in tiny hooks that easily attach to mammal fur. Similarly, Velcro has one side made up of tiny hooks, while the other side is covered in tiny loops. When the two sides are pressed together, the hooks attach to the loops and the two sides stick together to form a strong bond.\n\nBiological Model\nBurr is a seed from the Burdock plant that is covered in tiny hooks. These hooks make it easy to attach to an animal’s fur, allowing the seed to travel long distances before germinating. This helps the plant to spread its seeds over a wider area."}, {"Source": "maggot", "Application": "wound debridement", "Function1": "reduce inflammation", "Function2": "remove bacteria", "Function3": "coagulate blood", "Function4": "stimulate healing response", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/improved-wound-debridement-using-maggot-enzymes/", "Strategy": "Improved Wound Debridement Using Maggot Enzymes\nAurase is an investigational product containing maggot enzymes that aims to help remove dead or diseased tissue in a wound\n\nThe Challenge\nAccess and delivery of wound care are both significant problems that challenge patients suffering from chronic wounds. In the United States, chronic ulcers are conservatively estimated to cost the health care system $28 billion each year as a primary diagnosis and up to $31.7 billion as a secondary diagnosis. There is also a profound psychological impact on the patients suffering from chronic wounds, such as loneliness, separation from active social life, and depression.\n\nInnovation details\nAurase® is an investigational product consisting of a hydrogel designed to be used in wound debridement to help remove dead or diseased tissue. It contains an enzyme isolated and cloned from medical maggots. Maggots feed on dead and dying tissue and are known to secrete enzymes that allow them to digest the wound debris, leaving behind a healthy wound for healing. Using maggots to clean chronic wounds in a hospital is a challenge because sterile rearing, shipment, and application require highly trained personnel and complex infrastructure. As a gel-based product, Aurase aims to be quickly and easily applied to infected wounds to activate the body’s own wound cleansing processes. Aurase is expected to cause no irritation or damage to healthy tissue, and reduce the time to full debridement without delaying wound healing.\n\nBiological Model\nMaggots lack the teeth or beaks that would enable them to tear into old, dried-out meat. Instead, their mouth hooks and rough skin scrape away dead flesh as they crawl across a carcass. Then they secrete enzymes that liquefy the dead tissue, making it easier to swallow and digest. Maggot secretions contain at least 185 individual peptidase enzymes, some of which have been linked to reducing inflammation, eliminating bacteria, coagulating blood, and stimulating healing responses."}, {"Source": "human vascular system", "Application": "resilient vascular stent", "Function1": "reduces irritation and injury", "Function2": "fracture-resistant", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/resilient-vascular-stent-inspired-by-the-human-vascular-system/", "Strategy": "Resilient Vascular Stent Inspired by the Human Vascular System\nBioMimics 3D Swirling Flow Stent from Veryan improves the performance of vascular stents by incorporating a unique 3D helical geometry.\n\nThe Challenge\nHumans are both living longer and becoming more vulnerable to many health conditions. Vascular stent demand is increasing due to a large number of people with underlying health issues, such as obesity, diabetes, and other conditions that lead to peripheral arterial disease. For coronary intervention, the use of stents has increasingly replaced bypass surgery. Traditional stents straighten arteries and disturb blood flow, creating shear stress that can damage the tissue. This can complicate the healing process after surgery and lead to stent failure.\n\nInnovation details\nThe BioMimics 3D Swirling Flow® Stent is self-expanding and has a unique 3D geometry that gives it a slight helical shape, mimicking the natural shape and geometry of the human vascular system. This results in stents that are more flexible, more kink-resistant, and more fracture-resistant than straight stents. They also impart the swirling flow of blood through the stent, which has been shown to reduce restenosis. The stent also improves biomechanical compatibility and reduces vascular irritation and injury.\n\nBiological Model\nThe body’s natural defence against the propagation of vascular disease is to generate smooth swirling flow through the arteries, particularly at arterial junctions. This is achieved by the gentle helical geometry of the arterial system. Natural swirling flow eliminates zones of high and low wall shear, cross-mixes nutrients to ensure optimum supply to the vessel wall and sweeps areas of potential stagnant flow. Additionally, the correct level of stable flow against the artery wall activates important defensive genes, which further prevent disease proliferation."}, {"Source": "owl wing", "Application": "low-noise fan", "Function1": "managing turbulence", "Function2": "minimize noise", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/low-noise-fan-inspired-by-owl-wings/", "Strategy": "Low-Noise Fan Inspired by Owl Wings\nFE2owlet from Ziehl-Abegg is an efficient, low-noise fan that has winglets and serrated edges to reduce noise and save energy.\n\nThe Challenge\nEnergy generation is one of the largest contributors to greenhouse gases, but it’s necessary for many day-to-day operations. Fans are often hidden, but essential, elements of many appliances, and require a large amount of energy to be kept constantly running. Additionally, the noise of fans in many facilities can lead to occupational noise exposure.\n\nInnovation details\nThe FE2owlet fan is an improvement on previous models. It features winglets added to the blade tip and serrated trailing edges on the individual fan blades, similar to the design of owl wings. These updates resulted in a more aerodynamic fan that uses less energy and creates less noise.\n\nBiological Model\nOwls are able to approach their prey silently at high speed by managing turbulence. Most of the noise that occurs as an object moves through the air originates at the trailing edge, as air flowing above and below the object meet. This can also increase drag. Many owls have a flexible fringe on the trailing edge of their wing feathers which serves to minimize that noise-generating turbulence."}, {"Source": "rainbow trout", "Application": "vortex generator", "Function1": "save energy", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/energy-efficient-vortex-generator-inspired-by-trout/", "Strategy": "Energy Efficient Vortex Generator Inspired by Trout\nVortex Process Technology by Watreco shapes fluid flow to efficiently generate a well-defined vortex at a considerably lower pressure and flow.\n\nThe Challenge\nWater treatment technologies are often composed of chemicals and/or detergents, which can be harmful to certain organisms. Many technologies also have many moving parts that are vulnerable to damage.\n\nInnovation details\nVortex Process Technology (VPT) has a unique shape that causes water to quickly swirl down an ever-tightening coil of channels, inspired by the way trout catch food in flowing water. This forces contaminants and/or air bubbles (depending on the application) into a column in the center of the swirling water. At the end of the process a vacuum quickly sucks this column out, leaving water with the desired properties behind.\n\nBiological Model\nTrout have to swim in waters where the current can be quite strong. They often have to swim in place for a period of time, waiting for food to float by in the current. In order to hold steady, the trout opens its mouth and lets the water rush in. The water is forced into ever-tightening vortices as it passes through the gills and back into the current. This allows the trout to hold steady even in inconsistent or violent flows."}, {"Source": "bacteriophage t4 virus's tail", "Application": "ultra-flexible single crystal electronics", "Function1": "stretch without deforming", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/ultra-flexible-single-crystal-electronics-inspired-by-virus-tails/", "Strategy": "Ultra-Flexible Single Crystal Electronics Inspired by Virus Tails\nElectronic system from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is made of crystals that increase stretchability.\n\nThe Challenge\nElectronics are usually hard objects made of silicon and germanium that can break when stretched too far. This limits their applications for certain use cases, such as soft robotics and medical devices.\n\nInnovation details\nThe researchers looked for single crystal materials that could easily stretch without deforming. They found that the bacteriophage T4 virus tail is made of a single crystal of protein molecules. When the virus injects its DNA into bacteria, the tail is compressed over 60% of its length without deforming. They researchers mimicked this by creating an electronic system that contains an organic crystal called bis(triisopropylsilylethynyl)pentacene. This crystal can be deformed up to 10% its original length, which is ten times as much as a typical electronic crystal. Due to the crystal’s innate flexibility, the electronic system also becomes flexible.\n\nBiological Model\nThe tail of the bacteriophage T4 virus is a single crystal of protein molecules. When the virus injects its DNA into bacteria, the tail is compressed over 60% of its length without losing its structural integrity."}, {"Source": "kingfisher's beak and maple seed", "Application": "wind turbines", "Function1": "reduce resistance", "Function2": "facilitate smooth water entry", "Function3": "reduce impact", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/energy-saving-retrofit-for-wind-turbines-inspired-by-the-kingfisher-and-maple-seeds/", "Strategy": "Retrofit for Wind Turbines Inspired by the Kingfisher and Maple Seeds\nThe PowerCone from Biome Renewables channels incoming wind onto turbine blades to address root leakage and save energy.\n\nThe Challenge\nRoot leakage is a problem that occurs at the center of wind turbines.  Around the hub, an area of low pressure develops and no power is produced. This is in contrast to the high-pressure area around the rest of the blades, which creates a pressure differential. This sucks additional power away from the blades and creates unnecessary turbulence.\n\nInnovation details\nThe PowerCone® is a retrofit for wind turbines that works by channelling incoming wind onto the blades to address root leakage, while directing more flow to outer parts of the turbine. The PowerCone attaches directly to the hub of a wind turbine and co-rotates with the rotor, helping it to capture more of the wind that’s already blowing. It redistributes wind to enhance the performance of existing turbines, lowering cut-in speeds, increasing torque and ultimately making the turbine more effective and efficient. It does this because the PowerCone mimics the coning angle of the maple seed. The coning angle is the angle at which a maple seed falls as it moves through the air, following the path of least resistance. The PowerCone also mimics a kingfisher beak, which allows the bird to dive into the water while barely making a splash. This is due to the way the bird pushes fluid around its beak as it enters the water. The PowerCone draws on these principles, directing wind from the root to outer spans of the blade and channeling it smoothly onto its surface. The PowerCone can be fitted to 98% of all installed turbines around the world. In tests, it was shown to increase Annual Energy Production (AEP) by 10-13%.\n\nBiological Model\nAs a maple seed falls to the ground, it moves through the air with a pattern of least resistance, following its coning angle. This allows the maple seed to deal with turbulent air by interacting with the flow over a longer time-span.\n\nThe kingfisher is a bird that dives into water to catch its prey. It has a long, narrow pointed beak that allows it to enter the water while barely making a splash. The beak steadily increases in diameter from the tip to the head, which helps reduce impact when the bird hits the water."}, {"Source": "lotus leaves", "Application": "fabric finishes", "Function1": "repel water", "Function2": "prevent droplets from penetrating", "Function3": "stay dirt-free", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/stain-resistant-fabric-finish-inspired-by-lotus-leaves/", "Strategy": "Stain-Resistant Fabric Finish Inspired by Lotus Leaves\nGreenShield from GreenShield Finish uses a nano-textured, self-cleaning surface to dramatically reduce the amount of fluorochemicals needed to repel water- and oil-based stains.\n\nThe Challenge\nFurniture and textiles are vulnerable to shorter lifetimes due to staining from liquids, including oil. To protect against these stains, products are coated with a continuous layer of polymer-based chemicals, often fluorochemicals. Fluorochemicals are bio-accumulative in living beings and persistent in the environment.\n\nInnovation details\nGreenShield® fabric finishes are oil-repellent, water-repellant, and stain-repellent without the use of harmful fluorocarbons. It is made of amorphous silica nanoparticles (similar to those found in toothpaste and cosmetic creams) that permanently adhere to the fabric as a mesh network and prevent droplets from penetrating. Although this is slightly different from how lotus leaves repel water, the overall concept of preventing water droplets from forming (the ‘lotus effect’) is similar. The nanoparticles are listed as a GRAS material (Generally Recognized as Safe) by the FDA.\n\nBiological Model\nLotus plants stay dirt-free, an obvious advantage for an aquatic plant living in typically muddy habitats. The surface of the lotus leaf contains microscopic bumps that prevent water molecules from adhering to the surface. Instead, the water rolls right off, and picks up any dirt or oil on the surface of the lotus leaf along the way."}, {"Source": "human eye's retina", "Application": "optical sensor", "Function1": "convert light into signals", "Function2": "process multiple streams of information", "Function3": "image preprocessing and compression", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/event-driven-optical-sensor-inspired-by-human-eyes/", "Strategy": "Event-Driven Optical Sensor Inspired by Human Eyes\nOptical sensors from Oregon State University only respond to changes in light intensity and motion to more efficiently process information.\n\nThe Challenge\nRobotic eyes have trouble seeing as well as human eyes because they are unable to process multiple streams of information simultaneously. Robotics eyes usually process data in a sequential order, delaying the overall transmission of data. Additionally, synthetic eyes have smaller fields of vision and lower definition, leading to a lower quality of visual information.\n\nInnovation details\nThe optical sensor works similarly to the human eye in that it can process multiple streams of information at once, and it pays closest attention to objects that are moving rather than static. The sensor is made of ultrathin layers of perovskite semiconductors, which change from strong electrical insulators to strong conductors when placed in light. Due to this light sensitivity, the sensor’s network pays special attention to changes in light intensity and responds accordingly. The result is that the sensor focuses its energy on moving objects rather than expending energy on a visual field that is not changing. This allows the sensor to track motion without using complex image processing technology.\n\nBiological Model\nHuman eyes have a component called the retina. This retina contains two types of photoreceptors, rods and cones. The photoreceptors convert light into signals that stimulate biological processes. However, the optic nerve only has ~1 million connections projecting to the brain. This means that a significant amount of image preprocessing and compression must take place in the retina before the image can be transmitted."}, {"Source": "termite mound", "Application": "cooled building", "Function1": "exchange gas", "Function2": "hold temperature", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/passively-cooled-building-inspired-by-termite-mounds/", "Strategy": "Passively Cooled Building Inspired by Termite Mounds\nThe Eastgate Center designed by Mick Pearce uses passive and energy-efficient mechanisms of climate control to cool residents.\n\nThe Challenge\nThe climate of Harare, Zimbabwe usually requires buildings to be cooled year-round. This means the purchase, installation, and maintenance of a traditional air-conditioning system for a building has immediate and long-term costs. The challenge was to create a self-regulating ventilation system that would keep a building at temperatures that are comfortable for workers and residents.\n\nInnovation details\nThe Eastgate Centre is a shopping center and office building located in Harare, Zimbabwe. Rather than using a traditional fuel-based air-conditioning system to regulate temperature within the building, the Eastgate Centre is designed to exploit more passive and energy-efficient mechanisms of climate control. The building’s construction materials have a high thermal capacity, which enables it to store and release heat gained from the surrounding environment. This process is facilitated by fans that operate on a cycle timed to enhance heat storage during the warm daytime and heat release during the cool nighttime. Internal heat generated by the building’s occupants and appliances also help to drive airflow within the building’s large, internal open spaces, as it rises from offices and shops on lower floors toward open rooftop chimneys. Various openings throughout the building further enable passive internal airflow driven by outside winds. These design features work together to reduce temperature changes within the building interior as temperatures outside fluctuate. The $35 million building saved 10% on costs up-front by not purchasing an air-conditioning system. Rents are less expensive in this building compared to nearby buildings because of the savings in energy costs.\n\nBiological Model\nIt was previously thought that termite mounds functioned to continuously maintain the nest’s internal temperature within a narrow range in the face of extreme outside temperature fluctuations. However, the most recent published research on termite mounds suggests that they function much like mammalian lungs and act as accessory organs for gas exchange in the underground nests. During the day, changes in internal nest temperature are less extreme than changes in outside temperature, but over the course of a year, nest temperature does vary and closely follows the temperature of the surrounding soil."}, {"Source": "plant cuticle", "Application": "preservation materials", "Function1": "slow down water loss", "Function2": "slow down oxidation", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/edible-coating-that-mimics-plant-cuticles-delays-spoilage-of-fresh-fruits-and-vegetables/", "Strategy": "Edible Coating That Mimics Plant Cuticles Delays Spoilage of Fresh Fruits and Vegetables\nApeel from Apeel Sciences is an edible coating for fresh fruits and vegetables that helps them last longer by slowing the ripening process.\n\nThe Challenge\nUp to 40% of the food grown goes to waste due to spoilage. This costs companies and individuals billions of dollars each year and wastes millions of pounds of food.\n\nInnovation details\nApeel™ protects fresh produce by forming a thin “peel” of edible plant material on the surface of the fruit, similar to the plant’s cuticle layer. This helps to slow down water loss and oxidation, the main factors that cause food spoilage.\n\nBiological Model\nEvery fruit and vegetable has a peel on it to protect it from drying out and rotting. The top layer of the peel is called the cuticle layer, which keeps moisture in while allowing the plant to breathe without drying out. Peels are so important that every plant on land has one, from raspberries to roses."}, {"Source": "snake scale", "Application": "pop-up shoe grip", "Function1": "create directional friction", "Function2": "snag the surface", "Function3": "resist movement", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/slip-resistant-shoe-attachment-inspired-by-snake-skin/", "Strategy": "Slip-Resistant Shoe Attachment Inspired by Snake Skin\nShoe grip from Harvard and MIT pops out to increase friction with the ground and reduce the likelihood of slipping and falling.\n\nThe Challenge\nElderly individuals are more vulnerable to slipping, falling, and severely hurting themselves. A fall due to a wet or icy surface could be potentially life-threatening. If these falls could be prevented, lives would be saved and injuries would be reduced.\n\nInnovation details\nThe pop-up shoe grip is made of a thin sheet of steel with precise cuts that mimic snake scales. The cuts are made by kirigami, the Japanese art of paper cutting. The cuts allow the material to transform from a smooth surface into a spiked sole ready to dig in for traction, and back again. When a person walks, the weight shifts from the heel to the toe. This causes the material to stretch, and the cuts pop out into small spikes that dig into the ground and create friction. When the foot flattens, the spikes fold back into the material, creating a smooth surface. The device weighs less, is easier to take on and off, and creates more friction than comparable commercial products.\n\nBiological Model\nSnakes are limbless animals and so must move over a variety of surfaces using only their flexible and slender bodies. The scales of snakes allow them to move and only create friction only in the direction they need it, known as directional friction. Scales on the bellies of snakes have small “micropatterns” that create arrays of v-shaped feathered trailing edges. The tips of these v-shapes point towards the tail of the snake and, in some species, they are raised at the tip. In this way, as the snake slides, the surface moves easily up and over the raised tips, but in the reverse direction they act like the pawl of a ratchet, snagging the surface and resisting movement in the opposite direction. This creates low friction when the animal is moving forward, but generate high friction and grip when it moves from side-to-side or backwards."}, {"Source": "marine habitat", "Application": "high performance concrete", "Function1": "support natural process", "Function2": "offset carbon footprint", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/high-performance-concrete-inspired-by-marine-habitats/", "Strategy": "High Performance Concrete Inspired by Marine Habitats\nECOncrete from ECOncrete Tech LTD. facilitates the growth and regeneration of local marine species to strengthen structures over time.\n\nThe Challenge\nWith more than 50% of the world’s population concentrated along coastlines, accelerated coastal development will likely inflict severe stress on natural ecosystems. Combined with the growing threats of sea level rise and increased extreme weather events, coastlines worldwide will require development, retrofitting and intensive maintenance.\n\nInnovation details\nECOncrete offers innovative, robust and environmentally sensitive concrete solutions, designed to encourage development of rich and diverse marine life as an integral part of urban and coastal marine infrastructure such as seawalls, breakwaters, bridge foundations and urban waterfronts. The proprietary technology is based on three core elements: bio-enhancing concrete compositions, complex surface textures, and science-based designs, which work in synergy to decrease the ecological footprint of concrete infrastructure while enhancing their strength and durability. Drawing inspiration from marine habitats and organisms, ECOncrete learns from and mimic forms, textures, and chemical properties from beach rock formations, rocky reefs, tide pools, mangrove roots, and other marine habitats and life forms. ECOncrete supports natural processes like calcification and the growth of oysters, corals, tube worms, and the like to help concrete structures become stronger, have a longer service life, and to better cope with extreme weather events and rising seas. The growth of these organisms also acts as an active carbon sink, offsetting some of the huge carbon footprint associated with traditional concrete. Because it increases in strength over time, restores native habitats, and reduces mitigation requirements for infrastructure projects, ECOncrete’s technologies are cost-competitive to traditional large marine infrastructure projects.\n\nBiological Model\nOysters are vital to coastal ecosystems. Oysters grab on to one another, stacking themselves like stalagmites that grow from the ocean floor. Over time, oyster clumps form extensive reefs that resemble underwater cities. They provide habitat to many aquatic species, filter water and improve its quality, and dampen waves caused by storms and ship traffic, protecting coastlines from erosion."}, {"Source": "pitcher plant's rim", "Application": "antifouling surface coating for marine vehicles", "Function1": "thin wet film", "Function2": "reduce friction", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/antifouling-surface-coating-for-marine-vehicles-inspired-by-pitcher-plants/", "Strategy": "Antifouling Surface Coating for Marine Vehicles Inspired by Pitcher Plants\nSLIPS Foul Protect from Adaptive Surface Technologies has an ultra-thin slippery surface that protects against biofouling.\n\nThe Challenge\nExcess build-up of biofouling on boat hulls leads to increased drag, greater fuel costs, and more frequent cleaning. Many existing coatings use biocides to kill the organisms that attach to the hull. The biocide can leach into the water and harm the surrounding ecosystem.\n\nInnovation details\nThe SLIPS® Foul Protect™ system creates an ultra-thin slippery surface repels almost all liquids and solids. The coating is made of a nanostructured porous material infused with a lubricating fluid to produce a smooth and highly slippery surface.\n\nBiological Model\nPitcher plants trap insects and other small prey when they land on the rounded rim of the pitcher and fall in, ending up in a pool of digestive juices. The surface of the rounded rim is especially slippery, making it difficult for insects to grab hold and escape. The pitcher owes its slipperiness to a thin wet film on the surface, which drastically reduces friction between the plant and insect feet."}, {"Source": "morpho butterfly's wing", "Application": "color‑changing security labels", "Function1": "diffract light wave", "Function2": "alter color", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/color-changing-security-labels-inspired-by-the-morpho-butterfly/", "Strategy": "Color-Changing Security Labels Inspired by the Morpho Butterfly\nLumaChrome security labels from Nanotech have microstructured surfaces that change color for rapid authentication.\n\nThe Challenge\nCounterfeiting is a major problem worldwide and costs companies and governments billions of dollars every year. Clothing, pharmaceutical drugs, electronics, and various other products require advanced security in order to protect from counterfeits.\n\nInnovation details\nLumaChrome® is a color-shifting optical film for security labels that changes color when the viewing angle is changed. This allows the user to quickly authenticate a secure product. The labels are highly secure, durable, and easy to recognize at multiple angles and variable lighting conditions.\n\nBiological Model\nBlue morpho butterflies do not use pigment to create the bright blue color on their wings. Instead, their wings have a layered microstructure that causes light waves that hit the surface of the wing to diffract and interfere with each other, so that certain color wavelengths cancel out while others, such as blue, are intensified and reflected."}, {"Source": "mammalian muscle", "Application": "soft robotic material", "Function1": "contract and relax", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/crawling-soft-material-inspired-by-muscles/", "Strategy": "Crawling Soft Material Inspired by Muscles\nLight-responsive soft material from Northwestern University has peptide arrays that contract and expand, creating movement.\n\nThe Challenge\nNon-living objects are often inanimate because they are not made of living cells that communicate with each other. Additionally, they are usually made of stiff materials that are inflexible. In order to get this type of object to move, it often requires large amounts of electricity or complex hardware.\n\nInnovation details\nThe soft robotic material mimics the way muscles contract and relax to allow for movement. The material is made of nanoscale peptide assemblies and polymer networks that are activated by blue light. The peptides are designed to drain water molecules out of the material, helping during the movement process. When light hits the material, the polymer network shifts to become hydrophobic (water-repelling). This shift causes the material to push out water through the peptide assemblies, causing a contraction. When the light is turned off, the process is reversed, and the material relaxes. When the material alternates between contraction and relaxation, it moves in a controllable forward motion.\n\nBiological Model\nMammals have muscles that contract and relax to allow limbs to move. Muscles are alerted to contract or relax by a signal sent by nerves, which causes the muscle to create chemical energy to fuel the requested movement."}, {"Source": "cochayuyo", "Application": "resilient wave energy technology", "Function1": "withstand strong wave forces", "Function2": "fold over and be pulled", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/resilient-wave-energy-technology-inspired-by-underwater-flora/", "Strategy": "Resilient Wave Energy Technology Inspired by Underwater Flora\nbioWAVE from BPS is a wave energy system with floating blades and a flexible stem that allows it to harness energy from ocean waves.\n\nThe Challenge\nMost energy is generated through the burning of fossil fuels, which releases carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. These gases absorb solar energy and keep heat close to the Earth, a phenomenon known as the greenhouse effect, which has led to global warming. Finding alternative, renewable sources of energy in the coming years will be essential for reducing climate change.\n\nInnovation details\nbioWAVE™ is a wave energy system that is mounted to the seafloor. It has three floating blades and a stem that respond to movement from ocean waves. The motion is converted into energy via an onboard conversion module that converts the wave motion to hydraulic pressure that spins a turbine to generate grid-quality electricity. The unit is also able to sink and flatten against the seafloor to avoid damage from excess wave energy.\n\nBiological Model\nCochayuyo is a seaweed that manages to withstand strong wave forces by being flexible and stretchy. Its stipe has a flexible joint at its base that enables it to fold over and be pulled by flowing water, instead of bent."}, {"Source": "compound eyes of insect", "Application": "curved compound eye", "Function1": "efficient for motion detection over a large field of view", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/artificial-compound-eye-inspired-by-fruit-flies/", "Strategy": "Artificial Compound Eye Inspired by Fruit Flies\nCURVACE is a curved artificial compound eye that allows for rapid and accurate motion detection over a large area.\n\nThe Challenge\nArtificial compound eyes are beneficial for robotics and other applications that require a camera-like apparatus. However, creating an artificial eye is difficult because it requires aligning different photoreceptive and optical components onto a curved surface.\n\nInnovation details\nCURVACE (Curved Artificial Compound Eye) was inspired by the eyes of fruit flies. It consists of three planar layers of separately produced arrays: a microlens, a neuromorphic photodetector, and a flexible printed circuit board. These three layers are stacked, cut, and curved to produce a mechanically flexible imager. This produces a panoramic, undistorted field of view with embedded and programmable low-power signal processing, high temporal resolution, and local adaptation to illumination in a very thin package.\n\nBiological Model\nInsects have compound eyes that consist of a curved array of micro-lenses, each conveying photons to a separate set of one or more photoreceptors. Although it has lower resolution compared to vertebrate eyes, compound eyes are efficient for motion detection over a large field of view, making it an excellent sensor for accurate and fast navigation in 3D dynamic environments."}, {"Source": "process of tuna swimming", "Application": "unmanned underwater vehicle", "Function1": "fast, efficient swimming", "Function2": "conserve energy", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/unmanned-underwater-vehicle-uuv-inspired-by-the-tuna/", "Strategy": "Unmanned Underwater Vehicle Inspired by Tuna\nThe BIOSwimmer from Boston Engineering is a highly maneuverable UUV designed to work in harsh and hard-to-reach environments.\n\nThe Challenge\nCertain underwater areas are constricted and hard-to-reach, making inspection difficult. In addition, the environments can be oily or dangerous, making it hard for humans to work. Traditional unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) struggle with propulsion and maneuverability, making them less than ideal for working in these areas.\n\nInnovation details\nThe BIOSwimmer™ was inspired by the tuna and is designed for high maneuverability in harsh environments. It has a flexible body with fins for maneuverability. It can inspect interior areas of ships such as flooded bilges and tanks, and external areas such as steerage, propulsion and sea chests. It can also inspect and protect harbors and piers, perform area searches and carry out other security missions. It was designed by Boston Engineering for use by the Department of Homeland Security.\n\nBiological Model\nTuna are very fast and efficient swimmers. They utilize thunniform swimming, where most of the lateral movement occurs in the tail and adjacent area of the body with very little bending of the fish’s body. The tail or caudal fin is usually large and crescent shaped to increase the power of each sweeping motion. This form of swimming is ideal for tuna, as they must swim fast over long distances while still conserving energy."}, {"Source": "natural ecosystem", "Application": "extreme event prediction model", "Function1": "predict disaster", "Function2": "respond to external force", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/extreme-event-prediction-model-inspired-by-ecosystems/", "Strategy": "Extreme Event Prediction Model Inspired by Ecosystems\n'Black swan' event prediction model from Stanford University uses data from a variety of ecosystems to mitigate disasters.\n\nThe Challenge\nA disease outbreak or economic crisis can cause deaths, long-term suffering, widespread devastation, and environmental damage. ‘Black swan’ events are those that are highly unlikely but if they do occur, can have an enormous impact. An accurate prediction model could alert people to prepare for the worst before such an event happens, and potentially mitigate the damage.\n\nInnovation details\nThe prediction model uses a combination of empirical dynamic modeling and prior biological knowledge. The model uses long-term data from three ecosystems: an eight-year study of plankton from the Baltic Sea with species levels measured twice weekly; net carbon measurements from a deciduous broadleaf forest at Harvard University, gathered every 30 minutes since 1991; and measurements of barnacles, algae and mussels on the coast of New Zealand, taken monthly for over 20 years. The results indicate that fluctuations in different biological species are statistically the same across different ecosystems. This suggests there are certain underlying universal processes that can be used to forecast extreme events.\n\nBiological Model\nVarious ecosystems seem to predict disaster before it occurs. The abundance and resistance of an ecosystem is consistently monitored and controlled by the individuals within. When an external force is exerted, the ecosystem responds with a series of discrete events of different magnitudes."}, {"Source": "venus flytrap", "Application": "energy-efficient spring", "Function1": "store elastic energy", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/energy-efficient-spring-inspired-by-venus-flytrap/", "Strategy": "Energy-Efficient Spring Inspired by Venus Flytrap\nA rapidly moving spring from UMass Amherst uses strategically placed elliptical holes to create an efficient snapping motion through rotation.\n\nThe Challenge\nMany human-made systems that convert energy from one form to another lose a lot of energy in the process. This contributes to the high cost of energy generation and the large amount of byproducts that end up in landfills.\n\nInnovation details\nThe spring is made of polymer bands with a unique arrangement of elliptical holes. The holes provide an area for the material to turn and collapse, unlike a material with no holes, where everything has to stretch and energy is lost. The ability to turn and collapse converts these bands into mechanical meta-materials that save energy through storing elastic energy as rotation, similar to the Venus flytrap. This stored elastic energy is used to drive the high-speed movement.\n\nBiological Model\nThe Venus flytrap rapidly captures its prey by ensnaring it between its leaves. Instead of using muscles to create movement, the plant stretches its leaves to store potential mechanical energy that can be released when it needs to trigger trap closure."}, {"Source": "bacteria", "Application": "data-driven behavioral model", "Function1": "work together", "Function2": "withstand forces", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/data-driven-behavioral-model-inspired-by-bacteria/", "Strategy": "Data-Driven Behavioral Model Inspired by Bacteria\nBehavioral model from Rice University uses individual contributions to model the collective behavior of a group.\n\nThe Challenge\nBehavioral models have helped researchers understand the collective behavior of many organisms. These models are usually based on presumptive algorithms because comprehensive real-world data in unavailable. Without this data, critical assumptions are made, resulting in predictions that may deviate from actual behavior. If models like these were data-driven, predictions would be more accurate in anticipating changes and behaviors within species, leading scientists to better understand how these organisms work. For example, scientists could understand and prevent the behavior of certain bacterial strains that cause various diseases.\n\nInnovation details\nThe behavioral model predicts the emergent behavior of a group of cells based on individual contributions. It takes data from a particular group and deciphers which individual behaviors are significant in the overall group. This can then be used to determine whether a specific type of individual behavior can contribute to collective, emergent behavior. The model could potentially be used for ecological models to study species groups in different areas.\n\nBiological Model\nIndividual bacteria are influenced by the actions of surrounding bacteria. When there is an external threat, the bacteria work together to withstand the forces. Additionally, depending on the situation, bacteria can either fully or partially rescue certain other bacteria."}, {"Source": "bacteria", "Application": "bio-based communication networks", "Function1": "pass messages", "Function2": "release chemical signal", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/medical-communication-networks-inspired-by-bacteria/", "Strategy": "Medical Communication Networks Inspired by Bacteria\nBio-based communication networks from University of Maryland use bacteria to transmit electrical signals about biological processes.\n\nThe Challenge\nWhen a medical emergency occurs, first responders can get to the scene quickly. But sometimes biological processes have faulted or failed far before a first responder is even able to arrive. Many fatalities could be prevented if the individual, or doctor, was alerted of the condition as soon as it occured.\n\nInnovation details\nThe communication network is made up of engineered cells that receive information from living tissue inside the body and relay that information to medical practitioners. The device uses redox mediators, which are small molecules that carry out cellular activities by accepting or giving up electrons. Because they can also exchange electrons with electrodes and produce a current, redox mediators can also communicate with electronic devices. For example, this device could be ingested into the body through a pill, where it could detect an infection as soon as it occurs and notify practitioners immediately.\n\nBiological Model\nBacteria use chemicals to communicate with each other and share information, for example about colony number and size. Bacteria pass these messages to each other by releasing different chemicals. They also have sensors on the outside of their cells that allow them to pick up these chemical signals from other bacteria."}, {"Source": "chameleon's skin", "Application": "color-changing film", "Function1": "produce structural color", "Function2": "reflect specific wavelengths", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/color-changing-film-inspired-by-chameleon-skin/", "Strategy": "Color-Changing Film Inspired by Chameleon Skin\nBio-based film from Sichuan University is made of a combination of polymers and cellulose nanocrystals that makes it both color-changing and flexible.\n\nThe Challenge\nCrystalline nanostructures can be made of a variety materials, but oftentimes they consist of non-renewable petroleum sources. These materials are challenging to recycle and take years to decompose in a landfill. Additionally, cellulose nanocrystals are fragile and can be difficult to manufacture.\n\nInnovation details\nChameleons can change color by stretching guanine crystals under their skin that reflect specific wavelengths of light. The reflected light is perceived as color. To mimc the effect of these crystals, researchers typically use cellulose nanocrystals, which self-assemble into a film and reflect light to produce color. However, the crystals do not stretch easily. To overcome this barrier, researchers cross-linked a polymer called PEGDA to the nanocrystals, helping to increase flexibility. The result is a stretchable film that produces bright iridescent colors, ranging from red to blue, when the film is stretched. When the film is relaxed again, it returns to the original color. The film can stretch up to 39% of its original length before breaking.\n\nBiological Model\nChameleons are able to change colors through a combination of pigments and structural colors. Below the layers of chromatophores (color-bearing) cells, there is a layer of cells called iridophores (iridescent chromatophores) that produce structural color. Rather than containing pigment, iridophores contain an organized array of transparent, nano-sized crystals that reflect specific wavelengths of light. The reflected light is perceived as color."}, {"Source": "nacre", "Application": "composite material", "Function1": "increase strength and toughness", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/strong-composite-material-inspired-by-nacre/", "Strategy": "Strong Composite Material Inspired by Nacre\nBio-compatible composite material from MIT is made of thin interlocking mineral layers that increase the strength and toughness.\n\nThe Challenge\nMaterials can be incredibly strong at the nano-scale, but when put to test at a larger scale they become more prone to failure. This is partially due to the macroscopic arrangement of the particles. If the inherently strong particles are not arranged in a way that reinforces and emphasizes their strength, the overall material may be weak.\n\nInnovation details\nThe composite material is made with sheets of aragonite, similar to nacre. The sheets are formed on a wavy surface of chitosan film. The sheets are interlocked and the spaces between are filled with a silk fibroin. All in all, there are 150 interlocked layers that add up to be the thickness of a penny. Additionally, the material is bio-compatible and has been tested as a medical implant.\n\nBiological Model\nNacre, or mother of pearl, is the iridescent material that forms the inner layer of the shells of some molluscs. It is made of aragonite formed into stacked hexagonal plates. The plates are twisted relative to each other by 5%. Each plate overlaps its top and bottom neighbors by 20% of its depth, leaving the twisted offset corners as overhangs. When nacre is subjected to force, the overhanging lips interlock, making the material tough."}, {"Source": "mint leaf", "Application": "anti-frost surfaces", "Function1": "prevent frost formation", "Function2": "resist frost propagation", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/anti-frost-surfaces-inspired-by-mint-leaves/", "Strategy": "Anti-Frost Surfaces Inspired by Mint Leaves\nBio-inspired surface from Northwestern University contains nanoscale peaks and valleys that help deter frost formation.\n\nThe Challenge\nFrost is a common problem that can occur on a variety of surfaces. In the airline industry, flights can be grounded by even the slightest layer of frost on the windshield or wings of the aircraft. Frost on airplane wings can create drag, making flight dangerous or even impossible. Reduced frost formation would result in fewer cancelled flights and less use of strong deicing chemicals.\n\nInnovation details\nThe frost-reduction effect can be achieved by tweaking the texture of any material’s surface by adding millimeter tall peaks and valleys with small (40-60 degree) angles in between, similar to those found on the surfaces of mint leaves. Condensation is enhanced on the peaks and suppressed in the valleys of wavy surfaces. The small amount of condensed water in the valleys then evaporates, resulting in a frost-free area. Even on a surface material that attracts water, the water still evaporated from the valleys when below the freezing point. These surfaces reduced frost formation by 60%, and could theoretically reduce it up to 80%. Although a thin line of frost still forms on the peaks of the surface topography, it can be defrosted with considerably less energy. It also bypasses the need for using liquids with lower frosting points or surface coatings, which can be easily scratched.\n\nBiological Model\nMint leaves have uneven surfaces, consisting of convex (surface) and concave (veined) regions. Frost forms when humid air vapor or condensation makes contact with a surface that is below freezing temperature. On the concave regions there is much less frost, which is controlled by the geometry of the leaf, not the surface texture. When condensation forms on a leaf, the condensed droplets in the valley evaporate due to the lower vapor pressure of ice compared with water, resulting in a frost-free zone in the valley, which resists frost propagation even on superhydrophilic surfaces."}, {"Source": "angora rabbit's hair", "Application": "keratin-based textile", "Function1": "shape memory", "Function2": "revert back to shape", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/shape-memorizing-textile-inspired-by-the-angora-rabbit/", "Strategy": "Shape-Memorizing Textile Inspired by the Angora Rabbit\nBiocompatible textile from Harvard University uses keratin to create strong shape-memory fibers.\n\nThe Challenge\nTextile production often emits large amounts of greenhouse gases, which are harmful to people and the planet. Additionally, typical textiles are made of petroleum-based materials that take hundreds of years to degrade. When these materials are discarded, the entire item or part of it could end up as pollution.\n\nInnovation details\nThe textile is made from keratin, a fibrous protein extracted from leftover Angora wool waste from the textile industry. The keratin is 3D printed into specific shapes, and is able to revert back to that shape after deformation.\n\nBiological Model\nThe Angora rabbit has a layer of dense hair on its body. This hair contains a protein called keratin, which has shape memory due to its spring-like structure. When two of these chains twist together, it forms a structure known as a coiled coil. When several coiled coils are joined together, they form the fibers that create hair."}, {"Source": "silkworm silk", "Application": "bioink", "Function1": "retain 3d positioning", "Function2": "distribute mechanical stress", "Function3": "biocompatible", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/robust-bioink-inspired-by-silkworm-silk/", "Strategy": "Robust Bioink Inspired by Silkworm Silk\nBioink from Osaka University has a silkworm silk additive to create a durable, competent material for 3D-printing.\n\nThe Challenge\nMany people need surgical implants throughout their lifetime for a variety of medical reasons. Each time a foreign material is implanted into the human body, it risks incompatibility and rejection. Bioinks have been developed to be biocompatible, pliable materials, but when printed, are often subject to deformation due to their lack of structural integrity, resulting in unnecessary waste.\n\nInnovation details\nThe bioink contains nanofibers derived from silkworm silk. To obtain the nanofibers and make them into a usable material, the protein sericin is removed from the silk (this protein has been known to cause inflammation in patients) and the remaining material is ground into the nanofibers. The nanofibers can then be sterilized for use in medical procedures. These nanofibers ensure that the bioink retains its 3D positioning after printing and the cells are not damaged in the process.\n\nBiological Model\nSilkworm silk is made of stretchable fibers approximately 5,000 feet long. Having a single, long fiber enables the material to more effectively distribute mechanical stress than several shorter, individual ones."}, {"Source": "rose petal", "Application": "biomap technology", "Function1": "replicate natural surfaces", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/material-technology-inspired-by-natural-surfaces/", "Strategy": "Material Technology Inspired by Natural Surfaces\nBIOMAP technology from Iowa State University creates a replica of a natural surface using undercooled metallic particles.\n\nThe Challenge\nThe intricacies of natural patterns and textures can make them difficult to accurately replicate. The textures are unique all the way down to the nanoscale, and traditional manufacturing processes cannot provide this level of detail. This ends up reducing product efficiency in the long term.\n\nInnovation details\nBIOMAP is a heat-free technology that uses tiny metal particles, approximately a millionth of a meter in diameter, to coat a desired surface and form-fit the gaps, crevices, and other unique textures on a natural surfaces, such as a rose petal. The metal droplets are then exposed to oxygen and coated with an oxidation layer, trapping the metal in a liquid state, even at room temperature. A chemical trigger joins and solidifies the particles to each other but not to the surface, allowing solid metallic replicas to be lifted off, creating a negative relief of the surface texture. Positive reliefs can be made by using the inverse replica to create a mold and then repeating the process. Importantly, the replicas kept the physical properties of the surfaces, just like in elastomer-based soft lithography.\n\nBiological Model\nAlthough this technology uses metal to replicate natural surfaces and is not technically biomimicry, it makes it easier to replicate these natural surfaces on the microscale for use in future biomimetic technologies. One such natural surface is rose petals, which is superhydrophobic, meaning it is highly repellant to liquids such as water. However, unlike other superhydrophobic surfaces where liquids readily slide off, liquids on rose petals cling tightly to the surface, even if the petal is held upside down. Traditional superhydrophobic surfaces such as lotus leaves are covered in nanoscale bumps which keep liquids in droplet form, allowing it to easily roll off the surface. Rose petals have similar bumps, but unlike other superhydrophobic surfaces, these bumps are covered in folds. These folds are spaced close enough together to keep water droplets from penetrating the surface, but far enough apart to keep them from rolling off."}, {"Source": "spider's silk", "Application": "conductive synthetic polymers", "Function1": "provide high stability", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/conductive-synthetic-polymers-inspired-by-spider-silk/", "Strategy": "Conductive Synthetic Polymers Inspired by Spider Silk\nBiomaterial from University of Groningen uses protein-like synthetic polymers to increase proton conductivity.\n\nThe Challenge\nSynthetic polymers can be found in a variety of places, including clothing, furniture, and plastics. Although they are useful, it is challenging to accurately control their molecular structure. This structure controls many properties, including the ability to transport ions. If synthetic polymers used as biomaterials could be more accurately constructed, the ion transport could be optimized, and the material would perform better. Proton-conducting bio-polymers could be very useful for applications such as bio-electronics or sensors.\n\nInnovation details\nThe best way to precisely tune the proton conductivity of polymers is to tune the number of ionisable groups per polymer chain. To do this, the researchers first prepared a number of unstructured biopolymers that had different numbers of ionisable (carboxylic acid) groups. With the right nanostructure, charges will bundle together and increase the local concentration of these ionic groups, which dramatically boosts proton conductivity. It turns out that the nanostructure of spider silk is excellent for this task. The researchers engineered a protein-like polymer that has the main structure of spider silk but was modified to host strands of carbocyclic acid. The material was able to self-assemble at the nanoscale similarly to spider silk while creating dense clusters of charged groups, which are very beneficial for the proton conductivity. The measured proton conductivity was higher than any previously known biomaterials\n\nBiological Model\nSpider silk is extremely strong and flexible despite being an incredibly thin and lightweight material. This is due in part to the supramolecular structure in which protein chains are interlinked to help provide high stability."}, {"Source": "fish scale", "Application": "low-turbulence surface texture", "Function1": "decrease drag", "Function2": "low turbulence", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/low-turbulence-biomimetic-fish-scales-inspired-by-fish/", "Strategy": "Low-Turbulence Surface Texture Inspired by Fish Scales\nBiomimetic fish scales from City University of London demonstrates that the scale pattern and arrangement of scales controls water flow to reduce drag while swimming.\n\nThe Challenge\nThe surface of an object always interacts with the fluid or gas it passes through. Often, when a surface is smooth, it is able to move more easily because there is less resistance. Rough surfaces often increase the resistance, resulting in more drag. Finding ways to reduce drag means faster speeds and less fuel consumption, which save time and energy.\n\nInnovation details\nThe researchers first developed a simulation to understand how water flows over fish scales, which are considered ‘rough’ surfaces, and should technically increase drag. However, they found that fish scales are actually rows of overlapping seashell-shaped bumps. These bumps create ‘peaks’ and ‘valleys’ that allow water to flow without becoming turbulent, which helps reduce drag. The scales also delay the transition to more turbulent flow, which often occurs when fish swim faster.\n\nBiological Model\nAlthough shape and size vary across species, fish scales are essentially rows of overlapping seashell-shaped bumps. The peaks of the bumpy scales create wakes of low flow behind them, while the overlapping sides of scales form valleys where most of the water flows through. So as a fish swims, it has alternating bands of low and high flow, which help keeps the flow laminar as opposed to turbulent, reducing drag."}, {"Source": "diabolical ironclad beetle's exoskeleton", "Application": "interlocking fasteners", "Function1": "interlocking joint", "Function2": "increase integrity", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/interlocking-fasteners-inspired-by-ironclad-beetles/", "Strategy": "Interlocking Fasteners Inspired by Ironclad Beetles\nCarbon fiber fasteners from Purdue University have an energy-absorbing laminated structure to increase resilience when connecting dissimilar materials.\n\nThe Challenge\nIn engineered structures, the point of connection between two dissimilar materials is often the weakest point. Typical forms of this connection are welding, adhesive bonding, and nailing together. Although these methods work in holding the materials together, the joint can emphasize stress concentration or degrade from exposure to the environment. The presence of these joints limits the material’s ability to support loads.\n\nInnovation details\nThe carbon fiber fasteners, inspired by the diabolical ironclad beetle, create a strong, tough joint capable of avoiding catastrophic failure. The joints have an ellipsoidal geometry and a laminated microstructure, providing physical interlocking and toughening at critical strains. Unlike typical joints, that can be strong but are often brittle, these joints provide flexibility and toughness, prolonging failure.\n\nBiological Model\nThe diabolical ironclad beetle’s exoskeleton has a robust, jigsaw-like connection that increases it’s integrity. Along the center are mushroom-shaped interlocking joints that fit together like puzzle pieces. When compressed, the shape of these joints hold the two pieces together, prolonging the overall joint failure. Additionally, the joints are able to delaminate, which prevents an overall catastrophic failure."}, {"Source": "spider's silk", "Application": "biocompatible lenses", "Function1": "high elasticity", "Function2": "high tensile strength", "Function3": "biocompatible", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/biocompatible-lenses-inspired-by-spider-silk/", "Strategy": "Biocompatible Lenses Inspired by Spider Silk\nDome lens from Tamkang University utilizes the properties of spider silk to form a dome shape out of resin.\n\nThe Challenge\nMedical imaging needs to be high resolution at very small scales, which requires specialized lenses. These lenses are oftentimes composed of intricate shapes, resulting in a higher error rate during manufacturing. This also makes them more expensive and difficult to manufacture.\n\nInnovation details\nSpider silk exhibits many impressive properties, including high elasticity and tensile strength, while still being biocompatible. This makes it superior to current synthetic fibers. The lens is made using dragline silk collected from daddy longlegs spiders. Resin is dripped onto the fiber, and as the resin condenses it causes the silk to form into a dome shape, which can be used as an optical lens.\n\nBiological Model\nSpider silk contains properties that allow water to stick to it and condense, helping the spider to harvest water when it’s thirsty. To maximize the amount of water that gets trapped in its web, spiders use a comb-like structure on their legs to puff up their silk into a ball-like tangle. They then weave webs that alternate these tangles with straight, smooth, thin sections of silk threads, making a kind of beaded necklace structure. When water condenses on the web it starts to move, migrating from the thin threads towards the tangles, where it gets stuck because the tangled parts of the web have more area for the water to stick to."}, {"Source": "moth and bird flock", "Application": "search pattern algorithm", "Function1": "detect odors", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/search-pattern-algorithm-inspired-by-moths-and-bird-flocking/", "Strategy": "Search Pattern Algorithm Inspired by Moths and Bird Flocking\nEfficient search algorithm from University of Trieste uses a combination of individual and neighboring data to improve the detection of harmful substances.\n\nThe Challenge\nCertain harmful gases and volatile substances can be undetectable by humans but still have the potential to be deadly. The United States’ Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) estimates approximately 50,000 deaths each year are related to chemical exposures in the workplace. Some of these deaths are related to undetected gaseous hazards, and could be mitigated with earlier detection.\n\nInnovation details\nThe search algorithm is used by a group of robots trying to detect a harmful gas. It is based on the assumption that swarms may be better at detecting smells than individuals, since there are more organisms to detect and track the odor. To do this, individuals would have to ‘trust’ their neighbors and follow them for part of the search. Researchers modeled organisms that followed both their own paths (moths) and their neighbors’ flight patterns (bird flocks). They found that a group of robots most efficiently located a source when individuals trusted their neighbors’ senses over their own about 80% of the time.\n\nBiological Model\nMoths have sensitive antennae that help them detect the presence of pheromones released by other moths. Wind often affects the pheromone location, causing moths to take indirect, zigzagging paths to their destinations, usually by heading upwind of the most recent pheromone smell they encountered."}, {"Source": "plant's photosynthesis", "Application": "sustainable carbon reduction", "Function1": "produce energy", "Function2": "fix carbon dioxide", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/sustainable-carbon-reduction-inspired-by-plants/", "Strategy": "Sustainable Carbon Reduction Inspired by Plants\nElectrocatalyst from Oregon State University is made of a unique molecule that promotes stability and selectivity.\n\nThe Challenge\nMost energy is generated through the burning of fossil fuels which release carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. These gases absorb solar energy and keep heat close to the Earth, also known as the greenhouse effect. CO2 reduction can remove excess CO2 from the atmosphere, but traditional methods often use chemicals that require high temperatures and energy. Electrochemical CO2 reduction is an alternative method where the reactions are done at room temperature in liquid solutions. The energy needed for electrochemical CO2 reduction can be harnessed from solar power, creating an entirely green process. However, due to the many different possible reaction pathways for different products, CO2 reduction reactions have historically had low efficiency.\n\nInnovation details\nElectrochemical CO2 reduction involves metal nanocatalysts that can selectively reduce CO2 to a specific carbon product, such as carbon monoxide. Controlling the nanostructure of the nanocatalyst helps to optimize performance. The researchers engineered nickel phthalocyanine to serve as an electrocatalyst, and found that it converted CO2 to carbon monoxide much more efficiently, and operated stably for 40 hours.\n\nBiological Model\nPhotosynthesis helps plants to produce energy using just sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide. During this process, carbon dioxide must first be fixed and then reduced so it can be converted into energy."}, {"Source": "mammalian cell", "Application": "bio-sensing chip", "Function1": "act as a gatekeeper", "Function2": "control ion flow", "Function3": "provide electrical signal", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/bio-sensing-chip-inspired-by-mammalian-cells/", "Strategy": "Bio-Sensing Chip Inspired by Mammalian Cells\nElectronic chip from University of Cambridge contains a mammalian cell membrane that behaves like a natural cell membrane, giving insight into the effects of viruses.\n\nThe Challenge\nKeeping cells alive in the laboratory can be expensive, time consuming, and requires a lot of specialized equipment. In addition, if researchers are working with harmful pathogens, they risk exposure which could prove fatal. Developing a technique that mimics live cells without using them directly could prove beneficial.\n\nInnovation details\nCell membranes play a critical role in biological signaling, controlling everything from pain relief to viral infection by acting as a gatekeeper between a cell and the outside world. The bio-sensing chip retains all the important features of the cell membrane, including structure and ion flow, without the additional steps that are usually required to keep a cell alive. To make the bio-sensor, cell membranes were first taken from live cells and then combined with polymer electrodes. This allows researchers to measure any changes happening in the cell in real time, while also safely monitoring how the cell is interacting with other cells such as viruses. If a virus is introduced onto the chip, the reaction and behavior of the membrane can be monitored though electrical signals. The device is the size of a human cell and allows for multiple measurements to be taken simultaneously. It can also be modified to mimic additional cell types, such as bacterial or plant.\n\nBiological Model\nThe cell membrane contains specialized proteins called ion channels where an ionic current flows. The current is the flow of charged ions which gives an electrical signal, notifying the cell with important information."}, {"Source": "plant", "Application": "carbon fiber composites", "Function1": "high strength-to-weight ratio", "Function2": "low thermal conductivity", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/tough-carbon-fiber-composites-inspired-by-plants/", "Strategy": "Tough Carbon-Fiber Composites Inspired by Plants\nLight, strong carbon-fiber composites from Texas A&M University use recycled wood fiber to reinforce the structure while speeding up the assembly of the material.\n\nThe Challenge\nPolymer composites reinforced with ultra-fine strands of carbon fibers are used in many applications across industries, and are known for being incredibly strong and lightweight. Carbon nanotubes are oftentimes added to the composites to improve electrical and thermal conductivity and further increase strength. However, the chemical processes for adding the nanotubes oftentimes causes the nanoparticles to clump up and spread unevenly throughout the composite, decreasing the effectiveness.\n\nInnovation details\nThe material uses cellulose nanocrystals, derived from recycled wood fiber, to coat carbon nanotubes uniformly in the carbon-fiber composites. The cellulose nanocrystals have certain areas that attract or repel water, allowing them to anchor on to the carbon-fiber while still dispersing evenly, increasing the organization of the nanotubes and improving the composite overall.\n\nBiological Model\nPlant matter is mainly made up of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin. Cellulose makes up 30-50% of a plant and it’s what gives a plant its structure. It is lightweight but has a high strength to weight ratio, making it strong and durable. Cellulose can be broken down into very small components, called nanocrystals. Nanocrystals are strong and have low thermal conductivity"}, {"Source": "phagocytosis", "Application": "self-healing membranes", "Function1": "filter material", "Function2": "respond to kinetic energy", "Function3": "self-healing barrier", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/self-healing-membranes-inspired-by-phagocytosis/", "Strategy": "Self-Healing Membranes Inspired by Phagocytosis\nLiquid membrane from Penn State filters material by responding to its kinetic energy, rather than particle size, creating a unique self-healing barrier.\n\nThe Challenge\nParticle filters are usually made of a fine mesh that captures larger particles while allowing smaller particles to pass through. In many applications, like wastewater treatment, the smaller particles still need to be captured at some point. Processes to get rid of these fine particles can dramatically increase the time and cost of wastewater treatment. In addition, if the filter is damaged in any way, it severely compromises the integrity of the design. Self-healing barriers are useful for a variety of applications, including medicine, where medical devices such as surgical tools could pass through while contaminants stay out.\n\nInnovation details\nThe liquid membrane is made of water and a material that stabilizes the liquid and air interface, and has a structure similar to a cell membrane. When a particle is trying to pass through, the membrane filters it out by sensing its kinetic energy rather than its size. A larger particle has more kinetic energy, so it can pass. A smaller particle has less kinetic energy so it is captured by the membrane. Unlike typical filters, larger particles can pass without smaller particles sneaking through. Additionally, the membrane wraps around the particle as it passes through, similar to the cellular process of phagocytosis, allowing the membrane to self-heal. The membrane can be designed to keep certain particles and gases from passing through.\n\nBiological Model\nMany kinds of small molecules can diffuse across the cell’s outer membrane, or travel through special embedded channels. Taking in larger materials, however, requires a different strategy. Phagocytosis allows cells to transport nutrients and other larger materials into the cell. During this process, a cell engulfs whole particles by wrapping them in its own membrane before processing them internally."}, {"Source": "dna", "Application": "dna origami", "Function1": "self-assemble", "Function2": "mimic molecular behaviors", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/meta-dna-origami-inspired-by-dna-assembly/", "Strategy": "Meta-DNA Origami Inspired by DNA Assembly\nM-DNA origami from Arizona State University are micrometer-sized DNA structures created from smaller self-assembling DNA nanostructures.\n\nThe Challenge\nDNA origami is a highly programmable, promising new method for constructing customized objects and functional devices at the 10–100 nm scale. It involves using long single-stranded DNA nanostructures folded into different shapes. Scaling up this method to larger (micron to millimeter) sized DNA architectures opens the door to a winder range of applications, including metamaterial construction and surface-based biophysical assays.\n\nInnovation details\nThe “meta-DNA” (M-DNA) is a six-helix DNA nanostructure that functions more effectively than single-stranded DNA nanostructures. The researchers used a computational model to mimic the molecular behaviors of DNA strand assembly, including ‘left-‘ and ‘right-handed’ DNA. This allowed them to study advanced self-assembly techniques and enabled them to create diverse and complex M-DNA structures at the micrometer scale, including meta-multi-arm junctions, 3D polyhedrons, and various 2D/3D lattices.\n\nBiological Model\nDNA assembles using specific hydrogen bonding patterns known as “Watson-Crick” base pairing. This pairing dictate the iconic double helix structure in which DNA stores genetic information. This traditional structure is known as ‘B-form’ DNA, where the double helix winds to the right, also known as a ‘right-handed’ DNA. ‘Z-form’ DNA occurs when the double helix winds to the left, also known as a ‘left-handed’ DNA."}, {"Source": "spider's silk", "Application": "antibacterial biomaterial", "Function1": "prevent colonization by bacteria and fungi", "Function2": "promote the regeneration of human tissue", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/antibacterial-biomaterial-inspired-by-spider-silk/", "Strategy": "Antibacterial Biomaterial Inspired by Spider Silk\nMicrobe-resistant coating from the University of Bayreuth is made of nanostructures to deter bacterial attachment.\n\nThe Challenge\nSince the discovery of bacteria, conventional thinking has led people to kill microorganisms to control them. Yet, overuse and abuse of antibiotics, disinfectants and other kill strategies have contributed to the creation of superbugs commonly found in hospitals and the general population. As biocidal approaches have made bacteria stronger, new strategies are needed to manage bacterial growth while contributing to a healthy environment.\n\nInnovation details\nThe microbe-repellent coating is made of nanostructures that replicate the spidroins, glycoproteins, and lipids of spider silk. The coating is only a few millimeters thick, and has hydrogel scaffolding that is able to serve as the precursor for tissue regeneration. The proteins prevent colonization by bacteria and fungi while simultaneously promoting the regeneration of human tissue. This makes this coating ideal for implants, wound dressings, prostheses, and contact lenses.\n\nBiological Model\nThe surface of spider silk fibers is made of spidroins, glycoproteins, and lipids. Each spider uses a unique combination of these elements to create a web that can withstand microbial decomposition in all environments. Additionally, some spiders use antimicrobial peptides within their webs."}, {"Source": "insect vision", "Application": "steerable camera", "Function1": "save energy", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/tiny-steerable-camera-inspired-by-insect-vision/", "Strategy": "Tiny Steerable Camera Inspired by Insect Vision\nMountable, wireless camera from the University of Washington has a mechanical arm that increases the viewing range with minimal power consumption.\n\nThe Challenge\nCameras use a significant amount of energy to capture the intricacies of a scene, and as a result are often attached to a large battery or a power outlet. The power outlet restrains the portability of the camera and the battery makes the camera heavy. Small robots and insects are unable to carry these heavy cameras, hindering our ability to capture images and video of insect life.\n\nInnovation details\nThe wireless steerable camera can stream video to a smartphone at 1 to 5 frames per second. It is made of a battery, a Bluetooth chip, a camera, and a mechanical arm. The arm can pivot 60 degrees to capture a high-resolution, panoramic shot or track a moving object while only using a minimal amount of energy. The arm was inspired by insects, which oftentimes have a small, high-resolution region in their compound eyes. Rather than moving their entire bodies to look around, they just turn their heads, saving energy while maintaining high resolution and clarity over their entire visual field. All together the camera weighs 248 milligrams, less than a pinch of salt. When attached to a small robot or insect, the camera and arm can be controlled via Bluetooth up to 120 meters away. To save more energy, the research team attached an accelerometer, so the camera only takes images when the robot/insect is moving.\n\nBiological Model\nSome insects, such as flies, have an area of high-resolution cells in their compound eyes. In order to see their surroundings, they move their entire head, which is less energy intensive than moving their entire body. Both of these together help to save valuable energy for the organism."}, {"Source": "fly's eye", "Application": "anti-reflective nano-coating", "Function1": "reduce reflection", "Function2": "enhance adhesion", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/anti-reflective-nano-coating-inspired-by-insect-eyes/", "Strategy": "Anti-Reflective Nano-Coating Inspired by Fly Eyes\nNano-coating from the University of Geneva creates nanoscale surface bumps that help to reduce reflection and adhesion.\n\nThe Challenge\nLight reflection is a common problem that occurs in many applications. For example, any light that is reflected off solar panels reduces the total amount of energy that can be used, which decreases efficiency. Additionally, when particles such as dust adhere to a surface they block potential light from entering, further reducing apparatus efficiency.\n\nInnovation details\nThe coating consists of commercial waxes mixed with the retinin protein, which is produced by genetically-modified bacteria. Similar to the surface of a fly’s eye, the coating creates tiny bumps that reduce reflection and dirt/dust adhesion. The coating can be used on almost any kind of surface, including wood, paper, metal and plastic. It is also resistant to washing in water for up to 20 hours. However, it can be easily damaged by detergent or scratching, and further improvements are needed to increase resiliency.\n\nBiological Model\nThe outer surface of many insect eyes, the corneal lens, is covered with a regular pattern of small conical protuberances. These protuberances reduce light reflection by creating a refractive index gradient between the air-lens interface. Additionally, the protuberances create a barrier against dust particles."}, {"Source": "moth's eye", "Application": "anti-reflective film", "Function1": "minimize light reflection", "Function2": "create a barrier against dust and dirt", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/scalable-anti-reflective-film-inspired-by-moths/", "Strategy": "Scalable Anti-Reflective Film Inspired by Moths\nNano-film from Tokyo University of Science uses a thin layer of glassy carbon to reduce reflection and adhesion.\n\nThe Challenge\nLight reflection is a common problem that occurs in many applications. For example, any light that is reflected off solar panels reduces the total amount of energy that can be used, which decreases efficiency. Additionally, when particles such as dust adhere to a surface, they block potential light from entering, further reducing efficiency.\n\nInnovation details\nThe anti-reflective film consists of a thin layer of glassy carbon formed with a high-quality nanostructured mold. An inductively coupled plasma (ICP) system creates a mold to produce a transparent film with a nanostructure similar to those on the surface of a moth’s eye. The ICP system is able to make the mold at a larger scale, allowing the film to cover larger surfaces. The film’s reflectance toward light in the visible range is only 0.4%, ten times lower than that of a similar film without a moth-eye nanostructure. The transmittance of light through the material was also increased, meaning there was no trade-off in optical properties.\n\nBiological Model\nMoths hunt at dusk or at night when limited light is available. In order to maximize light capture, moth eyes are covered with a regular pattern of conical protuberances, generally 200-300 nm in height. These structures dramatically minimize light reflection over a broad range of wavelengths. This is because the protuberances are graded rather than polished, causing most of the incoming light to bend at the surface and be transmitted through the eye, rather than reflecting off it. These structures also help to create a barrier against dust and dirt."}, {"Source": "cicada wing", "Application": "nanofabrication", "Function1": "shed dirt and water", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/dissolvable-nanofabrication-method-inspired-by-cicada-wings/", "Strategy": "Dissolvable Nanofabrication Method Inspired by Cicada Wings\nNanofabrication method from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign uses a dissolvable template to create nanostructures without causing damage.\n\nThe Challenge\nLarge volume manufacturing is susceptible to small variations in the product. In order to function properly, nanostructures need to be accurately made at a large scale. Current techniques are unable to make these intricate structures, leading to slower production and high costs. Nanoimprinting lithography is an effective method for imprinting fine structures, but it can be labor-intensive and expensive. Some techniques use toxic materials or high temperatures that are not compatible with biological samples such as plants or insects.\n\nInnovation details\nThe nanofabrication method uses nanoimprinting lithography, which is a process capable of replicating nanostructures as small as 100 nm. It uses a piece of biological material, for example a cicada wing, as a template. Nail polish is then applied to wing, which is allowed to dry at room temperature. Once dry, the template can be coated with a polymer or metal and then dissolved away, leaving only the replica metal or polymer. This allows for the replication of fine nanostructures using only simple materials, at a larger scale than previous technologies.\n\nBiological Model\nThe wings of cicadas shed dirt and water via nanoscale protrusions, measuring only 300 nanometers. The protrusions keep water off the wing and the air pockets that surround the protrusions buoy the droplets."}, {"Source": "human brain", "Application": "artificial neurotransmitter", "Function1": "transmit information", "Function2": "sense the environment", "Function3": "share information", "Function4": "filter information", "Function5": "optimize information transfer", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/artificial-neurotransistor-inspired-by-the-human-brain/", "Strategy": "Artificial Neurotransmitter Inspired by the Human Brain\nNeurotransmitter from Dresden University of Technology uses a sol-gel silicate film which encourages greater movement of artificial neurons to transmit information.\n\nThe Challenge\nTypically, the performance of microelectronics is dictated by the size and processing capacity of the device. To enhance the performance, component sizes are reduced, but the machine is still able to process information at the same rate. Within these machines, the storage and processing of information occurs in two different components. These separate components are pre-programmed, slow and unable to learn, change, or improve on their own.\n\nInnovation details\nThe neurotransistor uses a field-effect transistor to process information. This transistor uses an electric field to control the flow of current. Within the transistor there is a viscous substance called sol-gel. The sol-gel coats a part of the circuit called the silicon wafer, which forms a porous ceramic. When the transistor is excited, the holes in the porous material function as paths for information to move within. The more excitement, the sooner the transistor will open for flow, strengthening the transfer of information. The plasticity of this set-up allows the transistor to learn, adapt, and change tasks during operation, similar to neurons in the brain.\n\nBiological Model\nNeurons aid organisms in reacting to environmental stimuli because they collaborate to sense the environment, share information, and filter unimportant information. Neuronal signaling occurs throughout the brain in multiple directions, optimizing the transfer of information."}, {"Source": "caustic light ray", "Application": "non-diffracting light beams", "Function1": "cross and overlap", "Function2": "focused lines", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/tailored-light-beams-inspired-by-caustic-light-rays/", "Strategy": "Tailored Light Beams Inspired by Caustic Light Rays\nNon-diffracting light beams from University of Münster do not fade over long distances.\n\nThe Challenge\nCertain applications such as high resolution microscopy or nanoscale material processing require customized laser beams that do not change during use. This is a challenge because as light is traveling to a specific destination, it may end up traveling off course or fading. Light can diffract, which means when it hits an obstacle, it will redirect, or change characteristics. Creating non-diffracting light fields will enable new applications such as light disk microscopy or laser-based cutting.\n\nInnovation details\nThe researchers used light structures called caustics, which occur naturally when light is reflected or refracted by a curved surface and projected through it. The light beams cross and overlap, creating a series of brightly focused lines on the other side. One example is the bright pattern of twinkling light rays often seen at the bottom of a swimming pool. Researchers were able to use and manipulated these caustics to generate rays for new types of laser beams. This creates new opportunities for optical materials processing, multidimensional signal transmission, or advanced high resolution imaging.\n\nBiological Model\nCaustics occur naturally when light is reflected or refracted by a curved surface and projected through it. The light beams cross and overlap, creating a series of brightly focused lines on the other side. One example is the bright pattern of twinkling light rays often seen at the bottom of a swimming pool."}, {"Source": "coral", "Application": "antifouling coating", "Function1": "prevent fouling", "Function2": "decrease surface adhesion strength", "Function3": "prevent organisms from attaching", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/antifouling-coating-inspired-by-corals/", "Strategy": "Antifouling Coating Inspired by Corals\nNovel marine coating from Jilin University has natural antifoulants and low surface energy that help prevent biofouling and reduce friction.\n\nThe Challenge\nThe shipping industry is one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions due to the huge amount of fuel consumption from barges that transport containers across the ocean. Excess build-up of biofouling on boat hulls leads to increased drag, greater fuel costs, and more frequent cleaning. Many existing coatings use biocides to kill the organisms that attach to the hull. The biocide can leach into the water and harm the surrounding ecosystem.\n\nInnovation details\nThe coating utilizes a combination of strategies commonly used by corals to prevent fouling. The first is the extraction and utilization of antifouling compounds from the corals themselves. These substances can be used as an ingredient in the coating. Secondly, the use of inert materials such as fluoropolymers and silicon create a coating with a surface that is hard to bind to. Third, coatings with tentacle-like nanostructures physically prevent fouling organisms from attaching. Lastly, a coating with multiple layers, including one of phosphor, emits a weak light that inhibits the settlement of diatoms and algae.\n\nBiological Model\nCorals have several antifouling strategies. The first is a naturally occurring, bioactive antifoulant. The second is a low surface energy, which decreases surface adhesion strength, preventing organisms from attaching. The third is the sloughing effect, in which they use a slippery slime to “remove” attached organisms. The fourth is the use of soft external tentacles that prevent organisms from attaching to their surface. And lastly, the use of fluorescent pigments that absorb damaging UV rays."}, {"Source": "teleost fish", "Application": "protective equipment", "Function1": "provide high resistance to penetration", "Function2": "dissipate forces", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/flexible-protective-equipment-inspired-by-teleost-fish/", "Strategy": "Flexible Protective Equipment Inspired by Teleost Fish\nProtective equipment from Hunan University has a two layer design that makes it flexible and impact-resistant.\n\nThe Challenge\nHelmets and protective equipment are designed to protect humans from injuries. However, they are often made of plastic and styrofoam, which take a long time to decompose and have a significant environmental impact.\n\nInnovation details\nThe protective equipment is a two-layered structure consisting of an outer layer of hard-ceramic and an inner layer of ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene-based material. The composite scales are arranged in a hierarchical design similar to fish scales, and are supported by back layers of Kevlar fabrics. This design helps to protect from significant impacts, including bullets and other high-impact materials.\n\nBiological Model\nThe scales on teleost fish provide high resistance to penetration due to their double-layer structure. The outer bony layer withstands most of the impact from bites and scratches, and dissipates the force to protect the softer collagen layer underneath. Any impact that makes it to the collagen layer is further resisted by the woven pattern of its fibers, which stretch under pressure to dissipate impact."}, {"Source": "bacteria nanowire", "Application": "renewable energy generator", "Function1": "generate energy", "Function2": "produce electricity", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/renewable-energy-generator-inspired-by-bacteria/", "Strategy": "Renewable Energy Generator Inspired by Bacteria\nAir-powered generator from UMass Amherst generates energy from naturally occurring water vapor using protein nanowires.\n\nThe Challenge\nMethods of renewable energy generation often rely on certain climate or weather patterns to generate energy, such as solar or wind energy. Renewable energy technology can also be hard to build in remote places due to the large costs and multiple components required for construction.\n\nInnovation details\nThe air-powered generator, known as “Air-gen”, contains electrically-conductive protein nanowires produced by the microbe Geobacter sulfurreducens. The bottom of the film rests on an electrode, with a smaller electrode covering part of the nanowire film on top. The film adsorbs water from the atmosphere and a combination of electric conductivity and surface chemistry generates a flow of electricity between the two electrodes. Air-gen does not require sunlight or wind, and even works indoors.\n\nBiological Model\nTo get energy to live and grow, some bacteria such as Geobacter sulfurreducens build electrical “wires” 100,000 times thinner than a human hair. They extend these nanowires outside their cell walls and create a microscopic electrical grid in the surrounding environment. The nanowires allow the bacteria to “breathe,” using metals instead of oxygen."}, {"Source": "human heart", "Application": "bionic heart model", "Function1": "pump blood", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/bionic-heart-model-inspired-by-human-hearts/", "Strategy": "Bionic Heart Model Inspired by Human Hearts\nBionic heart model from MIT mimics the way a real human heart pumps blood, allowing for more realistic testing of prosthetic valves.\n\nThe Challenge\nHeart disease is a prominent health condition around the world. As rates of heart disease increase, the demand for prosthetic heart valves and other cardiac devices will grow too. Prosthetic valves are designed to mimic a real, healthy heart and help pump blood throughout the body. However, many valves can develop issues such as leakage or failure. Current prosthetic valves must first be tested as benchtop simulations, and then tested on animal subjects before reaching humans, which is a time- and money-intensive process.\n\nInnovation details\nThe bionic heart is a real biological heart that has the tough outer tissue replaced with a soft robotic matrix of artificial heart muscles, similar to bubble wrap. The orientation of the artificial muscles mimics the pattern of the heart’s natural muscle fibers, so that when the researchers remotely inflate the bubbles, they act together to squeeze and twist the inner heart. This is similar to the way a human heart beats and pumps blood. The real biological tissues are glued to the artificial tissues with a new adhesive called TissueSil, a viscous, hydrogel-based adhesive. The entire system is wrapped in silicone to encase the hybrid heart in a uniform covering. This new heart is called a ‘biorobotic hybrid heart’, and allows for faster prosthetic valve testing and fine-tuning, significantly reducing the cost of testing and development.\n\nBiological Model\nThe heart pumps blood by squeezing and twisting itself. The right side of the heart receives oxygen-poor blood and pumps it to the lungs, to refuel with oxygen. The left side of the heart received oxygen-rich blood and pumps it into the body."}, {"Source": "neurons", "Application": "neuromorphic computer chip", "Function1": "share information", "Function2": "filter information", "Function3": "transmit information", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/reliable-neuromorphic-computer-chip-inspired-by-neurons/", "Strategy": "Reliable Neuromorphic Computer Chip Inspired by Neurons\nComputer chip from MIT has thousands of artificial brain synapses that enable it to process information dynamically.\n\nThe Challenge\nMemory transistors are an essential element of neuromorphic computing. The capability of current memory transistors is limited by how many ions flow from one electrode to the other. Additionally, existing memory transistors are activated only when the voltage stimulates a large conduction channel.\n\nInnovation details\nThe computer chip is made out of tens of thousands of artificial synapses called memory transistors, or “memristors.” The memristors are made of silicon, silver, and copper. The metals are melded into alloys to introduce specific properties. This manipulation allows ions to flow more quickly, enhancing the speed of the system. Together the memristors form an artificial neural network to efficiently carry out computational tasks. The goal is for these chips to be able to recognize lights, make decisions, and remember processes.\n\nBiological Model\nNeurons aid organisms in reacting to environmental stimuli because they collaborate to share information and filter unimportant information. Neurons form a complex cellular network in the brain that connect electrically and chemically to transmit information from sensory organs to specific brain regions that process the data and respond."}, {"Source": "hydrogenase enzyme", "Application": "electrocatalyst", "Function1": "catalyze the electrolysis of water into hydrogen and oxygen", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/reversible-electrocatalyst-inspired-by-hydrogenase-enzyme/", "Strategy": "Reversible Electrocatalyst Inspired by Hydrogenase Enzyme\nElectrocatalyst from University of Grenoble contains graphene acid instead of rare metals, contributing to the creation of a scalable hydrogen fuel cell.\n\nThe Challenge\nHydrogen gas is a crucial industrial chemical used to produce fertilizer and fuel. In addition, it is a safe, high-energy molecule that can be used in fuel cells or to store energy produced by inconsistent power sources like solar and wind. However, most of the hydrogen produced today is reliant on fossil fuels. A promising method for producing carbon-free hydrogen from renewable sources is electrolysis, in which electricity is used to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. Unfortunately, the majority of industrial-scale electrolysis machinery currently in use needs platinum as a catalyst to generate energy through oxidation. Platinum is extremely rare and therefore expensive to use. Additionally, harvesting platinum requires mining processes that generate waste and consume large amounts of water and electricity.\n\nInnovation details\nThe electrocatalyst is made of a nickel bis-diphosphine core, which undergoes noncovalent immobilization, where graphene acid is used as an electrode scaffold. The properties of nickel bis-diphosphine as well as this process of catalyst optimization results in a high-performance molecular hydrogen oxidation reaction. Using this electrocatalyst, hydrogen gas can be produced affordably and with clean energy, without platinum.\n\nBiological Model\nHydrogenase enzymes catalyze the electrolysis of water into hydrogen and oxygen. They can be divided into three phylogenetically distinct classes, that is, [NiFe], [FeFe], and [Fe] hydrogenases, according to the type of catalytically active metal center."}, {"Source": "butterfly's wing", "Application": "natural looking electronic displays", "Function1": "create natural looking display", "Function2": "use less energy", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/natural-looking-electronic-displays-inspired-by-butterflies/", "Strategy": "Natural Looking Electronic Displays Inspired by Butterflies\nElectronic display from the University of Central Florida use less energy because it reflects light from the environment to display colors and images.\n\nThe Challenge\nCurrent display technologies rely on energy-intensive screens that are lit from behind. Prolonged exposure to these devices can cause eye strain, headaches, and other health issues.\n\nInnovation details\nThe electronic display reflects light from its surroundings to create a more natural looking, less energy-intensive screen. It mimics the technique used by butterflies to create color by scattering and reflecting light that hits microstructures on their wings. The technology is known as ‘plasmonic color display’ because the screen is made up of self-assembled plasmonics. Plasmonics are nanostructures that reflect different colors based on their size, shape and pattern. The plasmonics self-assemble at a quasi-random pattern on a pre-designed substrate that is optimized to show all the desired colors.\n\nBiological Model\nMany butterflies, such as the blue morpho, do not use pigment to create the bright blue color on their wings. Rather than absorb and reflect certain light wavelengths as pigments and dyes do, their wings have layered microstructure that causes light waves that hits the surface of the wing to diffract and interfere with each other so that certain color wavelengths cancel out while others, such as blue, are intensified and reflected."}, {"Source": "mollusk shell and grapefruit", "Application": "non-cuttable material", "Function1": "endure potential cutting force", "Function2": "absorb impact", "Function3": "prevent penetration", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/non-cuttable-material-inspired-by-mollusk-shells-and-grapefruits/", "Strategy": "Non-Cuttable Material Inspired by Mollusk Shells and Grapefruits\nProteus from Durham University is a non-cuttable material made of a ceramic spheres within a flexible aluminum structure that interferes with cutting tools.\n\nThe Challenge\nProtective equipment must be able to endure potential cutting forces which can damage the material and make it vulnerable to breakage. Once a cut penetrates a material, it makes it easier for the material to collapse, as well as letting dust and dirt enter.\n\nInnovation details\nThe non-cuttable material, called Proteus, is a lightweight material made of ceramic spheres within a flexible, cellular aluminum structure. The design was inspired by the tough cellular skin of grapefruit and fracture-resistant mollusk shells. When a cutting tool, like an angle grinder, tries to cut into the material, the ceramic spheres blunt the cutting tool, eventually rendering it effective. Additionally, the force generated between the grinder and the spheres creates a vibration that prevents the grinder from sufficiently penetrating. The ceramic spheres also slowly fragment and fill spaces within the material, hardening the material. This process is increased further as the tool speed increases.\n\nBiological Model\nFruits like the grapefruit and pomelo have excellent damping properties due to the hierarchical organization of their peels. When pomelo fruits fall from the ground, air pockets within the peel collapse like a cushion, absorbing the energy of impact and protecting the peel from damage.\nNacre’s specific composition and construction make it tough and resistant to catastrophic failure that can result from spreading cracks. This means that a greater amount of energy is needed to fracture or break the material. Hard microscale mineral layers in nacre are “glued” together by relatively soft nanoscale organic layers. The arrangement is much like staggered layers of bricks that are held together by mortar in a brick wall."}, {"Source": "lizard and cockroach", "Application": "amphistar", "Function1": "run on water", "Function2": "crawl on land", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/amphibious-robot-inspired-by-lizards-and-cockroaches/", "Strategy": "Amphibious Robot Inspired by Lizards and Cockroaches\nRobot from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev has propellers on its underside that enable it to both crawl on the ground and run across water.\n\nThe Challenge\nRobots often use extra limbs or wheels to move around. These appendages can be restrictive in certain environments or rough terrain, limiting the area the robot is capable of working in.\n\nInnovation details\nThe robot, known as AmphiSTAR, was inspired by cockroaches and it is designed to run on water at high speeds like the basilisk lizard. It is fitted underneath with four propellors, which act like wheels on the ground and like fins in the water. The axes of the propellors can be tilted and adjusted as needed and it also has two arms that hold the motor housing and propellers. The arms are able to move symmetrically away from the body to induce the sprawling mechanism that enables the robot to navigate rough terrain. When the propellers are at a certain angle and rotating at a high speed, the hovering mechanism is induced, enabling the robot to ‘run’ on water. Because the robot can move on land and on water, it is amphibious. The robot is able to crawl on land at speeds up to 8 mph (3.5 m/s) and on water up to 3.3 mph (1.5 m/s).\n\nBiological Model\nBasilisk lizards are able to run on water at high speeds because of the configuration of their toes. Their toes have have wrinkles of skin that spread out on the water to increase the surface area. As they run, they pump their legs rapidly and slap their feet on the water."}, {"Source": "mammal perspiration", "Application": "evaporative cooling", "Function1": "thermoregulation", "Function2": "evaporative cooling", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/autonomic-robot-perspiration-inspired-by-mammal-perspiration/", "Strategy": "Automatic Robot ‘Sweating’ Inspired by Mammal Perspiration\nRobot from Cornell University has pressurized reservoirs that release water and prevent the robot from overheating.\n\nThe Challenge\nWhen a robot overheats from a heavy computational load it will shut down, causing delays and errors in processes. To prevent this, robots have additional systems dedicated to cooling themselves down. These systems utilize additional energy and need consistent maintenance to stay operational.\n\nInnovation details\nThe soft robot consists of 3D-printed hydrogel actuators that form fingers to grip objects. The actuators have small pressurized reservoirs filled with water. The reservoirs are connected to the surface of the ‘finger’ by ducts. When the plastic on the robot reaches 86°F (30°C), the base layer shrinks, squeezing water to the top layer which has small pores for the water to escape out of. The water then evaporates, taking heat with it. This helps cool the robot, similar to how humans sweat to stay cool.\n\nBiological Model\nThe sweat glands of many mammals aid thermoregulation through evaporative cooling. The eccrine sweat gland is controlled by the sympathetic nervous system which regulates body temperature. When temperatures rise, the eccrine glands secrete water to the skin surface, where heat is removed by evaporation."}, {"Source": "snake's traveling-wave motion", "Application": "pneumatic soft robot", "Function1": "move in tight, narrow pipelines", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/pneumatic-soft-robot-inspired-by-snakes/", "Strategy": "Pneumatic Soft Robot Inspired by Snakes\nSoft robot from Michigan State University uses traveling-wave motion to move in complex, narrow environments.\n\nThe Challenge\nRobots often use extra limbs or wheels to move around. These appendages can be restrictive in certain environments due to their shape and size. This prevents many robots from operating in complex, constrained environments.\n\nInnovation details\nThe robot has a 3D-printed modular structure. It uses a pneumatic system with only four air channels regardless of the length of the robot. Due to its configuration, it is able to travel in tight, narrow pipelines of different diameters and geometries.\n\nBiological Model\nCockroaches move over surfaces by moving their legs systematically. The long back legs, also called metathoracic legs, control the speed of the cockroach."}, {"Source": "cheetah's spine", "Application": "soft robot", "Function1": "move on land", "Function2": "gallop across surface", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/speedy-soft-robot-inspired-by-cheetahs/", "Strategy": "Speedy Soft Robot Inspired by Cheetahs\nSoft Robot from North Carolina State University has a 'bistable' spine that enables it to gallop on land.\n\nThe Challenge\nFor rescue missions, speed is essential. Using robots can help reduce the risk to humans and allows food and medical supplies to arrive much more quickly. Typical soft robots use a crawling mechanism to move on land. This means that the robot must remain in contact with the ground at all times, limiting its maximum speed.\n\nInnovation details\nThese new soft, silicone robots are known as “Leveraging Elastic instabilities for Amplified Performance” (LEAP) robots, and are approximately 7 centimeters long and weigh about 45 grams. They were inspired by the spine biomechanics of cheetahs, which are the fastest animals on land. Each robot has a spring-powered, ‘bistable’ spine, allowing it to switch between two stable states by quickly pumping air into channels that line the robot. The switching releases a significant amount of energy, which allows the robot to exert enough force to lift its ‘feet’ up from off the ground. This allows the robot to gallop across a surface much more quickly, up to 2.7 body lengths per second compared to 0.8 body lengths per second of traditional soft robots. The feet of the LEAP robots can also be replaced with fins, allowing them to swim through water at a rate of 0.78 body lengths per second, compared to 0.7 body lengths per second for the previous fastest swimming soft robot.\n\nBiological Model\nCheetahs are the fastest creatures on land, capable of going from 0-60 mph in under 3 seconds. They derive their speed and power from the flexing of their spines, which allows their hind and front legs to overlap with one another underneath the cheetah’s body. The spine then recoils like a spring, propelling the cheetah’s legs back out and allowing it to reach strides of up to 25 feet."}, {"Source": "insect's exoskeleton", "Application": "3d-printed soft robot", "Function1": "protect inner body", "Function2": "resist impact", "Function3": "flexible", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/3d-printed-soft-robot-inspired-by-insects/", "Strategy": "3D-Printed Soft Robot Inspired by Insects\nSoft robot from the University of California San Diego has a 3D-printed 'flexoskeleton' with both soft and rigid parts.\n\nThe Challenge\nSoft robots are typically made by adding soft materials to a rigid inner body. The process consists of multiple steps, including casting and machining. This increases the time, cost, and likelihood of mistakes.\n\nInnovation details\nThe soft robot is made of a ‘flexoskeleton’ that consists of a soft body and rigid outer components. It was inspired by the exoskeletons of insects, which have both soft and rigid flexible parts. The soft body is 3D printed with a rigid material on a thin sheet of polycarbonate that acts as a flexible base. The 3D printer controls the rigidity of the material it prints, allowing for a variety of different options. This method makes it easy to create a whole library of Lego-like components that can easily be swapped for one another as needed. One flexoskeleton component takes 10 minutes to print and costs less than one dollar; a whole robot can be printed in under two hours.\n\nBiological Model\nInsects have exoskeletons that protect their soft inner body from impact and damage. It is made from chitin fibers and is strong enough to resist impact but flexible enough to allow the insect to move freely."}, {"Source": "cockroach", "Application": "self-righting robot simulation", "Function1": "self-right", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/self-righting-robot-simulation-inspired-by-cockroaches/", "Strategy": "Self-Righting Robot Simulation Inspired by Cockroaches\nRobot from Johns Hopkins University uses randomized wing opening and leg swinging to self-right when fallen.\n\nThe Challenge\nRobots are designed to navigate on their own, but when encountering rough terrain, they may lose balance and fall over. When this occurs it may be difficult to recover because the robot doesn’t have arms or other limbs to assist it in standing back up.\n\nInnovation details\nThe robot is programmed to use random wing-opening and leg-swinging motions to self-right, similar to cockroaches. Increasing the randomness of the time delay between wing opening and leg swinging increased the likelihood that the robot (which did not know what coordination was best) would self-right within a finite time.\n\nBiological Model\nCockroaches use random motions of their wings and legs to help turn themselves over if they are upside-down. With the help of friction on the ground, wing pulses and leg movements, cockroaches can push themselves off their backs and self-right."}, {"Source": "human eye", "Application": "artificial eye", "Function1": "convert light into signals", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/artificial-eye-inspired-by-human-eyes/", "Strategy": "Artificial Eye Inspired by Human Eyes\nRobotic eye from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology has a high-density nanowire array that increases the amount of information the eye can capture.\n\nThe Challenge\nRobotic eyes are often flat surfaces, making it difficult for them to replicate the abilities of the human retina. In addition, robotics eyes usually process data in a sequential order, delaying the overall transmission of data. Synthetic eyes also have smaller fields of vision and lower definition, leading to lower quality visual information.\n\nInnovation details\nResearchers designed a robotic eye that is more structurally similar to the human eye, with a curved shape that more accurately replicates a real retina. It also has a high-density array of nanowires that mimic the photoreceptors found in the retina. These wires are able to transmit information at a higher rate than was previously possible. The wires are packed extremely tightly on the synthetic retina, so tightly in fact, that there are 30 times as many sensors on the artificial retina than a real human one.\n\nBiological Model\nHuman eyes have a component called the retina. The retina contains two types of photoreceptors, rods and cones. The photoreceptors convert light into signals that the brain can process."}, {"Source": "amoeba", "Application": "robotic swimmers", "Function1": "swim through water", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/self-propelling-robotic-swimmers-inspired-by-euglenoid-movement/", "Strategy": "Self-Propelling Robotic Swimmers Inspired by Algal Movement\nRobotic swimmer from Santa Clara University uses a \"push-me-pull-you\" technique to propel forward.\n\nThe Challenge\nMany robots are designed to complete tasks that are challenging or inconvenient for humans to perform. Small robots in particular could be very useful in delivering medicine to specific parts of the body, leading to less invasive medical treatment. These small robots would need to move on their own in order to reach the desired location, otherwise additional components would have to be installed. This would increase the weight and decrease the agility of the robots.\n\nInnovation details\nThe robotic swimmer was inspired by the way amoeba swim through water. It’s made of two elastomeric spheres and a linear actuator. The spheres can inflate and deflate, changing their buoyancy. The robot was able to swim through a high viscosity silicone liquid without external assistance simply by expanding and contracting the spheres.\n\nBiological Model\nEuglenids and other amoebae move using body deformations. The movement is generated through a mechanism known as “push-me-pull-you” (PMPY), in which two spheres change their volumes and separation distance. As one sphere expands, it pushes away the contracting sphere, which then acts as a sink to pull the expanding sphere."}, {"Source": "silkworm silk", "Application": "implantable composite material", "Function1": "stretchable", "Function2": "distribute mechanical stress", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/implantable-composite-material-inspired-by-silkworm-silk/", "Strategy": "Implantable Composite Material Inspired by Silkworm Silk\nRobust biomaterial from Beihang University uses a mixture of silkworm silk and a polymer matrix to create a durable, biocompatible material.\n\nThe Challenge\nMany people need surgical implants throughout their lifetime for a variety of medical reasons. Each time a foreign material is implanted into the human body, it risks incompatibility and rejection. Furthermore, many materials can become uncomfortable, causing irritation over time that can lead to further complications.\n\nInnovation details\nThe composite material is made from silkworm silk and a polymer matrix such as epoxy. This mixture creates a laminate material with inherent biocompatibility. The silk’s long fibers are able to more evenly distribute mechanical stresses throughout the durable epoxy. The material can be cut and formed into different shapes and sizes.\n\nBiological Model\nSilkworm silk is made of stretchable fibers approximately 5,000 feet long. Having a single, long fiber enables the material to more effectively distribute mechanical stress than several shorter, individual ones."}, {"Source": "jellyfish", "Application": "soft robot", "Function1": "control swimming direction", "Function2": "jet propulsion", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/soft-robot-inspired-by-jellyfish/", "Strategy": "Soft Robot Inspired by Jellyfish\nSoft robots from North Carolina State University use pre-stressed polymers that quickly release their energy to propel forward.\n\nThe Challenge\nRobots are capable of moving at fast speeds, but they are oftentimes built with a stiff inner spine. This configuration can sometimes be unstable and limiting when different movements are required. These robots also need to use a lot of energy in order to move quickly and accurately.\n\nInnovation details\nThe soft robot is made of two bonded layers created from the same elastic polymer. One layer is stretchy, while the other contains an air channel. The robot moves when air is pumped into the channel, and the direction of movement is controlled by stretching the stretchable layer in two of the four directions (either up and down, or side-to-side), creating a dome-shape that resembles a jellyfish. Once air is allowed to leave the channel, the material snaps back into its original ‘resting’ state. As the jellyfish-bot “relaxes,” the dome curves up, like a shallow bowl. When air is pumped into the channel again, the dome quickly curves down, pushing out water and propelling the robot forward. The robot is able to move at 53.3 millimeters per second, which is faster than the average jellyfish that moves at about 30 millimeters per second.\n\nBiological Model\nJellyfish swim by jet propulsion. When its bell contracts, water is squeezed out, jetting the jellyfish in the opposite direction. The jellyfish has a nervous system that ensures all the muscle fibers contract at the right time, and it can control its swimming direction by contracting the radiating muscle fibers unequally."}, {"Source": "cephalopod", "Application": "swimming soft robot", "Function1": "jet propulsion", "Function2": "move rapidly", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/swimming-soft-robot-inspired-by-cephalopods/", "Strategy": "Swimming Soft Robot Inspired by Cephalopods\nSoft robots from UC San Diego use jet propulsion to propel forward.\n\nThe Challenge\nRobots are capable of moving at fast speeds, but soft robots, especially underwater, have trouble moving quickly due to the slow propagation of their components. These robots also need to use a lot of energy in order to move quickly and accurately, and if they are connected to an external power source, this can further decrease mobility.\n\nInnovation details\nThe soft robot is made from flexible acrylic polymers and rigid, 3D printed and laser cut parts. To move, the robot takes in a volume of water, expanding and storing elastic energy in its flexible outer body. Then, it compresses its body and generates a jet of water to propel itself forward, similar to a squid. Within the flexible outer body, there are flexible ribs that act as springs as the robot expands and contracts. At each end of the robot, there is a circular plate. At one end, the plate is attached to a nozzle that assists with the release of water to move. At the other end is a plate that can be attached to a waterproof camera or another type of sensor. The robot is able to move about 18 to 32 centimeters per second, faster than most existing soft robots.\n\nBiological Model\nCephalopods such as squids swim by jet propulsion. A squid will fill its mantle cavity with water and then squeeze it out of its siphon, jetting the organism in the opposite direction. By pointing the siphon in different directions or changing the amount of water coming in or out, cephalopods can modify the direction and speed of their jet propulsion."}, {"Source": "plant's photosynthesis", "Application": "technion-israel institute of technology", "Function1": "produce energy", "Function2": "produce oxygen", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/efficient-fuel-creation-inspired-by-plants/", "Strategy": "Efficient Fuel Creation Inspired by Plants\nStable solar-to-energy conversion from Technion-Israel Institute of Technology uses full cycle redox transformation to break water into hydrogen fuel.\n\nThe Challenge\nMost energy is generated through the burning of fossil fuels which release carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. These gases absorb solar energy and keep heat close to the Earth, also know as the greenhouse effect, which has led to global warming. Solar panels are a renewable energy alternative that do not burn fossil fuels. Traditional solar panels only start the flow of electricity, rather than create a fuel source for further energy generation.\n\nInnovation details\nThe photocatalyst can break down water into hydrogen fuel. It contains nanoparticles that generate positive and negative charges when in water and light. These charges simultaneously break the water molecule to produce hydrogen and oxygen, similar to the process that occurs during photosynthesis. The hydrogen stores energy within its bond that can be used later as a fuel to generate clean energy. The system shows a 4.2% solar to chemical energy conversion efficiency, higher than all preceding technologies.\n\nBiological Model\nPhotosynthesis is essential for life on Earth. It is the process by which plants produce energy and oxygen using just sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide."}, {"Source": "mammal fat", "Application": "multifunctional batteries", "Function1": "provide insulation", "Function2": "store energy", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/multifunctional-batteries-inspired-by-mammal-fat/", "Strategy": "Multifunctional Batteries Inspired by Mammal Fat\nStructural batteries from University of Michigan are made of zinc to increase the energy density of the battery and optimize material usage.\n\nThe Challenge\nRobots are currently designed to carry single lithium ion batteries that can take up about 20% of the carrying capacity and overall weight. This limits the amount of work a robot can perform, reducing its productivity.\n\nInnovation details\nThe biomorphic batteries function as both an energy source and a structural material that protects the robots. This mimics the multifunctionality of mammalian fat tissues to store energy and protect the internal organs. The battery is non-toxic, zinc-based, and can be conformed to a variety of shapes to protect other parts of the robot. These body-integrated batteries could achieve 72 times as much capacity than the typical single lithium-ion battery. The battery works by passing hydroxide ions between a zinc electrode and the air side through an electrolyte membrane. That membrane is partly a network of aramid nanofibers — the carbon-based fibers found in Kevlar vests — and a new water-based polymer gel. The gel helps shuttle the hydroxide ions between the electrodes. The battery is made from cheap, abundant and largely nontoxic materials, making it more environmentally friendly than traditional batteries. The gel and aramid nanofibers will not catch fire if the battery is damaged, unlike the flammable electrolyte in lithium ion batteries.\n\nBiological Model\nMammals utilize a layer of fat to both provide insulation for internal organs and store energy for later use."}, {"Source": "marine sponge", "Application": "marine sponge-inspired building material", "Function1": "resist bending", "Function2": "resist sliding", "Function3": "resist twisting", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/building-materials-inspired-by-marine-sponges/", "Strategy": "Building Material Inspired by Marine Sponges\nStructural material from Harvard University has a diagonally-reinforced square lattice structure that makes it strong and lightweight.\n\nThe Challenge\nBuildings and bridges are usually made of very rigid materials such as concrete and steel. When an earthquake or other natural disaster hits, the inflexible structure can crack or break. If structural damage occurs, the repairs can be costly, or could lead to catastrophic failure of the overall structure.\n\nInnovation details\nThe material has a diagonally-reinforced square lattice-like skeletal structure, inspired by the Venus’ flower basket. The diagonal reinforcement increases the material’s resistance to buckling or breaking under a large force. The structure also has a high strength-to-weight ratio, meaning it can withstand heavy forces with less material than a typical lattice structure.\n\nBiological Model\nThe Venus’ flower basket lives anchored to the deep ocean floor. Also known as glass sponges, their cylindrical skeletons are made out of silica, the main component of glass. The silica is arranged in concentric layers known as spicules. The spicules are arranged into a tube-shaped square lattice. Two separate but overlapping lattices make up the main frame, and because these lattices can still move relative to one another, the skeleton can be flexible while it’s growing. The squares of the lattice are reinforced by struts that run vertically, horizontally, and diagonally. These struts are made of bundles of spicules and further support the lattices against bending, sliding, and twisting forces."}, {"Source": "swift", "Application": "highly maneuverable drone", "Function1": "control flight pattern", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/highly-maneuverable-drone-inspired-by-swifts/", "Strategy": "Highly Maneuverable Drone Inspired by Swifts\nSurveillance drones from University of South Australia use tail elevation and thrust to control gliding and hovering.\n\nThe Challenge\nIn areas that may be dangerous or difficult to reach, like war or disaster zones, delivering packages with essential supplies can be critical, and drones are a useful option. However, typical drones are bulky and heavy, which slows them down and reduces their maneuverability. Additionally, heavy drones cost more and use more energy, making more of an impact on the environment.\n\nInnovation details\nThe flapping wing drone, also called the ornithopter, weighs the same as two tablespoons of flour. It can hover, dart, glide, brake and dive like a swift, allowing it to fly in crowded areas but also be able to stop suddenly and avoid collisions. This makes it more versatile than existing quadcopter drones, with the added benefits of being safer and quieter. It uses tail control to act as a paraglider, airplane, and helicopter. By changing the orientation and height of the tail, the drone can control its speed and movement. Additionally, the drone is lightweight and has slow beating wings which allow for control over the thrust and movement when carrying different amounts of weight.\n\nBiological Model\nSwifts control their flight patterns by varying the position of their wings. Extended wings are used for slow turns and glides, while a swept wing (angled slightly backwards) is used for more control over turns at higher speeds."}, {"Source": "cell", "Application": "microfluidic chip", "Function1": "perform essential processes", "Function2": "trigger biochemical pathways", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/efficient-microfluidic-chip-inspired-by-cells/", "Strategy": "Efficient Microfluidic Chip Inspired by Cells\nSynthetic 'cell on a chip' from the University of Basel is made of miniature reaction containers that perform complex cellular reactions.\n\nThe Challenge\nCells rely on many different enzymes to survive and grow. However, because multiple reactions and processes occur simultaneously, it is challenging for scientists to determine which enzymes catalyze which reactions, and at what concentrations. If these individual enzymes could be identified, it would give scientists better insight into how cells work.\n\nInnovation details\nThe synthetic ‘cell on a chip’ serves as a miniature model for studying enzymatic reactions. It is made of tiny channels on a silicon-glass chip. In one area, all the micro-channels come together at a junction. At this junction, enzyme-filled vesicles are formed. These vesicles can be designed to contain specific enzymes, enabling the scientists to study the enzymatic reaction processes. Scientists can alter the size and composition of the different vesicles to study different reactions without affecting others.\n\nBiological Model\nAll cells use enzymes to perform essential processes to stay alive. The enzymes trigger biochemical pathways or intracellular signaling cascades that pass on signals to regulate specific cellular functions."}, {"Source": "slime mold", "Application": "monte carlo physarum machine", "Function1": "build complex network", "Function2": "near-optimal pathway", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/astrological-algorithm-inspired-by-slime-mold/", "Strategy": "Astronomical Algorithm Inspired by Slime Mold\nThe Monte Carlo Physarum Machine from UC Santa Cruz is a computational algorithm that accurately predicts cosmic web formation using slime mold growth patterns.\n\nThe Challenge\nThe cosmic web connects galaxies together throughout the Universe. It occurred after the Big Bang, as the Universe was expanding and matter became distributed in a web-like network of interconnected filaments. Traditional representations of the cosmic web were created by computer simulations based on the distribution of matter, especially dark matter. Creating an accurate algorithm to predict cosmic web formation will allow us to map more distant galaxies, and eventually the whole Universe.\n\nInnovation details\nThe computer algorithm was inspired by the web-like networks a slime mold builds as it searches for food. The algorithm is based on the 2-dimensional Physarum model developed in 2010 by Jeff Jones. It has been modified to work in three dimensions and has been tested on a dataset of 37,000 galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), where it accurately replicated the results produced by dark matter-based algorithms. It has since been used to model a map of the cosmic web in the local Universe, within 100 million light-years of Earth.\n\nBiological Model\nThe single-cell organism known as slime mold builds complex web-like filamentary networks in search of food, always finding near-optimal pathways to connect different locations, similar to cosmic webs found in outer space."}, {"Source": "moth's eye", "Application": "anti-icing surface", "Function1": "minimize light reflection", "Function2": "reduce light reflection", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/anti-icing-surface-inspired-by-moth-eyes/", "Strategy": "Anti-Icing Surface Inspired by Moth Eyes\nTransparent coating from Tan Trao University uses conical protuberances and paraffin wax to reduce ice formation.\n\nThe Challenge\nFrost is a common problem that can occur on a variety of surfaces. In the airline industry, flights can be grounded by even the slightest layer of frost on the windshield or wings of the aircraft. Frost on airplane wings can create drag, making flight dangerous or even impossible. Reduced frost formation would result in fewer cancelled flights and less use of strong deicing chemicals.\n\nInnovation details\nThe anti-icing surface is made of a thin layer of paraffin wax that lays over a textured quartz surface. The surface texture consists of uniform truncated cones with a height of 500 nm, similar to cones on the surface of moth eyes. The paraffin wax creates a hydrophobic surface with low thermal conductivity that prevents water droplets from sticking and freezing.\n\nBiological Model\nMoths hunt at dusk or at night when limited light is available. In order to maximize light capture, moths have unique sub-wavelength structures coating their eyes which dramatically minimize light reflection over a broad range of wavelengths. The outer surfaces of moth corneal lenses are covered with a regular pattern of conical protuberances. These protuberances reduce light reflection by creating a refractive index gradient between the air-lens interface, more gradually transitioning the change in light speed between the air and eye, thus minimizing reflection."}, {"Source": "hawk moth wing", "Application": "efficient wells turbine blade", "Function1": "create a high lift-to-drag ratio", "Function2": "decrease drag", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/efficient-wells-turbine-blade-inspired-by-hawk-moth-wings/", "Strategy": "Efficient Wells Turbine Blade Inspired by Hawk Moth Wings\nTurbine from Shanghai Jiao Tong University has wing-shaped geometry that reduces drag.\n\nThe Challenge\nHydroelectric energy generation has proven to be a reliable source of renewable energy. The energy is generated as a product of tides and currents spinning a turbine that initiates energy generation. Unfortunately, due to the interaction between the turbine and the water, a lot of energy can be lost to turbulence, decreasing the overall efficiency. The Wells turbine is a low-pressure air turbine with a symmetrical airfoil that rotates in one direction. It is known to have a higher drag and increased stall compared to other similar turbines.\n\nInnovation details\nThe turbine blade has a unique tapered profile and varying profile thickness, designed after the wings of hawk moths. The blade’s geometry allows the turbine to rotate through the air with the least amount of drag, enhancing the efficiency. Additionally, the blade is positioned to have a high angle of attack as it rotates, which also reduces drag and increases efficiency.\n\nBiological Model\nThe hawkmoth has a stable flight due to their wing shape and movement. The wings are designed to to create a high lift-to-drag ratio through a tapered wing shape and propeller-like sweeping action. The wings create a stable leading-edge vortex that helps keeps the air flow laminar as opposed to turbulent, reducing drag and enhancing flight."}, {"Source": "northern goshawk's wing and tail", "Application": "morphing winged drone", "Function1": "control flight", "Function2": "save energy", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/morphing-winged-drone-inspired-by-northern-goshawks/", "Strategy": "Morphing Winged Drone Inspired by Northern Goshawks\nWinged drone from Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne changes the shape of its tail and wings to enhance inflight agility.\n\nThe Challenge\nWinged drones often use their wings to propel themselves forward and control movement. The wings have to be in a certain orientation in order to move forward, meaning they lose some control over their movements while flapping. Unfortunately, this means these winged drones are unable to make quick turns or motions while propelling themselves forward.\n\nInnovation details\nThe winged drone has a feathered tail that morphs with the action of the wing to control flight, similar to a northern goshawk. The adaptive tail and wing combination allows the drone to have fine-tuned control over its motions. The drone uses propellers for forward thrust instead of using its wings for both propulsion and control.\n\nBiological Model\nNorthern goshawks move their wings and tail simultaneously to control flight. This enables fast flight while chasing prey, but also helps to save energy while the bird is gliding."}, {"Source": "ladybird beetle's wing", "Application": "self-deploying robot wings", "Function1": "rapidly deployable", "Function2": "resilient under aerodynamic forces", "Function3": "self-locking", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/self-deploying-robot-wings-inspired-by-the-ladybird-beetle/", "Strategy": "Self-Deploying Robot Wings Inspired by the Ladybird Beetle\nWinged jump-gliding robot from Seoul National University utilizes a curved vein shape that allows for self-locking.\n\nThe Challenge\nJump-gliding is a specific locomotion style for robots that combines gliding and jumping movements and can increase energy efficiency and travel distance. To do this, the wings should be foldable, rapidly deployable, and resilient under aerodynamic forces. Traditional jump-gliding robots use linkages, springs, and actuators in their wings, which usually make the robot heavy and bulky, hindering their overall locomotion performance. Additionally, these wings cannot be rapidly deployed, making them unusable in certain high intensity situations.\n\nInnovation details\nThe robot was inspired by the wings of the ladybird beetle. It has a compact and lightweight wing system that is self-deployable due to a single curved joint, similar to how a tape measure is able to keep its shape. This joint stores elastic energy until released to sustain flight. The lightweight design allows the robot to travel farther, but is still sturdy enough not to buckle under large aerodynamic forces.\n\nBiological Model\nLadybird beetles have deployable wings that are carefully folded beneath a stiff outer barrier. The shape of the wing joints allow the wings to rapidly spring free when needed, usually within 0.1 seconds. The wings are also very resilient and sturdy, preventing them from folding or buckling when flapping at a high frequency. The secret to these wings is a unique tape-spring-shaped vein. When a ladybird beetle folds its wings, the vein deforms, allowing elastic energy to be stored inside it. This stored energy allows the wings to be quickly and easily deployed, and also allows it to lock in place without the need for additional components."}, {"Source": "lobster shell", "Application": "3d printed concrete", "Function1": "strong", "Function2": "flexible", "Function3": "resistance to cracking", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/durable-3d-printed-concrete-inspired-by-lobster-shells/", "Strategy": "Durable 3D Printed Concrete Inspired by Lobster Shells\n3D printed concrete from RMIT University is constructed with helicoid layers to increase strength.\n\nThe Challenge\n3D printed concrete has the potential to make building structures more efficient and sustainable by saving time, money, and materials. However, due to the layer-by-layer printing methodology, the concrete often has planes of weakness.\n\nInnovation details\nThe 3D printed concrete is laid in a helicoidal, twisting pattern rather than parallel lines, similar to the design of the lobster shell. This methodology better integrates the layers of concrete as it sets. Additionally, the concrete mixture is reinforced with steel fibers that reduce defects and porosity, allowing the concrete to harden more consistently to create a better base for the layers above.\n\nBiological Model\nLobster shells are strong, flexible and resistant to cracking. The shell is made of fibers arranged in the Bouligand structure, a helical structure similar to a spiral staircase. This structure helps distribute an impact force or the bite of a predator throughout the shell, lessening the negative effects."}, {"Source": "mammalian bone", "Application": "energy absorbing synthetic bone", "Function1": "resist compression", "Function2": "resist forces", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/energy-absorbing-synthetic-bone-inspired-by-biological-tissues/", "Strategy": "Energy Absorbing Synthetic Bone Inspired by Biological Tissues\n3D-printed synthetic bone from CU Denver forms a resilient lattice structure by means of digital light processing.\n\nThe Challenge\nProsthetics and other medical implants are made to mimic the organs they replace. Although molds and printing techniques  create the desired exterior shapes, prosthetics lack micro-scale structures that behaves as a real limb does, possibly restricting movements or causing safety issues.\n\nInnovation details\nThe synthetic bone is 3D-printed, porous lattice structure made of liquid crystal elastomers. The structure is formed through a process called digital light processing. When light hits the liquid crystal resin, the resin cures, forming new bonds. The final cured resin becomes a soft yet durable elastomer. The material can be designed to mimic the exact bone structure of a human needing an implant.\n\nBiological Model\nMammalian tissues have evolved to efficiently handle stress. Bones are made up of fine strands called trabeculae that create a sponge-like structure. The structure is strong enough to resist compression and other forces without weighing us down."}, {"Source": "natural ecosystem", "Application": "knowledge management software", "Function1": "interact with one another", "Function2": "affect one another", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/knowledge-management-software-inspired-by-ecosystems/", "Strategy": "Knowledge Management Software Inspired by Ecosystems\n7vortex is an interactive graph database that helps create knowledge ecosystems.\n\nThe Challenge\nTraditional databases arrange data in rows, columns and tables. This limits the ability to see relationships between the data and gather meaningful insights.\n\nInnovation details\nUnlike traditional databases, 7vortex has a flexible structure defined by interconnected relationships between knowledge records. These interactions help to create a more visual narrative that addresses the complexity of a system and helps to create a more integrative approach/strategy.\n\nBiological Model\nOrganisms within an ecosystem interact with one another in many different ways. These interactions play an important role in organism survival as well as the function of the ecosystem. Organisms can affect one another directly, through a shared resource, or indirectly. Some interactions are harmful to the organisms involved, whereas others provide benefits for one or both of the organisms."}, {"Source": "cow stomach", "Application": "sewage treatment system", "Function1": "decompose organic matter", "Function2": "clean water", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/sewage-treatment-inspired-by-cow/", "Strategy": "A Better Sewage Treatment System, Inspired by Cow Stomachs\nA system with no moving parts turns sewage into clean water.\n\nThe Challenge\nIndoor plumbing improves sanitation in human settlements, but produces vast amounts of harmful wastewater. This is especially true in densely populated areas such as Bengaluru, where most sewage has been returned untreated into the environment.\n\nInnovation details\nECOSTP has invented an underground sewage treatment system that requires no power and has no moving parts. Water containing human waste flows via gravity through a series of chambers. Heavier solid materials sink to the bottom of initial chambers, while lighter, more diffuse organic matter and pathogens move progressively through additional  chambers, where they are decomposed by anaerobic bacteria, which don’t need oxygen. A final series of chambers is designed like wetlands, with the increasingly clean water flowing among plants whose roots capture a range of pollutants. Emerging at the end is clear, clean water that, with subsequent processing, can be used for agriculture, bathing, and even drinking.\n\nBiological Model\nThe ECOSTP system was inspired by the multi-chambered stomach and associated microbiome found in the digestive tracts of cows and other ruminants. These stomachs have four separate compartments in which different strains of anaerobic microorganisms progressively break down fibrous, hard-to-digest plant matter, making its usually inaccessible component molecules available for use.The last stage of ECOSTP is based on wetland ecosystems, where water percolates through fields of plants. As the plant roots suck up water, they also absorb nutrients and contaminants, cleaning the water in the process."}, {"Source": "shark skin", "Application": "acoustic metamaterials", "Function1": "control, direct and manipulate soundwaves", "Function2": "reduce flow drag", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/reconfigurable-acoustic-metamaterials-inspired-by-sharks/", "Strategy": "Reconfigurable Acoustic Metamaterials Inspired by Sharks\nAcoustic metamaterial from the University of Southern California uses magnets to shift acoustic states and alter transmission.\n\nThe Challenge\nAcoustic metamaterials are designed to control, direct and manipulate soundwaves as they pass through different mediums. They can be used to dampen or transmit sound within a structure, such as headphones or submarines. Traditional acoustic metamaterials have complex geometries and are made of metal or hard plastic. Once they are created, it is difficult to change their properties, limiting their use.\n\nInnovation details\nSmart materials allow for multiple, changing properties within one structure. The smart acoustic metamaterial was inspired by the dual properties created by the dermal denticles on shark skin. It is made from rubber and magneto-sensitive nanoparticles. To make the nanoparticles responsive to acoustic transmission, researches had to be able to actively block or conduct acoustic input. They used Mie resonator pillar (MRP) arrays that are magnetically deformable. If the pillars are closer together, the acoustic wave is unable to pass through. If the pillars are further apart, the acoustic wave will easily pass through. External magnetic fields help to bend and unbend the pillars to achieve this type of ‘state switching’.\n\nBiological Model\nFast-swimming sharks have skin denticles that are shaped like “V” trenches and aligned in the direction of fluid flow. The skin denticles can significantly reduce the flow drag because the V-shaped trenches are able to guide a turbulent flow to become laminate flow. Sharks can completely switch the skin flow drag by reversing the orientation of the skin denticles."}, {"Source": "human muscle", "Application": "actuator", "Function1": "generate power", "Function2": "deliver power", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/high-performance-actuator-inspired-by-human-muscles/", "Strategy": "High-Performance Actuator Inspired by Human Muscles\nActuator from Northern Arizona University has a coiled, helical structure that enables it to generate more power.\n\nThe Challenge\nPneumatic devices are used extensively in industrial and manufacturing processes. In certain applications, these actuators must be very large to provide sufficient strength. These actuators use a lot of energy and require continuous maintenance due to contamination.\n\nInnovation details\nThe actuator is fluid-driven and made of inexpensive polymer tubes. The manufacturing of these tubes is the key to the performance of the actuator. The tubes are stretched and twisted, introducing anisotropy into their microstructure. When filled with hydraulic or pneumatic pressure within the actuator, the pressure inside the tubes results in a localized untwisting of the innate helical structure. This untwisting increases the potential energy of the system and enables the tubes to contract efficiently like a muscle.\n\nBiological Model\nMuscles are essential for animal movement, and they are made up of thousands of small fibers. The fibers move in a specific sequence when the muscles flex, in order to deliver power and flexibility."}, {"Source": "remora fish's dorsal fin", "Application": "waterproof adhesive disc", "Function1": "temporarily attach to other sea creatures", "Function2": "temporarily attach to other sea creatures", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/waterproof-adhesive-disc-inspired-by-remora-fish/", "Strategy": "Waterproof Adhesive Disc Inspired by Remora Fish\nAdhesive disc from Harvard and Beihang University has thousands of fiber spinules on a rubber base that enables it to attach to a variety of surfaces underwater.\n\nThe Challenge\nUnderwater exploration is challenging due to the ocean’s many variables and often harsh conditions. Underwater robots require energy to execute their missions. The ability to adhere to marine life could minimize their energy requirements and offer a method to better study marine animal activities.\n\nInnovation details\nThe adhesive disc is made of a piece of rubber that is laser cut to resemble the sucker fish suction disc. It then has thousands of fiber spinules attached to the rubber. Additionally, there are six air pouches that can be inflated or deflated on demand by a small air pump. Underwater, it can attach to a variety of surfaces just by pressing against the object and manipulating the air pouches.\n\nBiological Model\nRemoras, also called sucker fish, use a unique dorsal fin to temporarily attach to other sea creatures so they can hitchhike around the ocean. The dorsal fin is made of a soft tissue with tiny spinules that can be bent and maneuvered to fit the shape of the target host, such as a shark. The disk enables the remora to ride along despite high magnitudes of fluid shear."}, {"Source": "leaf beetle's toe pad", "Application": "tunable adhesive", "Function1": "enable climbing", "Function2": "defy gravity", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/tunable-adhesive-inspired-by-leaf-beetle-feet/", "Strategy": "Tunable Adhesive Inspired by Leaf Beetle Feet\nAdhesive from Kiel University has mushroom-shaped micro-structures on its surface that firmly stick to surfaces without causing damage.\n\nThe Challenge\nAdhesives are used in many industries and are essential to everyday life. However, traditional adhesives are single-use and often leave a sticky residue once removed. Additionally, many adhesives quickly lose their effectiveness when wet.\n\nInnovation details\nThe adhesive is a silicone elastomer with mushroom-shaped micro-structures on the surface treated with plasma. The mushroom-shaped structure is concave at the surface, adhering only along the rim. The plasma treatment creates higher surface energies and increases the material’s longevity. The adhesive can be removed from the surface without leaving a residue or causing damage.\n\nBiological Model\nSimilar to geckos, leaf beetles have sticky feet that enable them to climb a variety of surfaces. Their toe pads are covered in millions of small mushroom-shaped projections called setae. The setae stick to surfaces via van der Waals forces that occur between all molecules. Although these forces are individually weak, the high surface area of the combined setae causes the forces to add up, enabling leaf beetles to defy gravity."}, {"Source": "brown algae and marine mussels", "Application": "waterproof adhesive", "Function1": "bond dissimilar materials completely submerged in water", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/waterproof-adhesive-inspire-by-brown-algae-and-marine-mussels/", "Strategy": "Waterproof Adhesive Inspired by Brown Algae and Marine Mussels\nAdhesive from University of Waterloo is a novel hydrogel composite that can bond dissimilar materials while submerged in water.\n\nThe Challenge\nAdhesives are used many industries and are essential to everyday life. However, traditional adhesives are single-use and often leave a sticky residue once removed. Additionally, many adhesives quickly lose their effectiveness when wet.\n\nInnovation details\nThe adhesive is a hydrogel composite glue formed from separate adhesive and polymer precursors. One of the components is a non-adhesive polymer called alginate. Instead of forming chemical bonds, the components form a network during application by coordinating with ferric ions. The sequential deposition of precursors outperformed the direct mixing of components before application. Through this process, the adhesive can bond dissimilar materials completely submerged in water.\n\nBiological Model\nMarine mussels have byssal threads that attach to a various surfaces underwater using adhesive proteins that overcome the surface’s attraction to water molecules. Additionally, algae use a sequential deposition to effectively attach to surfaces."}, {"Source": "slug mucus", "Application": "flexible adhesive", "Function1": "strong yet flexible", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/flexible-adhesive-material-inspired-by-slug-mucus/", "Strategy": "Flexible Adhesive Inspired by Slug Mucus\nAdhesive material from Ithaca College has special proteins that make it strong and flexible.\n\nThe Challenge\nAfter surgeries and other medical procedures, the broken skin is patched back together with stitches or staples to assist in healing. Both of these methods lead to scarring and a greater chance of infection due to the damage caused to the skin.\n\nInnovation details\nThe adhesive material is a unique hydrogel that contains synthetic recombinant versions of the proteins found in slug adhesives. These proteins bind with other proteins to form a three-dimensional network. This network is stiff but contains sacrificial bonds to absorb energy, protecting the underlying carbohydrates within the hydrogel. Additionally, there are chemical bonds within the network that can be changed to modify the glue’s strength. Overall, the adhesive is strong yet flexible, and is safe for use in medical applications.\n\nBiological Model\nSlugs have a slimy coat that leaves a trail of slime as they move. When a slug needs to protect itself against a predator, it adds certain proteins to its natural slime to convert it into a harmful adhesive. The adhesive traps predators and prevents them from eating the slug."}, {"Source": "ocean microorganism", "Application": "bioplastic", "Function1": "produce food and product", "Function2": "convert co2 into organic material", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/plastic-alternative-biomaterial-inspired-by-ocean-microorganisms/", "Strategy": "Plastic-Alternative Biomaterial Inspired by Ocean Microorganisms\nAirCarbon from Newlight Technologies uses ocean microorganisms to convert CO2 into PHB, a readily usable bioplastic.\n\nThe Challenge\nGreenhouse gases are at the highest levels ever recorded. These gases absorb solar energy and keep heat close to the Earth, also known as the greenhouse effect. Carbon dioxide is the primary greenhouse gas and is emitted from burning materials like fossil fuels. Additionally, synthetic plastics are made from fossil fuels and can take centuries to decompose.\n\nInnovation details\nAirCarbon™ uses ocean microorganisms to break down excess methane-containing greenhouse gas emissions. The gases are dissolved in saltwater, and the organisms naturally produce PHB (polyhydroxybutyrate) as a byproduct. The PHB can then be used instead of synthetic plastic in extrusion, blown film, cast film, thermoforming, fiber spinning, and injection molding applications. The microorganisms are able to out-compete the production of oil-based plastics, such as polypropylene and polyethylene. If the material ends up in the ocean it naturally degrades within a year and can be re-consumed as food by microorganisms.\n\nBiological Model\nPhotoautotrophs are species that are able to produce their own food through photosynthesis. As such, plants, algae, cyanobacteria and some microbes use carbon dioxide as a feedstock to make energy, food and products. Carbon fixation is part of the photosynthesis process. Sunlight, carbon dioxide, and water are converted to oxygen and organic materials."}, {"Source": "arboreal ant trail network", "Application": "ant trail optimization algorithm", "Function1": "maintain trail networks", "Function2": "retrace steps", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/search-algorithm-inspired-by-arboreal-ant-trail-networks/", "Strategy": "Search Algorithm Inspired by Arboreal Ant Trail Networks\nAlgorithm from Stanford is parameterized by field data enabling it to quickly fix network disruptions.\n\nThe Challenge\nSampling methods used in many probability-based algorithms do not track previously sampled components. This methodology leads to inefficiency because the program cannot remember what it has already done and could end up repeating the process.\n\nInnovation details\nThe search algorithm is developed using field data based on ant behavior. It is a distributed algorithm in which there is no centralized controller but rather individual agents monitoring the system. The algorithm efficiently circumvents network disruptions using fewer computational resources, which increases efficiency.\n\nBiological Model\nArboreal ants, such as the arboreal turtle ant, maintain trail networks that connect their nests to their food sources. If a trail is disrupted, they retrace their steps and follow the next most efficient path at the previous junction. The ants leave pheromones as they walk the paths, but the chemicals slowly evaporate, enabling the other ants to find the most recently used path."}, {"Source": "springtail's body", "Application": "colorful, waterproof textiles", "Function1": "waterproof", "Function2": "colorful", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/colorful-waterproof-textiles-inspired-by-arthropods/", "Strategy": "Colorful, Waterproof Textiles Inspired by Arthropods\nAmphico mimics the waterproofing strategy of springtails and the coloring of butterflies to produce easy-to-recycle performance clothing.\n\nThe Challenge\nMuch of the colorful, breathable, waterproof gear that people wear when they’re out loving nature is terrible for the environment. That’s because each of these functions is usually achieved by combining different types of materials, and coating them in harmful, non-degradable chemicals. Toxic particles are then shed from the garment during use and washing, and the combination of materials makes the garment difficult to recycle at the end of its useful life.\n\nInnovation details\nAmphico has created easier-to-recycle textiles—building up complex performance through the structure of simple substances.\n\nBiological Model\nMany living organisms manage to achieve multiple functions using a small toolbox of materials and adding function through texture, not chemicals.\n\nSpringtails are microscopic arthropods that often dwell in mucky habitats. To protect themselves from drowning or being infected by harmful bacteria, their bodies are covered with tiny, pillar-shaped protrusions covered with a waxy, non-polar substance. Both of those features lead water to roll right off the springtail’s back.\n\nTiger beetles and butterflies produce color on their bodies and wings through similar nanoscale structures. Their multi-textured surfaces manipulate different wavelengths of light to produce micro-scale dots of a few set colors, which blend—like pixels on a TV screen or dots in a pointillist painting—to produce the illusion of countless other colors."}, {"Source": "human brain", "Application": "adept artificial intelligence software", "Function1": "learn new visual concepts", "Function2": "store and share information", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/adept-artificial-intelligence-software-inspired-by-humans/", "Strategy": "Adept Artificial Intelligence Software Inspired by Humans\nArtificial intelligence software from MIT and Georgetown University Medical Center uses prior learning to more efficiently understand visual concepts.\n\nThe Challenge\nHumans have the ability to quickly and accurately learn new visual concepts without a lot of data, oftentimes from just a single example. Even toddlers can learn to quickly recognize zebras and distinguish them from cats, horses, and giraffes. This is because the brain is able to simplify learning by using previously learned representations to inform new information. Computers, however, oftentimes need to see an example hundreds or even thousands of times to learn what it is and distinguish it from a similar object.\n\nInnovation details\nThe AI (artificial intelligence) software allows computers to learn new visual concepts with only a small number of examples, similar to how the brain learns. It does this by identifying relationships between visual categories to differentiate visual data, rather than just identifying single characteristics such as color and shape. For example, rather than identifying the basic visual features of a platypus, it stores more high-level concepts, like how a platypus looks a bit like a duck, a beaver, and a sea otter. The computer then stores this information in a databank that can be easily referenced and associated with new, incoming information. Altogether, this increases the efficiency and speed of visual learning in computers.\n\nBiological Model\nAs the brain learns, it builds networks of connected neurons to store and share information including, size, color, and texture of an object. One area of the brain, the anterior temporal lobe, is thought to contain complex neural hierarchies that code for additional “abstract” concept representations that go beyond the basic characteristics of color and shape. This ‘database’ of information is constantly being updated and referenced whenever we learn a new task or object. This allows humans to learn new information much more quickly and easily."}, {"Source": "human skin", "Application": "artificial skin", "Function1": "sense texture", "Function2": "sense temperature", "Function3": "sense pressure", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/multimodal-artificial-skin-inspired-by-human-skin/", "Strategy": "Multimodal Artificial Skin Inspired by Human Skin\nArtificial skin from Technical University of Munich uses an event-based processing system to accurately perceive its surroundings.\n\nThe Challenge\nSince the early days of the robotics field, developing artificial skin technology has been an area of interest. Effective robotic skin would grant robots a sense of touch similar to that of humans, enabling them to be physically interactive and ensuring that they are safe to be around humans. However, human skin has approximately five million touch receptors. Due to physical size limitations and insufficient information processing capabilities, so far robotic skin cannot contain the density of sensors that would be needed to match the sensitivity of human skin.\n\nInnovation details\nThe artificial skin consists of 1-inch diameter hexagonal cells that are each wrapped with a microprocessor and sensor. The sensors detect contact, acceleration, proximity, and temperature, which the ‘skin’ then processes through an event-based system. Essentially, the individual cells only transmit information when values change, reducing processing effort by up to 90%. This event-based system is the key to efficient robotic skin, enabling sensors to process greater amounts of information faster within a compact organization. Robots with this skin are autonomous, meaning they are not dependent on any external computation.\n\nBiological Model\nHuman skin senses texture, temperature, and pressure in the surrounding environment partly through mechanoreceptors, specialized nerve cells that project into the outer layers of the skin. These receptors are stimulated by a physical change in the environment, such as the movement of the skin along a surface or material. When a change is detected, mechanoreceptors transmit tactile information to the brain."}, {"Source": "aquaporin", "Application": "artificial water channel", "Function1": "allow water molecules to pass", "Function2": "exclude most other molecules", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/selective-artificial-water-channel-inspired-by-aquaporins/", "Strategy": "Selective Artificial Water Channel Inspired by Aquaporins\nArtificial water channel from UT Austin has a cluster-forming organic nano-architecture that rapidly transports water molecules through a selective membrane.\n\nThe Challenge\nMembrane-based technologies play a significant role in the efficiency of water purification and desalination, as many desalination plants operate through reverse osmosis. In reverse osmosis, pressure is exerted onto salt water, pushing it through a semipermeable membrane. As water passes through the membrane, most dissolved salts and impurities are left behind. However, synthetic membranes used in desalination are fairly limited by the tradeoff between permeability and selectivity; highly permeable membranes that allow molecules to pass through the membrane quickly may not separate salt and impurities entirely.\n\nInnovation details\nArtificial water channels are built of synthetic molecules inspired by the structure of highly selective and highly permeable aquaporins in biological membranes. In the artificial water channels, an organic nanoarchitecture called peptide-appended hybrid[4]arene, or PAH[4], forms clusters and channels within lipid membranes, providing paths for selective water permeation. Water molecules pass through these channels forming “water wires”––dense chains of molecules that move quickly, like a train and its cars. The selective channels have rates of efficiency comparable to that of natural aquaporin water channels, producing a high-performance, energy-efficient separation membrane.\n\nBiological Model\nAquaporins are a family of proteins that are found in all kingdoms of life. By forming narrow, positively charged tunnels across cell membranes, they allow water molecules to pass while excluding most other molecules. This allows cells to regulate how much water is moving in and out of them."}, {"Source": "electric eel", "Application": "flexible batteries", "Function1": "generate electricity", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/flexible-batteries-inspired-by-electric-eels/", "Strategy": "Flexible Batteries Inspired by Electric Eels\nBattery from University of Fribourg is made of hydrogel compartments and membranes that are flexible and store energy.\n\nThe Challenge\nWearable and portable electronics require small, stable batteries to function properly. To achieve longer-lasting charges on devices, batteries must be larger, which also makes them heavier. Developing high performance, high energy density, and flexible batteries would improve small, portable electronics.\n\nInnovation details\nThe flexible battery is made of two sheets with specialized arrangements of hydrogels. On one sheet, there are small lumps of hydrogels: some that contain saltwater and others that contain freshwater. On the other sheet, some lumps of hydrogels let positive ions flow through while others allow negative ions flow through. When pressed together the ion gradient—the difference in salt concentrations—between the salt water and fresh water activates, causing energy to flow. The sheets can be arranged in any shape, and the energy can be used just by pressing the sheets together.\n\nBiological Model\nElectric eels have an organ that generates electricity to stun prey and keep predators at bay. The eels have modified muscle cells stacked on top of each other that are used to generate a current. In the normal state, eels do not generate a current due to the configuration of the cells, but when triggered, an influx of sodium ions changes the polarity of the cells, inducing a current to shock, and possibly kill, its prey or threatening predators."}, {"Source": "cellulose", "Application": "bio-aerogel", "Function1": "lightweight", "Function2": "high strength-to-weight ratio", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/biocompatible-aerogel-inspired-by-cellulose/", "Strategy": "Bio-Aerogel Inspired by Cellulose\nBio-Aerogel from KTH Royal Institute of Technology produced through air-drying method with increased wet stability and ultra-low density.\n\nThe Challenge\nAerogels are lightweight, porous materials with many applications, from insulation, to oil spillage clean up, to 3D cellular scaffolds for tissue engineering. Cellulose nanofibril-based aerogels are biopolymer-based and have been studied and applied in many biomedical fields due to their unique characteristics, including ultra-light weight, high porosity, and exceptional strength. These bio-aerogels are also generally non-toxic and biodegradable. However, there is still room for improvement in the production of nanofibril-based aerogels, and aerogels generally. To produce an aerogel, the liquid within a gel must be removed without causing shrinkage. The most common method by which this is done is supercritical drying, which is energy-consuming and expensive. Moreover, substances added to some aerogels to increase the strength of the product are often not recyclable or biodegradable.\n\nInnovation details\nThe aerogel is plant-based, made of a combination of cellulose nanofibrils, alginate (a naturally occurring polymer in seaweed), calcium carbonate, and water. It is produced through an air drying process. In this process, different weight ratios of carboxymethylated CNF gel, alginate solution, and calcium carbonate are combined to create the aerogels, which are then frozen at a standard temperature of 18 °C (64 °F), thawed, solvent exchanged, and air dried. This process is simple and scalable compared to the supercritical drying method and produces an aerogel that is ultra-low density (2 kg per cubic meter or 0.12 lb per cubic foot), highly porous (∼99% porosity), and wet-resistant.\n\nBiological Model\nPlant matter consists mainly of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin. Cellulose comprises up to 90%  of a plant, and it’s what gives a plant its structure. It is lightweight but has a high strength-to-weight ratio, making it incredibly durable."}, {"Source": "hyaluronic acid", "Application": "3d-printed bio-ink", "Function1": "retain water", "Function2": "regulate cell differentiation", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/3d-printed-bio-ink-inspired-by-hyaluronic-acid/", "Strategy": "3D-Printed Bio-Ink Uses Hyaluronic Acid\nBio-ink from Rutgers University contains a modified version of hyaluronic acid that helps the printed ink hold a stiff structure.\n\nThe Challenge\nBioengineered tissues hold enormous potential for medicine, as they allow for regenerative, personalized tissues to be made on-demand and are customizable to each patient. Many biomaterials are used to 3D print scaffolds, temporary structures to grow tissues. Unfortunately, the biomaterials are oftentimes expensive and very fragile, making them challenging to manufacture.\n\nInnovation details\nThe bio-ink material is made of modified hyaluronic acid and polyethylene glycol, which serve as the basic “ink cartridges” for 3D printing. This allow researchers to print scaffolding for growing human tissues, which can then be used to repair or replace damaged ones in the body. Depending on the type of tissue desired, the system could use different  ‘ink cartridges’ featuring different cells or ligands, which could print scaffolds of different size and stiffness.\n\nBiological Model\nHyaluronic acid is a natural molecule found in many tissues throughout the human body. It is a linear polysaccharide whose main function is to retain water to keep tissues well lubricated and moist. Hyaluronic acid plays an important role in regulating cell differentiation, migration, angiogenesis and inflammation responses."}, {"Source": "muscle fiber", "Application": "self-growing materials", "Function1": "repair broken areas", "Function2": "grow stronger", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/self-growing-materials-inspired-by-muscles/", "Strategy": "Self-Growing Materials Inspired by Muscles\nBiomaterials from Hokkaido University contain double-network hydrogels that become stronger in response to mechanical stress.\n\nThe Challenge\nBioengineered materials could become essential technologies in regenerative and personalized medicine due to their customizable nature. Unfortunately, the materials typically used are static, non-living material, which are unable to morph autonomously.\n\nInnovation details\nThe biomaterial is made of a double-network hydrogel. The hydrogel consists of water, a rigid polymer and a soft, stretchy polymer. The hydrogel is placed in a solution containing monomers that are naturally attracted to the broken areas in the hydrogel. When mechanical stresses cause the hydrogel to break, the monomers join to rebuild it, strengthening the material.\n\nBiological Model\nSkeletal muscle grows through repeated exercise. When the muscle fibers break down, they signals new, stronger muscle fibers to grow and replace the broken ones. The result of this system is the natural growth of muscles in areas that are physically stressed."}, {"Source": "owl feather and maple seed", "Application": "aeroacoustics", "Function1": "muffle the sound of air flowing", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/wind-turbine-tech-inspired-by-owl-feathers-and-maple-seeds/", "Strategy": "Wind Turbine Tech Inspired by Owl Feathers and Maple Seeds\nBiome Renewables adjusts the aeroacoustics of existing turbine blades to decrease turbulence and increase efficiency.\n\nThe Challenge\nWind turbines generate electrical power at vast scales, without the release of greenhouse gasses, but being very large, even small defects in their design can carry significant costs in efficiency.\n\nInnovation details\nBiome Renewables designed their serrated “FeatherEdge” technology for the outer portion of a turbine blade. As air rushes around the blades at speeds of up to 300 kilometers per hour, some of it curls down into the space between long, serrated teeth, generating one sound wave, and some of it curls down at the tips of the teeth, generating a second sound wave a moment later. The troughs of the first sound wave align with the peaks of the second, and cancel each other out.\n\nBiological Model\nAn owl’s wing is legendary for its silence. The feathers along the trailing edge of the wings feature a specialized fringe  that forces air to mix at specific locations, muffling the sound of air flowing around them. This allows owls to fly silently and soar efficiently to catch prey.The lopsided weight of a maple seed causes it to spin at a particular angle, which redirects the wind along the seed’s slender length, accelerating flow towards the tip. This causes the seeds to swirl around a central point, allowing them to remain aloft longer, so they can be carried farther away by the wind."}, {"Source": "immune system", "Application": "rapid biosurveillance", "Function1": "on the lookout for illnesses", "Function2": "respond to attack", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/rapid-biosurveillance-system-inspired-by-the-human-immune-system/", "Strategy": "Rapid Biosurveillance Inspired by the Immune System\nBiosurveillance system from Sandia National Laboratories and University of New Mexico uses a negative selection process to quickly identify disease outbreaks.\n\nThe Challenge\nThe National Syndromic Surveillance Program is a biosurveillance system coordinated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In order to expedite the response to hazardous events and disease outbreaks, the system gathers data from emergency departments across the country and evaluates public health indicators, looking for anomalies. Through statistical analyses, the program is then able to estimate the likelihood of an outbreak. Unfortunately, these algorithms can only take into account one variable at a time, slowing down the collection of information needed to respond in a targeted and effective manner.\n\nInnovation details\nThe improved biosurveillance system uses a mapping algorithm with a decentralized approach. The algorithm contains synthetic, mathematical “T-cells” that simultaneously monitor several variables from health systems across the country: number of clinic visits, intake temperatures, days of the year when abnormalities appear, etc. It then processes the collected information using a negative selection process in which it identifies atypical trends. This negative selection process and the synthetic “T-cells” result in more nuanced data collection, and early trials of the biosurveillance system have demonstrated its ability to separate trends from typical seasonal influenzas.\n\nBiological Model\nOur immune systems are composed of billions of white blood cells constantly on the lookout for illnesses and foreign invaders, ready to respond if the body is under attack. T-cells, also known as T-lymphocytes, are a type of white blood cell and a vital component of the immune system. T-cells learn which cells to attack through a negative selection “training” process, in which T-cells that attack intruders are kept alive and T-cells that attack normal body cells are destroyed. Eventually, the T-cells learn to successfully combat invading cells when an infection enters the body."}, {"Source": "antimicrobial peptide", "Application": "antiviral therapy", "Function1": "kill pathogens", "Function2": "initiate an immune response", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/antiviral-drug-inspired-by-antimicrobial-peptides/", "Strategy": "Antiviral Drug Inspired by Antimicrobial Peptides\nBrilacidin from Innovation Pharmaceuticals mimics antimicrobial peptides to combat pathogens and protect against antiviral activity.\n\nThe Challenge\nViruses that infect humans can become a worldwide threat that can put millions of lives at risk. Drug companies are always looking for ways to develop more effective vaccines as quickly as possible.\n\nInnovation details\nBrilacidin is a synthetic, non-peptidic small molecule that mimics antimicrobial peptides. It has a unique 3-in-1 combination of antiviral, immune/anti-inflammatory, and antimicrobial components that kill pathogens swiftly, significantly reducing the likelihood of drug resistance developing. It also helps reduce inflammation and promotes healing.\n\nBiological Model\nAntimicrobial peptides are found in all classes of life. They serve as the first line of defense against pathogenic invasion by kill foreign pathogens directly and/or initiating an immune response."}, {"Source": "cat's tongue", "Application": "tangle-proof grooming brush", "Function1": "groom fur coat", "Function2": "remove loose hair and dirt", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/tangle-proof-grooming-brush-inspired-by-cat-tongues/", "Strategy": "Tangle-Proof Grooming Brush Inspired by Cat Tongues\nBrush from Harvard has 3D-printed silicone spikes that effectively and gently clean pet hair.\n\nThe Challenge\nHouse cats can spend up to 24% of their waking time grooming their fur coats. Grooming helps them remove pesky fleas, loose hairs, and excess heat. If they do not groom enough, debris can tangle in their fur, possibly causing painful tugging of the skin and even infection. Many cat owners supplement grooming by brushing through their cat’s coat regularly, but many brushes are insufficient in detangling fur and may cause skin irritation.\n\nInnovation details\nThe brush consists of 3D-printed silicone strands arranged on a flexible silicone substrate. As the user runs the brush along the cat fur, it collects loose hair strands and excess dirt. Due to the brush configuration, the operation requires lower grooming forces, meaning it is gentler on the animal’s skin. Also, as the brush runs along the fur, the strands automatically rotate when needed to avoid tangling. In addition, due to the strands’ configuration, the device is easier to clean than a typical brush.\n\nBiological Model\nCats use their textured tongues to groom themselves, making sure excess hair and debris are swept away. Cat tongues have hundreds of sharp, backward-facing spines called papillae. These papillae are multifunctional: they help to grab onto loose hair, grip food, and draw up saliva from the base of the tongue to cool the cat."}, {"Source": "razor clam", "Application": "low-energy burrowing robot", "Function1": "burrow into the ocean floor", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/low-energy-burrowing-robot-inspired-by-razor-clams/", "Strategy": "Low-Energy Burrowing Robot Inspired by Razor Clams\nBurrowing robot from MIT uses contracting valves to induce a quicksand effect in the surrounding soil, enabling the robot to dig down.\n\nThe Challenge\nRobots require energy to operate, often in the form of a battery. Autonomous robots must carry the battery with them. Unfortunately, batteries tend to be large and heavy, which interferes with the performance of the robot. Additionally, moving through solids such as soil consumes more energy than moving in air.\n\nInnovation details\nThe burrowing robot, also called “RoboClam,” is constructed of two halves connected by a rod. The rod moves the halves up and down, together and apart. The contractions and expansions quickly release liquid around the robot causing a quicksand effect called liquefaction in the surrounding sand. When the sand liquefies, the robot can propel downward.\n\nBiological Model\nRazor clams are known for their ability to burrow into the ocean floor, even with their rigid shell structures. To do this, the clam expands and contracts its valves, releasing liquid and fluidizing the surrounding sand, which allows the razor clam burrow down."}, {"Source": "natural hierarchical cellular structures", "Application": "hierarchical cellular structures", "Function1": "bounce back", "Function2": "efficient distribution of pressure", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/lightweight-ceramics-inspired-by-natural-hierarchical-cellular-structures/", "Strategy": "Lightweight Ceramics Inspired by Natural Hierarchical Cellular Structures\nCeramic material from Harvard is composed of a closed-cell porous structure that mitigates impact forces.\n\nThe Challenge\nDeveloping resource-efficient design methods will be essential as we transition into a sustainable society. Due to the limited properties of many materials, buildings and products are often designed to be high in weight, with added material to increase structural strength. Developing stronger and lighter materials could reduce the costs of our creations, both financially and environmentally.\n\nInnovation details\nThe cellular ceramic material is made of a 3D-printed ceramic foam ink. During the 3D-printing process, engineers can tune the macro- and microscale porosity, which determines the ‘stiffness’ of the material—the tendency for an element to return to its original form after being subjected to external forces. Up close, the closed-cell pores are shaped as hexagonal and triangular honeycombs. This organization allows for efficient distribution of pressure, making the material incredibly strong. Cellular ceramics could find potential applications in numerous fields, including lightweight structures, thermal insulation, tissue scaffolds, catalyst supports, and electrodes.\n\nBiological Model\nBiological hierarchical structures have to do with the assemblages of molecular units or their aggregates, where a similar feature reoccurs at different scales. There are many types of hierarchical structures in nature: bird feathers, bones, wood, stems, and more. For example, grass has a hollow, tubular macrostructure and a porous microstructure that enables the plant to bounce back after being stepped on. With intention down to microscopic arrangement, nature designs efficiently and beautifully by utilizing hierarchical structures, and so can we."}, {"Source": "antarctic fish", "Application": "anti-ice coating", "Function1": "prevent ice formation", "Function2": "prevent ice propagation", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/anti-ice-coating-inspired-by-antarctic-fish-blood/", "Strategy": "Anti-Ice Coating Inspired by Antarctic Fish Blood\nCoating from UCLA and University of Chinese Academy of Sciences is a hydrogel that inhibits the formation of ice using three anti-ice mechanisms.\n\nThe Challenge\nUndesired icing on surfaces can cause many safety issues, especially for aviation, during which ineffective de-icing could cause mechanical issues and even result in a plane crashing. Most anti-icing materials are expensive and only effective against one type of ice formation. For example, if the an anti-ice technique only lowers a liquid’s freezing point, the fluid can still attach to the surface and freeze if temperatures become colder.\n\nInnovation details\nThe coating is made of a polyelectrolyte hydrogel that is able to tackle the three main ice formation processes. First, the hydrogel inhibits ice nucleation (the way water vapor is usually triggered into freezing) with polyelectrolyte brushes controlled by ion specificity. Then, it prevents ice propagation by lowering the freezing temperature for water that touches it. Lastly, it makes the surface harder to grab onto by decreasing the ice adhesion strength. Altogether, this multifunctional material effectively prevents ice formation.\n\nBiological Model\nAntartic fish have anti-freeze proteins in their blood that help them survive in the subfreezing habitats they live in. Not only do these proteins reduce the potential for ice crystal formation by lowering the freezing point of their blood and body fluids, they also attach to ice crystals that manage to form, which prevents them from propagating or growing larger."}, {"Source": "nacre", "Application": "impermeable coating material", "Function1": "impermeable to air and other gases", "Function2": "protect from fire and water", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/fireproof-coating-material-inspired-by-nacre/", "Strategy": "Impermeable Coating Material Inspired by Nacre\nCoating from UConn is made of nanosheets in a polymer matrix that makes it nearly impermeable to air and other gases.\n\nThe Challenge\nMany electronics are susceptible to permanent damage from moisture. For example, the small components within cellphones require a waterproof barrier for protection. Making these small barriers is challenging, increasing the cost of the devices.\n\nInnovation details\nThe coating is made of a high concentration of nanosheets within a polymer matrix. To make the coating, the nanosheets are pre-arranged in a series and the polymer flows between the sheets to lock them in place. The material forms the shape of the substrate it is laid on. It was shown to be 60 percent stronger than stainless steel and can be used on a variety of materials to protect from both fire and water.\n\nBiological Model\nNacre, or mother of pearl,  forms the iridescent inner layer of the shells of some molluscs. It is a natural composite of plates of aragonite (a form of calcium carbonate) and natural polymers that coil around and through the plates. The polymer holds the plates together while allowing them to slip from side to side under stress, enabling the nacre to be both strong and flexible."}, {"Source": "squid ring teeth", "Application": "composite material", "Function1": "produce materials with different properties", "Function2": "self-healing", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/self-assembling-composite-inspired-by-squid-ring-teeth-proteins/", "Strategy": "Self-Assembling Composite Inspired by Squid Ring Teeth Proteins\nComposite material from Penn State University has tunable electric properties due to bioengineered tandem repeat proteins.\n\nThe Challenge\nComposite materials have limited physical properties due to the physical limits of the components and interactions between them. The ‘rule of mixtures’ is a prediction theory that states that while the matrix-to-filler ratios of one component to another can vary in a mixture, there is a limit to the physical properties (elastic modulus, tensile strength, etc.) of the composite. This has prevented material scientists from creating mixtures with tunable properties.\n\nInnovation details\nThe composite material is made of a synthetic tandem repeat protein inspired by the structure of squid ring teeth proteins, and a very thin metal known as titanium carbide 2D MXene. The composite self-assembles into a cross-linked network, which changes the electrical properties of the layered material and causes the matrix-to-filler ratios in tiny areas to ‘break’ the mixture rules. On the microscopic scale, when the structural symmetry is broken, electrical conductivity depends on direction. As long as the current is going along the plane of the 2D material layers, the conductivity is linear, but if the current is directed across the layers, the conductivity becomes nonlinear. This allows the researchers to make different types of electronic devices, such as storage devices, diodes, switches, or regulators. The researchers can control the distance between conducting layers without changing the composite fraction by controlling the length of the tandem repeat proteins, which they have bioengineered.\n\nBiological Model\nSquid have teeth in ring formations inside suction cups on their tentacles. The squid ring teeth are made up of proteins that can combine in different ways to produce materials with different properties. These teeth help the squid grip onto a surface or grasp prey. If the teeth break, they can self-heal."}, {"Source": "microorganisms", "Application": "compostable plastic", "Function1": "decompose plastic", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/compostable-plastic-inspired-by-enzymatic-decomposition/", "Strategy": "Compostable Plastic Inspired by Enzymatic Decomposition\nCompostable plastic material from Berkeley National Laboratory contains dormant enzymes that can be reactivated to thoroughly decompose the material.\n\nThe Challenge\nAs waste management systems cannot keep up with plastic consumption, plastic pollution has fast become one of the most urgent environmental problems in the world. A significant threat to wildlife, plastic waste can take decades to decompose and kills millions of animals each year through entanglement or starvation. Additionally, the production of plastics has a substantial carbon footprint because it  requires the use of fossil fuels.\n\nInnovation details\nThe plastic material consists of biodegradable plastics embedded with trace amounts of commercial enzymes. The base plastics are polylactic acid (PLA), a vegetable-based plastic material blended with cornstarch, and polycaprolactone (PCL), a biodegradable polyester widely used for biomedical applications. The commercial enzymes (Burkholderia cepacian lipase and proteinase K) are dispersed within the base plastics, along with an enzyme protectant called four-monomer random heteropolymer, which helps to separate the enzymes a few nanometers apart from one another. The enzymes remain dormant through the usable life of the plastic object until they are triggered by hot water or compost soil. Once triggered, the enzymes convert the plastic material into its building-block monomers, fully composting the plastic.\n\nBiological Model\nMicroorganisms use enzymes to decompose the biopolymers found in plant litter. These enzymes are designed to break down larger polymers into smaller monomers, which then become soil organic matter."}, {"Source": "mosquito's eye", "Application": "multifunctional compound lens", "Function1": "achieve peripheral vision", "Function2": "save energy", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/multifunctional-compound-lens-inspired-by-mosquito-eyes/", "Strategy": "Multifunctional Compound Lens Inspired by Mosquito Eyes\nCompound lens from Johns Hopkins University is made of an array of microlenses with a wide viewing angle.\n\nThe Challenge\nArtificial compound eyes are beneficial for robotics and other applications that require a camera-like apparatus because of their simplicity and multifunctionality. They can be used by drones or robots to rapidly scan and image their surroundings. However, creating an artificial eye is difficult because it requires aligning different photoreceptive and optical components onto a curved surface.\n\nInnovation details\nThe researchers developed a liquid manufacturing process that creates compound lenses that mimic many of the features of a mosquito eye. First, multiple microlenses are coated in oil droplets surrounded by silica nanoparticles. The lenses are then arranged in a closely packed array around a larger oil droplet. The structure is then cured with UV light. The nanoparticles also have anti-fogging properties, which means the lens can function even in humid environments. The lens has an overall viewing angle of 149 degrees, similar to a mosquito eye.\n\nBiological Model\nInsects such as flies have compound eyes, which are curved arrays of microscopic lenses. Each individual lens captures an image and the brain then combines them all together. This allows the insect to achieve peripheral vision without having to move its eyes or head. This helps to save valuable energy for the organism."}, {"Source": "sea urchin shell", "Application": "elastic concrete material", "Function1": "bounce back to its original shape", "Function2": "withstand pressure", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/elastic-concrete-material-inspired-by-sea-urchin-shells/", "Strategy": "Elastic Concrete Material Inspired by Sea Urchin Shells\nConcrete material from University of Konstanz has an organized nanostructure that enables the material to bounce back to its original shape.\n\nThe Challenge\nConcrete is the second most consumed product on Earth besides water. Unfortunately, producing cement, an ingredient in concrete, has extreme environmental impacts that account for approximately 8 percent of annual global carbon emissions. Cutting down on carbon emissions from cement will involve investing in green cement technology and finding ways to build more efficiently with concrete. One major flaw with concrete as a construction material is its poor flexural strength, or lack of elasticity. This issue occurs because of the binder in concrete, calcium silicate hydrate (C-S-H); the random organization of C-S-H nanoplatelets limits the flexural strength of the material. When concrete is placed under stress, it is unable to move far without fracturing, and eventually, fractured concrete must be replaced.\n\nInnovation details\nThe elastic concrete material is made of C-S-H mesocrystals (a highly oriented assembly of numerous small crystals of similar shape and size) with highly aligned C-S-H nanoplatelets interspaced within a polymeric binder. The nanostructure has a ‘brick wall’ style architecture, in which the mesocrystals are the bricks and the polymeric binder is the grout. Due to this internal structure, during initial tests, a bent bar-shaped microstructure was able to return to its initial position without cracking or fracture. On a larger scale, this method could significantly reduce concrete fracturing in construction processes, improving the mechanical properties of future buildings.\n\nBiological Model\nSea urchins live at depths of the ocean that extend as low as 16,000 feet underwater. Pressure in this part of the ocean is very intense, but sea urchins can withstand such pressure, grow, and survive attempted attacks from predators without shell breakage. This biological wonder may be attributed to the organization of sea urchin spines. Each spine contains an array of calcite nanocrystals, forming mesocrystal structures. The highly oriented assembly of mesocrystals in the spine gives the material unique properties, such as incredible bending strength, making the shell durable and flexible."}, {"Source": "mollusk's shell", "Application": "ductile concrete material", "Function1": "provide flexibility", "Function2": "deform up to 5 percent in tension", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/ductile-concrete-material-inspired-by-mollusk-shells/", "Strategy": "Ductile Concrete Material Inspired by Mollusk Shells\nConcrete material from University of Michigan has tiny fibers dispersed within the concrete mixture that enhance the material's flexibility.\n\nThe Challenge\nTraditional concrete is brittle: When placed under stress, it is unable to move very far without fracturing. When concrete fractures, it eventually needs to be replaced, requiring more to be manufactured. Unfortunately, cement, one of the main ingredients in concrete, is one of the largest green-house gas emission sources. As a result, making more concrete increases its harmful effects on the environment.\n\nInnovation details\nThe concrete material is also called “engineered cementitious composite,”or ECC. The ECC has tiny fibers dispersed through the concrete mix, which contains gravel, sand, and cement. Under stress, the interfaces between the fibers and the cement have controlled slippage, which enables the concrete to bend and recover its original shape without fracturing. The material can deform up to 5 percent in tension before failing, which is approximately 500 times what typical concrete can endure.\n\nBiological Model\nNacre, or mother of pearl, forms the iridescent inner layer of the shells of some mollusks. It is a natural composite of plates of aragonite (a form of calcium carbonate) and natural polymers that coil around and through the plates. The polymer holds the plates together while allowing them to slip from side to side under stress, enabling the nacre to be both strong and flexible."}, {"Source": "fish scale", "Application": "continuum manipulator interface", "Function1": "resist cracks", "Function2": "distribute impact force", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/minimalistic-continuum-manipulator-interface-inspired-by-fish-scales/", "Strategy": "Minimalistic Continuum Manipulator Interface Inspired by Fish Scales\nContinuum manipulator interface from University of Bristol has a highly articulated helical interface that ensures smooth joint movement.\n\nThe Challenge\nContinuum manipulators are slender, soft robots that are highly dexterous and deformable. When performing complicated tasks, the reliability of interfaces between moving parts is essential. Small deformations and instabilities can cause the manipulator to fail while performing its task. During certain activities such as surgery an interface failure could be dangerous.\n\nInnovation details\nThe continuum manipulator interface is a highly articulated, 3D-printed interface made of UV curable acrylic plastic and hydroxylated wax. The wax temperature is regulated to control joint compliance using a decentralized control approach. Preliminary results have shown task passive shape adaptation and task space anisotropic stiffness control.\n\nBiological Model\nFish scales are strong, flexible, and resistant to cracking. The shell is made of fibers arranged in the Bouligand structure, a helical structure similar to a spiral staircase. This structure helps distribute an impact force or the bite of a predator throughout the scale’s shell, minimizing damage."}, {"Source": "longhorn beetle's triangular fluffs", "Application": "passive cooling film", "Function1": "reflect light", "Function2": "provide passive thermal regulation", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/passive-cooling-film-inspired-by-longhorn-beetles/", "Strategy": "Scalable Passive Cooling Film Inspired by Longhorn Beetles\nCooling film from UT Austin has a finely structured triangular cross-section that reflects light to provide passive thermal regulation.\n\nThe Challenge\nCooling systems within households and automobiles require lots of energy to function properly. In residential buildings alone, cooling accounts for 6% of total U.S. energy consumption. Not only is this rate of energy consumption expensive, but it also has detrimental environmental impacts, as the production of electrical energy in the U.S. is largely dependent on fossil fuels. In recent years, interest in developing other methods of cooling has increased. One promising technique has gained recent attention within the field: passive radiative cooling.\n\nInnovation details\nThe photonic cooling film is made of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), a widely used, flexible polymer. The polymer contains randomly distributed spherical ceramic particles, which create a textured surface of pyramid-like structures. Due to these encapsulated particles and the photonic architecture of the film, the material exhibits a high reflectance of solar light as well as absorption selectivity, which creates a passive cooling effect. Moreover, the film is manufactured using a facile microstamping method, which is promising for scaled-up production. Radiative cooling technology is practically applicable to many energy-efficient thermal management systems, including cooling systems for buildings, automobiles, electronics, and even clothing. The scalability of the film could make the wide-ranging and widespread use of passive radiative cooling a reality.\n\nBiological Model\nLonghorn beetles are capable of regulating their body temperature in some of the hottest environments on the planet. Near active volcanoes in Thailand and Indonesia, they can survive temperatures up to 70 degrees Celsius (158 degrees Fahrenheit)! This incredible heat resistance is due to the triangular “‘fluffs” on the wings of the beetle, which reflect sunlight while simultaneously emitting thermal radiation, decreasing the beetle’s body temperature."}, {"Source": "natural crystallization", "Application": "crystal growth", "Function1": "control crystal growth", "Function2": "translational symmetry", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/controlled-crystal-growth-inspired-by-natural-crystallization/", "Strategy": "Controlled Crystal Growth Inspired by Natural Crystallization\nCrystal Growth Technique from Drexel University uses chemical mixing to form polymer crystal spheres that provide control over the overall shape.\n\nThe Challenge\nMost crystals such as snowflakes grow in a reliable, consistent, symmetry. This symmetry arises from having a unit cell that consistently repeats throughout the crystalline flake. Although this is useful in most instances, it is challenging for scientists and engineers to control crystal growth, which can impede their ability to solve specific problems.\n\nInnovation details\nThe crystal growth chemically manipulates the macromolecular structure so that this translational symmetry is broken when the molecule crystallizes. It uses “bottle-brush” shaped polymers as the crystal’s structural system, which provides scientists a way to control the different types of growth.\n\nBiological Model\nTranslational symmetry is found in mineral crystals and snowflakes. The crystals have a repeated unit cell that manifests itself into macroscopic crystals. Other examples of translational symmetry can be found in viral capsid structures and in the honeycombs of bees."}, {"Source": "oligopeptide", "Application": "oligopeptides", "Function1": "store large amounts of data", "Function2": "able to endure extreme environments", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/robust-data-storage-inspired-by-oligopeptides/", "Strategy": "Robust Data Storage Inspired by Oligopeptides\nData storage method from Harvard uses tiny oligopeptide molecules to safely store large amounts of data.\n\nThe Challenge\nWith mass amounts of data being developed everyday, there are increasing issues with finding enough space to store it. Even the data storage cloud will eventually reach its capacity. Additionally, there is a risk that data could be hacked or corrupted while stored.\n\nInnovation details\nThe data storage method consists of small, low molecular weight molecules called oligopeptides, encoded with information. Binary information is stored on the oligopeptides that are mixed and stored on metal surfaces. Each oligopeptide has a slightly different mass depending on the amino acids they are made up of. When the information needs to be used, the molecules are sorted by mass in the well of a mass spectrometer. The research team has found that a mix of eight oligopeptides can store one byte of information, meaning the contents of an entire library could be stored in a single teaspoon of oligopeptides.\n\nBiological Model\nOligopeptides are short chains of amino acid monomers (typically two to forty monomers) linked via peptide bonds. They are incredibly stable and able to endure many extreme environments such as high heat or drought. Oligopeptides are the building blocks of proteins in the body."}, {"Source": "plant and animal", "Application": "computational morphogenesis", "Function1": "optimize material distribution", "Function2": "reduce resource consumption", "Function3": "reduce emissions", "Function4": "reduce project cost", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/computational-design-process-inspired-by-evolution/", "Strategy": "Computational Design Process Inspired by Evolution\nDesign process from Technical University of Denmark uses an iterative process called computational morphogenesis to optimize structural shape and material usage.\n\nThe Challenge\nSustainable design involves optimizing the performance of products while minimizing the consumption of energy and resources. An important concern in the design process, especially in industrial and mechanical design, is material distribution. Traditional design methods may not optimize  a product’s shape, prompting designers to use more material than needed. However, new AI technologies have created opportunities to explore different, more effective design options.\n\nInnovation details\nThis computer-aided design tool uses giga-voxel resolution computational morphogenesis to solve design problems. The computer is programmed with complex mathematical formulas that assign design rules and variables to many discreet points within the structure. The computer runs through an iterative process in which structural analyses optimize the amount and location of material being used. The overall process creates designs for products and structures with optimized material distribution, potentially reducing resource consumption, emissions, and project costs.\n\nBiological Model\nComputational morphogenesis parallels plant and animal evolution. Distribution ratios of strength to weight, or capacity to efficiency, help ensure that plants and animals make effective use of resources, keeping them alive. Evolution is nature’s design process; nature tests, adapts, and repeats to refine systems to operate most efficiently."}, {"Source": "rainbow peacock spider's body", "Application": "super-iridescent display technology", "Function1": "reflect full visual light spectrum", "Function2": "manipulate light", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/super-iridescent-display-technology-inspired-by-rainbow-peacock-spiders/", "Strategy": "Super-Iridescent Display Technology Inspired by Rainbow Peacock Spiders\nDisplay technology from University of California, San Diego uses light-diffracting microstructures to display vibrant, iridescent colors.\n\nThe Challenge\nCurrent display technologies rely on energy-intensive, bright lights behind screens. These bright lights have been found to cause eye strain headaches and other health issues after prolonged use.\n\nInnovation details\nThe display technology has a microscopic 3D contour with nanoscale diffraction grating structures on the surface. These diffraction grating structures are printed using a novel nano-3D-printer. The combination of the grating structures and the microscopic curvature of the scales enables the fine-tuned separation and isolation of light into a variety of wavelengths, which enables the display of iridescent color.\n\nBiological Model\nMale rainbow peacock spiders showcase an intense rainbow iridescent signal as part of their courtship display toward females. They have tiny structured scales on their bodies that reflect the full visual spectrum of light. This method of manipulating light results in brilliant iridescent colors that also aid the spiders in camouflaging themselves and thermoregulation."}, {"Source": "dragonfly", "Application": "agile drone", "Function1": "increase flight accuracy", "Function2": "increase control of the wings", "Function3": "maximize efficiency during flight", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/agile-drone-inspired-by-dragonflies/", "Strategy": "Agile Drone Inspired by Dragonflies\nDrone from University of South Australia has flapping wings that and increase stability and efficiency during flight.\n\nThe Challenge\nDrones can be useful to deliver packages with essential supplies to areas that may be dangerous or difficult to reach such as battle fields or disaster zones. However, most drones are bulky and heavy, which slows them down and reduces their maneuverability. Additionally, heavy drones require more material, cost more, and consume more energy, which can increase their impact on the environment.\n\nInnovation details\nThe drone has several mechanisms that optimize flight efficiency during all operations such as taking off, hovering, nad cruising. One efficiency-saving feature is the large, light, corrugated wings that make up less than 2% of the machine’s weight. These lightweight wings maximize the amount of instantaneous control the actuators have over the wings, increasing flight accuracy. Another mechanism is the type of actuation, or how the wings move. The drone uses direct actuation, meaning the wings are directly attached to the actuators, which increases control of the wings. Lastly, the central “abdomen” combines functions, reducing the number of components required. For example, the abdomen doubles as a rudder and ballast to stabilize the drone while in flight, and it also houses the fuel cell.\n\nBiological Model\nDragonflies capture prey and avoid predators with their extraordinary flying abilities. The flying insects are able to turn at high speeds as well as take off while carrying three times their own body weight. Their long, light wings maximize efficiency during flight."}, {"Source": "bacteria's metabolism", "Application": "electricity generation", "Function1": "produce bioelectricity", "Function2": "accomplish bioremediation", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/efficient-electricity-generation-inspired-by-bacteria/", "Strategy": "Efficient Electricity Generation Inspired by Bacteria\nElectricity generation mechanism from Lund University uses a redox polymer disguised as a natural bacterial charge carrier to extract the electricity generated by bacteria.\n\nThe Challenge\nPerhaps our greatest challenge as a society will be finding a way to meet our current and future energy needs sustainably. Interest in renewable energy generation has led to discoveries of unexpectedly brilliant options. One example can be observed in energy generation through bacteria. For some years, researchers have been studying ways to effectively capture the electrical current that bacteria generate through their metabolism to produce bioelectricity or accomplish bioremediation—a water or soil decontamination method that relies on living organisms. However, in past studies, the transfer of the electrical current to a receiving electrode (a conductor through which energy enters or leaves an object) has been inefficient, as the bacterium has a thick cell wall that is difficult to permeate.\n\nInnovation details\nIn a new study at Lund University, researchers created an artificial molecule called a redox polymer that was able to permeate the bacterium’s cell wall. This redox polymer effectively extracts energy from the bacterium by retrieving electrons within the cell wall, a process known as extracellular electron transfer. The results from the study may assist in future bacterial electrical energy generation developments.\n\nBiological Model\nBacteria use extracellular electron transfer to break down large chemical compounds and to communicate—both with other molecules and with one another."}, {"Source": "tree", "Application": "printable electronic material", "Function1": "give plant structure", "Function2": "strong and durable", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/printable-electronics-material-inspired-by-trees/", "Strategy": "Printable Electronic Material Inspired by Trees\nElectronic material from Simon Fraser University is made of a wood-derived cellulose that enables electronic devices to be recycled at the end of their usable lives.\n\nThe Challenge\nElectronic waste, called e-waste, is often classified as hazardous because it contains toxins that are harmful to both humans and the environment. When the components from old devices cannot be recycled for use in new electronics, it is nearly impossible to eliminate the harmful chemicals that eventually leach into the ground or the atmosphere.\n\nInnovation details\nThe material is a wood-derived cellulose that can replace plastics used in manufacturing electronics. The material can be 3D-printed to form devices such as circuit boards. When the device reaches the end of its lifetime, the material can be recycled or naturally broken down without contaminating the environment.\n\nBiological Model\nPlant matter is mainly made up of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin. Cellulose makes up 30 to 90 percent of a plant; it gives plants their structure. Cellulose is lightweight but has a high strength to weight ratio, making it strong and durable. Cellulose can be broken down into small components called nanocrystals. Nanocrystals are strong and have low thermal conductivity."}, {"Source": "pangolin scale", "Application": "precise electrosurgical blade", "Function1": "anti-adhesive", "Function2": "anti-friction", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/precise-electrosurgical-blade-inspired-by-pangolin-scales/", "Strategy": "Precise Electrosurgical Blade Inspired by Pangolin Scales\nElectrosurgical blade from Shaanxi University of Science and Technology has anti-adhesive surface microstructures that reduce drag during an incision.\n\nThe Challenge\nDuring surgeries and other medical procedures, the skin is cut and then patched back together to assist in healing. In sensitive areas like the eyes, an electrosurgical blade is used to better control the intricacies of the incision. The electrosurgical blade uses an electric current to generate heat to cut through the skin. Unfortunately, the heat can cause skin to adhere to the blade, resulting in unnecessary damage to the skin around the incision, increasing the chance of scarring and infection.\n\nInnovation details\nThe anti-adhesive electrosurgical blade is made of 316L stainless steel. The surface of the blade is covered with a series of self-organized microstructures created using a long pulse fiber laser. These microstructures induce an anti-friction and anti-adhesive effect, reducing the amount of damage inflicted during an incision.\n\nBiological Model\nPangolins are mammals, occasionally called scaly anteaters, that spend much of their time digging caves in the earth to feed off small insects. To protect itself from predators, the pangolin has an armor of horny scales that overlap like shingles on a roof. When in danger, the animal tucks its head into its stomach, and the scales overlap, allowing the pangolin to wrap itself into a ball. Pangolin scales are also incredibly durable due to their anti-adhesive and anti-friction qualities. The unique qualities of pangolin scales can be attributed to the longitudinal riblet microstructures on the scales, which allow the pangolin to travel through rock and dirt smoothly."}, {"Source": "human eye and mantis shrimp eye", "Application": "multimodal endoscope", "Function1": "form binocular vision", "Function2": "increase depth perception, contrast detection, and light sensitivity", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/multimodal-endoscope-inspired-by-human-and-mantis-shrimp-vision/", "Strategy": "Multimodal Endoscope Inspired by Human and Mantis Shrimp Vision\nEndoscope from the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences captures visible and near-infrared light simultaneously to create high-quality 3D images.\n\nThe Challenge\nEndoscopes are useful tools that allow doctors and surgeons to take 3D images from inside the body. Currently, the standard endoscope needs to be switched out when a doctor needs to see fluorescent images, which help locate diseased tissue. This switch increases chances of error and contamination, as well as a longer procedure for the patient.\n\nInnovation details\nThe bio-inspired medical endoscope can collect 3D visible light and near-infrared fluorescence images simultaneously. It does this by using two optical systems with a binocular design, similar to human eyes. The near-infrared wavelengths required for fluorescence imaging are detected by a sensor inspired by the eyes of mantis shrimp, which can simultaneously detect different wavelengths of light. The result is a high-resolution image that doctors can use to identify harmful tissue or areas to be avoided during surgery. The endoscope has a resolution as high as 7 line pairs per millimeter with visible light (the same as the best 3D endoscopes used today) and 4 line pairs per millimeter with near-infrared illumination.\n\nBiological Model\nHumans have two eyes that work together to form binocular vision. This type of vision increases depth perception, contrast detection, and light sensitivity by combining information from two slightly different perspectives of the same view."}, {"Source": "aspen leaf", "Application": "energy harvester", "Function1": "move in the slightest breeze", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/weatherproof-energy-harvester-inspired-by-aspen-tree-leaf-movement/", "Strategy": "Weatherproof Energy Harvester Inspired by Aspen Leaves\nEnergy harvester from University of Warwick can produce energy even at the lowest wind speeds.\n\nThe Challenge\nMachines used for energy generation often require many moving parts that enable the machinery to operate. These parts are connected with bearings, connection pieces that allow rotation and movement. Unfortunately, these pieces do not work as well in environments with extreme cold, heat, dust or sand, limiting the situations in which they are operational.\n\nInnovation details\nThe energy harvester is designed to mimic how Aspen leaves tremble in even the slightest breeze. The researchers created a mathematical model that mimics this movement. They then used a low speed wind tunnel to test a device with a cantilever beam similar to the flat stem of the Aspen leaf. It also has a curved blade tip with a circular arc cross section that functions as the main leaf. The blade was oriented perpendicular to the flow direction, allowing the harvester to produce self-sustained oscillations at extremely low wind speeds, similar to the aspen leaf. In addition, the energy harvester can generate power without the use of bearings. Although the power generated is small, it is sufficient to power autonomous electrical devices. These are often used in applications such as automated weather sensing in remote and extreme environments.\n\nBiological Model\nThe leaves of the Aspen tree quake when the slightest breeze passes by due to the structure and connection of the stem. Unlike typical plant stems, the aspen tree has a flat petiole. The petiole is the stalk where the leaf blade attaches to the stem. Because the petiole is flat, it acts like a pivot for the leaf to move on, and allows it to move in even the slightest breeze."}, {"Source": "novosphingobium aromaticivorans bacteria", "Application": "renewable plastic production", "Function1": "digest lignin", "Function2": "turn lignin into pdc", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/renewable-plastic-production-inspired-by-bacteria/", "Strategy": "Renewable Plastic Production Inspired by Bacteria\nEngineered bacteria from University of Wisconsin Madison convert lignin, a component of wood, into a material that could replace oil-based plastics.\n\nThe Challenge\nPlastics are a carbon-based material found in a variety of products from clothing to furniture. To create plastics, processes break long hydrocarbon chains into monomers, which are then used to create a variety commercial plastics. These processes require petroleum, are energy intensive, and result in greenhouse gas emissions.\n\nInnovation details\nThe plastic replacement is made from lignin digested by engineered Novosphingobium aromaticivorans bacteria. Lignin is a complex organic polymer deposited in the cell walls of plants and is a common byproduct of the paper-making industry. The bacteria digest the polymer into 2-pyrone-4,6-dicarboxylic acid, also known as PDC. These bacteria are able to turn at least 59 percent of lignin’s potentially useful compounds into PDC, more than ever before. PDC could replace common petroleum-based plastics as a more sustainable solution because it naturally breaks down in the environment.\n\nBiological Model\nNovosphingobium aromaticivorans bacteria thrives in soil rich in aromatic compounds such as contamination from petroleum products. The bacteria can digest lignin into smaller aromatic hydrocarbons."}, {"Source": "moth's eye", "Application": "anti-reflective film", "Function1": "reduce light reflection", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/scratch-resistant-film-inspired-by-moth-eyes/", "Strategy": "Anti-Reflective Film Inspired by Moth Eyes\nFilm from University of Central Florida has tiny protuberances that help reduce reflection and damage.\n\nThe Challenge\nFor display devices such as mobile phones and laptops, sunlight readability is essential. Sunlight readability refers to the discernibility of a display in high ambient light conditions, and is strongly correlated to surface reflection. Currently, many displays have poor sunlight readability due to high rates of light reflection, requiring boosted display luminance and, in turn, more energy.\n\nInnovation details\nThe film is made of a molded, UV-curable resin. The surface of the film contains uniform nanostructures shaped like cones, each about 100 nanometers in diameter (about one one-thousandth of the width of a human hair). These protuberances are clustered so closely together that incoming light cannot differentiate between air and the surface of the film, thus passing into the material with very little reflection. The film exhibits a surface reflec­tion of just 0.23%, much lower than the average reflection rate of current displays, 4.4%. The antireflection film also found an application in solar cell efficiency, significantly increasing light absorption rates of photovoltaics.\n\nBiological Model\nMost moths are nocturnal creatures and fly at night to avoid being spotted by predators. The eyes of a moth are unique in that they are anti-reflective, absorbing incoming light and minimizing the amount of reflection to keep the creature undetected. This anti-reflective property can be attributed to the cone-like nanostructures which are clustered on the corneal lens of the eye, reducing light reflection by creating a refractive index gradient between the air-lens interface."}, {"Source": "bat wing", "Application": "agile flying robot", "Function1": "agile flying", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/agile-flying-robot-inspired-by-bats/", "Strategy": "Agile Flying Robot Inspired by Bats\nFlying robot from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has articulated, morphing wings that enable intricate movement.\n\nThe Challenge\nRobots are made of many components: a physical body, energy storage, a variety of sensors, and more. All these parts work together to perform the functions the robot was designed for. Unfortunately, these components are often heavy and bulky. The added weight can cause flying robots to be unable to maintain long flights and increase the risk of running out of power mid-flight.\n\nInnovation details\nThe flying robot, also called Bat Bot (B2), is a self-contained robot with soft, articulated wings that allow for autonomous movement. The wings easily change shape during flight without affecting the aerodynamics due to their flexible construction material along with a multitude of active and passive joints. As a result of the unique wing structure, the robot is able to move consistently and efficiently.\n\nBiological Model\nBats use their agility to evade predators and capture prey. Their wings haves more than 40 types of joints that interlock the muscles and bones into a musculoskeletal system that aids its unique flight mechanism. Their wings act like flexible, rubber sheets that fill with air and deform mid-flight while their joints coordinate consistent aerodynamics."}, {"Source": "pomelo's peel", "Application": "durable foam structure", "Function1": "absorb impact", "Function2": "prevent damage", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/durable-foam-structure-inspired-by-pomelos/", "Strategy": "Durable Foam Structure Inspired by Pomelos\nFoam structure from Texas A&M University has a non-uniform porosity that improves its impact resistance.\n\nThe Challenge\nFoam is often used in helmets and other protective equipment to absorb impact, shock, and vibration. However, after an incident of impact, most helmets must be replaced, as the foam material is damaged. If foam equipment was more durable, products would be able to withstand impact without replacement, decreasing foam waste.\n\nInnovation details\nThe durable foam structure has a nonuniform pore distribution with an open-cell skeleton, which is generated through the Voronoi tessellation (a proximity diagram that divides a plane into regions). Essentially, the foam contains pores of varying sizes, giving it superior energy dissipation properties. When impacted, these pores collapse, absorbing shock and protecting the material from extensive damage.\n\nBiological Model\nFruits like grapefruit and pomelo have excellent damping properties due to the hierarchical organization of their peels. When pomelo fruits fall from the ground, air pockets within the peel collapse like a cushion, absorbing the energy of impact and protecting the peel from damage."}, {"Source": "lotus leaf, butterfly’s wing, moth’s eye", "Application": "functional surface finishing", "Function1": "repel water", "Function2": "repel bacteria", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/functional-surface-finishing-inspired-by-plants-and-insects/", "Strategy": "Functional Surface Finishing Inspired by Plants and Insects\nFusion Bionic uses laser interference patterns to efficiently produce micro and nano textures on a wide variety of materials.\n\nThe Challenge\nZoom into a lotus leaf, a butterfly’s wing, or a moth’s eye and you’ll see intricate arrays of extremely tiny bumps, precisely positioned to repel water, dirt, or bacteria––or even to provide color or to better absorb light––without the organism having to expend any additional energy. Humans often achieve these qualities through the use of toxic chemicals or large amounts of water or other resources. Laser etching and other machining techniques have allowed humans to create similar nano textures that impart function directly onto surfaces, but they are slow and energy-intensive, and difficult to use at scale.\n\nInnovation details\nScientists at Fusion Bionic have found an extremely efficient way of nano-texturing surfaces by harnessing the properties of light itself. Instead of using a laser beam like a knife to etch a surface line by line, they control the interference pattern of multiple sub-beams to use like a stamp to produce a complete texture all at once. They call this “Direct Laser Interference Patterning (DLIP)”. This technique can efficiently produce functional textures, mimicking nature’s surfaces, and replace costly traditional methods of finishing surfaces.\n\nBiological Model\nZoom into a lotus leaf, a butterfly’s wing, or a moth’s eye and you’ll see intricate arrays of extremely tiny bumps—precisely positioned to repel water, dirt, or bacteria—or even to better absorb light––without the organism having to expend any additional energy.\n\nLotus leaves are covered with rows and rows of nanoscale pillars—each about 400 times thinner than a strand of human hair. Water landing on these bumpy surfaces has no flat surface to stick to. Instead, the molecules stick to one another, forming droplets that slide off, flushing along dirt particles and contaminants with them.\n\nOther organisms use similar texturing for the opposite effect: When light hits the eyes of moths, it doesn’t bounce off the intricate nanopillared surfaces at all. Instead, the waves get trapped and absorbed in the gradually narrowing spaces between nanopillars, creating a naturally anti-reflective surface."}, {"Source": "gecko's foot", "Application": "gecko gripper", "Function1": "adhere to surfaces", "Function2": "stick to various surfaces", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/blemish-free-gripper-inspired-by-geckos/", "Strategy": "Blemish-Free Gripper Inspired by Geckos\nGecko Gripper from OnRobot has micro-scaled fibrillar stalks that use Van der Waals forces to pick up objects.\n\nThe Challenge\nTraditional manufacturing processes use machines that grip objects using a squeezing motion. This squeezing motion can cause damage to flexible and soft objects. Additionally, these machines often use compressed air or large amounts of external power to make the processes work, resulting in increased costs.\n\nInnovation details\nThe Gecko Gripper is a special adhesive technology that has millions of micro-scaled fibrillar stalks. These stalks are mushroom-shaped and use the powerful van der Waals forces to grip objects, similar to a Gecko’s foot. The machine also has force-sensing technology to ensure it does not damage the object that it is handling. Additionally, the gripper is able to work on all flat and smooth surfaces, no matter what the material is.\n\nBiological Model\nGeckos have amazing adhesive abilities and can stick to almost any surface. Their toe pads are covered in millions of small hair-like projections called setae. These setae branch further into hundreds of nano-scale structures that end in tiny discs called spatulae. This multi-scale branching gives gecko feet a very high surface area. Spatulae stick to surfaces by van der Waals forces that occur between all molecules. Although these forces are individually weak, the high surface area of all the spatulae combined makes the force quite strong, which enable geckos to adhere quickly and easily to surfaces."}, {"Source": "whole plant", "Application": "natural produce preservative packets", "Function1": "produce preservative", "Function2": "maintain freshness", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/natural-produce-preservative-packets-inspired-by-plants/", "Strategy": "Natural Produce Preservative Packets Inspired by Plants\nGreenPod Labs mimics the natural chemical signaling in whole plants to keep harvested produce fresher for longer.\n\nThe Challenge\nCurrently, between 40 and 60 percent of all the produce that we grow spoils before we can eat it, especially in areas without developed cold-storage facilities and processes. This wastes half of humanity’s harvest while a billion people around the world face hunger every day.\n\nInnovation details\nGreenPod Labs has devised a way to harness the unique natural signaling substances of different fruits and vegetables and capture them in small sachets that can be placed in crates of specific produce. There, the compounds gradually rise into the air, taking over the role of the parent plant in sending signals that those living fruits and vegetables read loud and clear.\n\nBiological Model\nThe tomato on your counter, the lettuce in your fridge, the produce spilling out of buckets and shelves in kitchens and markets around the world … is alive!\n\nWhen parts are detached and removed, they lose critical lines of communication with the parent plant. When harvested, fruits and vegetables lose contact and communication with the plants on which they grew, but they don’t die. They live for days, weeks, or even longer––making and breaking down chemicals and nutrients, and responding to various aspects of their surroundings.\n\nWhole plants have many natural built-in defense mechanisms, producing and responding to chemical cues to control the rate of ripening and fight off microbes and insects."}, {"Source": "earwig wing", "Application": "gripper", "Function1": "unfold wings", "Function2": "store wings", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/collapsible-gripper-inspired-by-earwig-wings/", "Strategy": "Collapsible Gripper Inspired by Earwig Wings\nGripper from ETH Zurich and Purdue University has a soft elastic joint that enables it to methodically self-unfold.\n\nThe Challenge\nTraditional gripping robots use linkages, springs, and actuators in their appendages, which usually make them heavy and bulky, hindering their overall handling performance. Additionally, these mechanisms can require external energy or batteries, making the device less portable.\n\nInnovation details\nThe gripper is a synthetic folding system with self-folding and locking capabilities. It has stiff polymer facets with rubber-like hinges. The mid-region is highly specialized so that it is stable in two states: folded and unfolded. The mechanism behind this stability involves the elastic energy stored in the folds on the mid-region. The gripper can fully deploy and hold on to objects without external energy.\n\nBiological Model\nIn a resting state, earwigs have hidden wings that are folded like origami and stowed. When escaping a predator or attacking prey, they quickly unfold their wings, expanding them to 10-times their initial size. Once the insects stop flying, they promptly fold and store their wings in the initial, resting position."}, {"Source": "gecko's foot", "Application": "photocontrollable gripping device", "Function1": "stick to solid materials", "Function2": "release material", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/photocontrollable-gripping-device-inspired-by-geckos/", "Strategy": "Photocontrollable Gripping Device Inspired by Geckos\nGripping device from Kiel University has microstructures on its surface that control adhesive forces with exposure to UV-light.\n\nThe Challenge\nIn manufacturing processes, adhesives and metal gripping devices are often used to move product components into place. The adhesives are usually a single-use, strong glue that leaves a sticky residue once removed, and metal grippers can damage components. These maneuvering mechanisms are inefficient and increase waste generation within manufacturing processes.\n\nInnovation details\nThe photocontrollable gripping device is a UV light-sensitive multilayer tape. The top layer consists of mushroom-shaped pillars with flat tops that touch the surface of the target material. These pillars are embedded in polydimethylsiloxane, a silicon-based organic polymer. In the absence of UV light, the top layer of the device is aligned and can therefore stick to a solid material. The second layer contains azobenzene liquid crystals, which are responsive to UV light. When UV light strikes the crystal layer, the device curls slightly, gently pulling the sticky first layer off of the surface, effectively releasing the material. The photocontrollable device does not leave any residue on materials and is less likely to damage products. Moreover, no heat is required to activate the adhesive.\n\nBiological Model\nThe device was inspired by gecko toes, which allow the reptiles to walk up flat surfaces, effortlessly sticking to materials and then readily unsticking when necessary. Gecko toe pads are covered in millions of small hairs called setae, which branch into nano-scale structures ending in tiny discs called spatulae. Essentially, these tiny hairs get so close to the contours of a material that electrons from the material’s molecules interact with the gecko hair molecules, creating an electromagnetic attraction. When approaching a surface, the gecko angles its satae such that the spatulae are flat and may engage, increasing the attractive force between the toe and the surface. Then, to detach, the gecko increases the angle of the satae, making it possible for the toe to peel away from the surface."}, {"Source": "moth's eye", "Application": "polarized light camera", "Function1": "maximize light capture", "Function2": "minimize light reflection", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/camera-for-capturing-polarized-light-in-space-inspired-by-moths-eyes/", "Strategy": "Camera for Capturing Polarized Light in Deep Space Inspired by Moth Eyes\nHAWC+ from NASA is a telescope camera with small protuberances on the surface that increase light capture.\n\nThe Challenge\nCapturing infrared light is the only way to view many cosmic objects, including the early stages of star, planetary, and galaxy formation. As the light from the most distant objects travels through the universe, it’s stretched by the expansion of space. By the time the light reaches Earth, that stretching process has transformed short wavelengths of visible and ultraviolet light into the longer wavelengths of infrared light. Only telescopes that can detect infrared light can see those faraway objects. These telescopes have cameras that need to detect and absorb infrared light. The more sensitive the camera, the more light it can absorb and the more objects we can see.\n\nInnovation details\nThe HAWC+ has a silicon structure containing thousands of tightly packed, micro-machined spikes or cylindrical protuberances no taller than a grain of sand, which inspired by the structures on the surfaces of moth eyes. These structures help to increase capture of far-infrared light and even detect minute variations in the light’s frequency and direction.\n\nBiological Model\nMoths hunt at dusk or at night when limited light is available. In order to maximize light capture, moth eyes are covered with a regular pattern of conical protuberances, generally 200-300 nm in height. These structures dramatically minimize light reflection over a broad range of wavelengths. This is because the protuberances are graded rather than polished, causing most of the incoming light to bend at the surface and be transmitted through the eye, rather than reflecting off it. These structures also help to create a barrier against dust and dirt."}, {"Source": "mantis shrimp club", "Application": "helicoid™ technology", "Function1": "increased strength", "Function2": "increase toughness", "Function3": "improved impact resistance", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/strong-durable-composite-technology-inspired-by-the-mantis-shrimp/", "Strategy": "Strong, Durable Composite Technology Inspired by the Mantis Shrimp\nHelicoid Technology uses an innovative helicoid design to increase strength and toughness while using less materials.\n\nThe Challenge\nThe composite materials industry is always looking for ways to increase performance, in order to reduce the amount of raw materials used and to make lightweight, tougher products. For example, doubling the length of a wind turbine blade would quadruple the energy output, reducing the weight of automobiles by 10% can result in 6-8% fuel economy improvement, and lighter aircraft would reduce fuel costs and decrease an airline’s carbon footprint.\n\nInnovation details\nHelicoid™ Technology mimics the ‘helicoid’ structure found in the incredibly strong and lightweight mantis shrimp club. By incorporating this design into composite materials, companies can create products with reduced weight, increased strength, increased toughness, and improved impact resistance, all while reducing material costs. The technology works seamlessly with existing manufacturing processes, allowing any composite industry to use less material while making a stronger product.\n\nBiological Model\nThe “smasher” mantis shrimp evolved an internal architecture to protect the hammer-like club it uses to pulverize prey. The club moves at speeds faster than a .22 caliber bullet without sustaining damage to its chitin exoskeleton. Its secret is in the architecture of the club, with layers of chitin each offset by about 15 degrees. This “helicoid” architecture prevents cracks from expanding, minimizes damage propagation and ultimately dissipates significant amounts of energy from strikes to avoid catastrophic failure."}, {"Source": "pine cone", "Application": "hydraulic actuator", "Function1": "respond to humidity", "Function2": "open and close", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/humidity-sensitive-hydraulic-actuator-inspired-by-pine-cones/", "Strategy": "Humidity-Sensitive Hydraulic Actuator Inspired by Pine Cones\nHydraulic actuator from Technical University of Munich can passively swell to change shape, reducing energy usage.\n\nThe Challenge\nCommon actuators used in many different industries require electricity, which can amount to a large expense. Additionally, critical actuators, like those in medical applications, can fail during power outages, resulting in safety hazards.\n\nInnovation details\nThe hydraulic actuator responds dynamically to changes in the air’s humidity. It is composed of two layers that absorb varying amounts of liquid to control the mechanical properties of the system. One of the layers contains cellulose, a polysaccharide, that is considered one of the most abundant biopolymers in the world. The other layer maintains the structural integrity of the system. The actuator can be used in smart buildings to allow heat exchange with the environment, reducing energy usage and costs.\n\nBiological Model\nPine cones respond naturally to different degrees of humidity by opening and closing. The scales flex passively in response to changes in moisture levels via a two‑layered structure. The first layer is composed of cell walls made of lignin, a rigid polymer found in plants. The second component is cellulose, a fiber found in most plants. The pine cone scales are arranged so that when the air is humid, the outer cells expand toward the core, pinching the pine cone shut. When the atmosphere is dry, the pine cone stays open with bent scales to allow the wind to scatter its seeds."}, {"Source": "human eye and mantis shrimp eye", "Application": "high resolution imaging system", "Function1": "detect color, detect polarized light", "Function2": "detect circularly polarized light", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/high-resolution-imaging-system-inspired-by-mantis-shrimp-eyes/", "Strategy": "High Resolution Imaging System Inspired by Mantis Shrimp Eyes\nImaging system from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has vertically stacked photodetectors that can sense color and polarization information simultaneously.\n\nThe Challenge\nTypical cameras are unable to capture the many different types of light that some researchers need for scientific imaging. Phone cameras and other digital cameras work well for capturing a photo with many colors and dimensions but do not accurately capture the wavelengths of the light. Designing a camera to capture additional information such as different types of light and their associated wavelengths, requires bulky components, making it less portable.\n\nInnovation details\nThe imaging system, also called the “MantisCam,” is a small, easy-to-use camera for filming underwater life. In addition to detecting color, the camera detects the degree of polarization (DoLP) of the light reflecting off sea creatures. The device contains nanowire polarization filters with vertically stacked photodetectors. The photodetectors capture three different spectral channels per pixel using wavelength-dependent depth absorption of photos. The device generates two images, the first with colors in the visible-light spectrum, and the second with a range of polarized light, showing polarized light as red and un-polarized light as blue.\n\nBiological Model\nWhile human eyes have just three photoreceptors to detect red, green, and blue light, mantis shrimp eyes have up to sixteen photoreceptors that detect many more types of light, including ultraviolet and polarized light. Mantis shrimp can move their eyes independently and are the only known animal capable of detecting circularly polarized light."}, {"Source": "bombardier beetle", "Application": "injector", "Function1": "rapidly eject a scalding liquid", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/instantaneous-injector-inspired-by-bombardier-beetles/", "Strategy": "Instantaneous Injector Inspired by Bombardier Beetles\nInjector from Lund University uses a novel spray design to reduce diesel pollution without losing engine efficiency.\n\nThe Challenge\nDiesel engines are one of the leading contributors to nitrogen oxide (NOx) pollution, which poses a danger to human health. Current methods of removing harmful NOx from the exhaust decreases the engine efficiency.\n\nInnovation details\nTraditional methods to reduce NOx in diesel engine emissions use Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR). SCR injects urea through a special catalyst into the exhaust stream of a diesel engine. This creates a chemical reaction that converts the NOx to nitrogen, water and CO2, which is then expelled through the vehicle tailpipe. The novel injector was inspired by the natural spray phenomenon of the bombardier beetle. It operates by increasing the temperature of the urea to its saturated vapor pressure. An electromagnetically controlled outlet valve opens and exposes the heated fluid to lower pressure conditions. This change in pressure results in a hot, effervescent spray of fine droplets, less than 20 micrometers in size, at speeds of 60 m/s (134 miles per hour) into the SCR. This process has been shown to be more efficient at converting NOx to nitrogen and water than traditional methods.\n\nBiological Model\nBombardier beetles rapidly eject a scalding liquid to protect themselves against predators. They have a heart‑shaped, long, narrow ejection tube that functions as a combustion chamber. Within the chamber, hydroquinone and hydrogen peroxide are mixed together, accelerated by catalysts which also heat up the liquid."}, {"Source": "marine cone snail", "Application": "blood sugar regulating hormone", "Function1": "control blood sugar", "Function2": "reduce blood sugar", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/blood-sugar-regulating-hormone-inspired-by-marine-cone-snail-venom/", "Strategy": "Blood Sugar Regulating Hormone From Marine Cone Snail Venom\nInsulin from marine cone snail venom has a unique structure that enables it to more rapidly control blood sugar.\n\nThe Challenge\nMillions of people suffer from Type-1 diabetes, a disease in which the body cannot produce insulin, a hormone that helps control blood sugar. In order to stay healthy, patients must take daily insulin injections to maintain stable blood sugar levels. Unfortunately, common insulin products often have a delay in their effects, making it challenging for users to predict and accurately control their blood sugar.\n\nInnovation details\nHuman insulin contains two parts, A and B chains. The B chain enables the body to store insulin for later use and provides a signal for the body to start taking up sugar from the blood. Manufactured insulin contains the B chain in order to active the receptors, but this also delays how quickly the drug can start working. Researchers discovered a new type of insulin from marine cone snail venom that does not contain a B chain. Without this sticky B chain, the insulin can act faster. This insulin is also able to activate human insulin receptors, although it is 10-20 times less potent than human insulin.\n\nBiological Model\nMarine cone snails catch food by injecting a potent venom that paralyzes the prey. The venom contains over 200 different compounds, one of which is insulin. It works by lowering the prey’s blood sugar effectively and rapidly, causing it to go into hypoglycemic shock."}, {"Source": "chaperone protein", "Application": "intropic materials", "Function1": "protect enzyme", "Function2": "break down molecular chain", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/self-degrading-plastics-inspired-by-cellular-processes/", "Strategy": "Self-Degrading Plastics Inspired by Cellular Processes\nIntropic Materials mimics the way chaperone proteins protect enzymes to create self-degrading plastics.\n\nThe Challenge\nHumans use plastics to make a wide range of products specifically because they are so strong, lightweight, and durable. But those same qualities prevent plastics––even compostable ones––from breaking down when they’re lost or discarded. As a result, huge quantities are polluting the water, land, and air, and becoming a health concern for all living beings on our planet.\n\nInnovation details\nIntropic Materials makes enzymatic embedding into plastics possible by chaperoning enzymes through the plastic production process inside protective biodegradable molecular covers. The covers keep the enzymes from breaking when the plastic is melted and extruded to form sheets or other shapes, but they don’t keep the enzymes from doing their job when the plastic’s useful life has ended.\n\nBiological Model\nOrganisms of all kinds produce enzymes that can break down complex molecular chains. These molecular tools are precisely shaped to fit into the bonds between the monomers that make up a polymer. They then catalyze chemical reactions that unlock those bonds and break the chain back into separate links. In addition, specialized molecules called “chaperone proteins” fit together with enzymes to “switch them on” or move them where they need to be."}, {"Source": "human arteries  dolphin skin", "Application": "self-cleaning materials", "Function1": "self-cleaning mechanism", "Function2": "inhibit platelets and clots from clinging", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/self-cleaning-vascular-implant/", "Strategy": "Human Arteries and Dolphin Skin Inspire “Self-Cleaning” Materials\nInvented to deter harmful particle buildup in medical devices, design also could be used in industrial pipes and more.\n\nThe Challenge\nWe may think of smooth surfaces as slippery, but in various situations for living organisms and constructed objects, “smooth” can also mean “stable.” And being stable, they can attract other organisms and debris that can build up and cause problems in a wide range of situations. Finding a way to prevent such harmful  buildup holds enormous potential to save money and lives across a broad spectrum of industries.\n\nInnovation details\nClosely examining the interior of human arteries and the exterior of dolphin skin, Aruga Technologies has invented TOPOGraft, a synthetic material for vascular implants that deters the accumulation of debris. It has a dynamic effect that fluctuates between smooth and wrinkled, which helps to shed platelets or blood clots that might adhere and cause blockage. So, while material used in conventional medical devices usually has to be replaced after two or three years due to the accumulation of material, TOPOGraft can maintain free-flowing conduits for much longer.\n\nBiological Model\nDespite appearances, neither the inside of blood vessels nor the outside of dolphin skin is smooth.\n\nWhen hearts contract, they pump blood that expands arteries as it flows through. But then hearts relax, the arteries contract, and their interiors wrinkle up like accordions. This rhythmic expansion and wrinkling creates a self-cleaning mechanism that inhibits platelets and clots from clinging.\n\nDolphin skin has a related feature. On a microscopic scale, dolphins’ apparently slick skin is rippled with minuscule niches that leave too little space for marine critters such as barnacles or snails to grip on to."}, {"Source": "evapotranspiration in plants", "Application": "ithrone", "Function1": "evaporate water", "Function2": "mimic natural evapotranspiration", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/low-cost-portable-toilet-inspired-by-evapotranspiration-in-plants/", "Strategy": "Low-Cost, Portable Toilet Inspired by Evapotranspiration in Plants\niThrone from change:WATER Labs uses evaporation to dispose of human waste without using energy or plumbing.\n\nThe Challenge\nGlobally, 2.6 billion people lack safe toilet access. Chronic under-investment into sanitation infrastructure means people in many poor and vulnerable communities live with their sewage. Within the 40% of the world who lack proper access to sanitation, a deeper problem lies for women and girls. 20%-40% of girls drop out of school because of inaccessible or inappropriate toilets. In many areas, women and girls are at risk of violence with their current solution. In addition, refugees, indigenous groups, and communities in need that are completely off-grid are left with few ineffective – often dangerous – options to deal with their lack of proper sanitation. In many camps and disaster-relief arenas, aid agencies struggle to mount acceptable responses to the immediate pressures of providing safe sanitation. For the growing number of post-crisis situations in urban and coastal areas, which displace around 25-50 million people per year, there are no good options for rapid-response sanitation.\n\nInnovation details\nchangeWATER: Labs has developed a new way to dispose of human waste by evaporating out the water. These low-cost, portable toilets use a simple membrane to rapidly evaporate 95% of sewage without using any type of energy. This provides homes with a working toilet, without the need for power or plumbing. The compact, contained, stand alone units can be dropped into any space quickly, and the ‘self-flushing’ technology works while being completely waterless and environmentally safe. This technology emerged from work done for NASA on wastewater recycling on the International Space Station, and is now being deployed in off-grid rural and refugee communities.\n\nBiological Model\nThis evaporative approach to “flushing” by change:WATER Labs mimics the natural process of evapotranspiration, where plants pull water from the soil up through the plant, where it evaporates through the stomata on their leaves."}, {"Source": "firefly's lantern", "Application": "led lightbulbs", "Function1": "increase light extraction", "Function2": "enhance the glow", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/efficient-led-lightbulbs-inspired-by-fireflies/", "Strategy": "Efficient LED Lightbulbs Inspired by Fireflies\nLightbulbs from Penn State have microstructures on the diode surfaces which increases light extraction efficiency.\n\nThe Challenge\nDue to their low energy consumption and longer life span, light-emitting diode (LED) light bulbs have emerged as a low-cost and environmentally friendly alternative to incandescent lightbulbs. As interest in energy efficiency grows, there has been an effort to replace traditional lighting with LED light sources. However, light extraction efficiency measured in LED bulbs is less than 50%, as some photons are absorbed through the bottom side of the LED structure.\n\nInnovation details\nUltrahigh light extraction efficiency LED lightbulbs contain light-emitting diodes with unique asymmetric, obtuse-angle microstructured surfaces. These surfaces increase the interaction of light and promote greater randomization of reflections, increasing the light extraction efficiency to approximately 90%.\n\nBiological Model\nMale fireflies attract mates by emanating bioluminescent light from a lantern in their abdomens. The surface of these lanterns has microstructures arranged in an asymmetrical pattern, which increases light extraction and enhances the glow that the lantern emits."}, {"Source": "human spine", "Application": "flexible lithium-ion battery", "Function1": "high energy density", "Function2": "flexible interconnections", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/flexible-lithium-ion-battery-inspired-by-the-human-spine/", "Strategy": "Flexible Lithium-Ion Battery Inspired by the Human Spine\nLithium-ion battery from Columbia University has rigid segments with flexible interconnections that give the battery good flexibility and high energy density.\n\nThe Challenge\nWearable and portable electronics require small, stable batteries to function properly. To achieve longer-lasting charges on devices, batteries must be larger, which also makes them heavier. Developing high performance, high energy density, and flexible batteries would improve small, portable electronics.\n\nInnovation details\nThe lithium-ion batteries are made of an energy-storing rigid segment, which coils around the flexible part that connects the vertebra-like stacks of electrodes. The volume of the electrodes, which is the active material in the structure, is larger than the volume of the flexible interconnection, creating a battery with a high energy density. Due to the resilience in the connections between the components within the structure, the batteries have a stable voltage no matter how they are flexed or twisted.\n\nBiological Model\nHuman spines are highly flexible and can distort while remaining mechanically robust. Spinal disks have a solid, multi-layered casing of cartilage fiber and a gel-like core. This structure helps keep the spine flexible for rotational movement and bending forwards and backwards."}, {"Source": "yeast and bacteria", "Application": "syn-scoby", "Function1": "produce large quantities of cellulose", "Function2": "produce enzymes", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/diverse-functional-materials-inspired-by-yeast-and-bacteria/", "Strategy": "Diverse Functional Materials Inspired by Yeast and Bacteria\nLiving materials from MIT can be programmed to sense environmental pollutants or glow in the dark.\n\nThe Challenge\nEngineered living materials have the potential to replace common ‘non-living’ materials used in many applications today. Although the living materials are capable of achieving a variety of functions, they have been found to be too sensitive and weak for large-scale applications.\n\nInnovation details\nThe living material called Syn-SCOBY is made from a mixture of bacteria and yeast. The yeast strain is Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a common laboratory strain. The bacteria is Komagataeibacter rhaeticus, which was isolated from a kombucha mother. It is known to produce large quantities of cellulose, which serves as a tough and resilient scaffold for the living material. The material is designed so that either the yeast or just the enzymes they produce are incorporated into the structure. The engineered yeast can serve a variety of functions, such as producing enzymes that glow in the dark, or sensing pollutants in the environment. The yeast can also be programmed so that they can break down pollutants after detecting them. The material can be grown in just a few days, and can grow to the size of a bathtub if left long enough.\n\nBiological Model\nSymbiotic cultures of bacteria and yeast (commonly known as SCOBYs) are cultivated in many kitchens or factories as part of the process of producing fermented foods such as kombucha or kimchi. The yeast naturally ferment the available sugars while the bacteria convert ethanol (a byproduct of the fermentation) into lactic or acetic acid, giving the foods their characteristic sourness."}, {"Source": "gecko's foot", "Application": "repositionable adhesives", "Function1": "adhere to surfaces", "Function2": "high van der waals forces", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/repositionable-adhesives-inspired-by-geckos/", "Strategy": "Repositionable Adhesives Inspired by Geckos\nMagink cling film from Magink uses nanoattraction technology to help adhere to surfaces without leaving a residue.\n\nThe Challenge\nAdhesives are used in every industry and are an essential part of everyday life. However, traditional adhesives are single-use and often use a strong glue that can leave a sticky residue once removed.\n\nInnovation details\nMagink uses a patented preparation process to create a versatile, removable adhesive. It uses Van der Waals forces to adhere to a surface, similar to a gecko. The preparation process involves the dispersion of a homopolymer, vinyl chloride, with a high content of free hydroxyls. The free hydroxyl content is controlled by a vegetable ethoxylate surfactant. The combination of these ingredients creates a material with extreme temporary adherence due to the high Van der Waals forces that occur when placed on a surface. The material can still be easily removed without leaving behind a residue.\n\nBiological Model\nGeckos have amazing adhesive abilities and can stick to almost any surface. Their toe pads are covered in millions of small hair-like projections called setae. These setae branch further into hundreds of nano-scale structures that end in tiny discs called spatulae. This multi-scale branching gives gecko feet a very high surface area. Spatulae stick to surfaces by Van der Waals forces that occur between all molecules. Although these forces are individually weak, the high surface area of all the spatulae combined means the forces add up and enable geckos to adhere quickly and easily to surfaces."}, {"Source": "protein capsid", "Application": "self‑assembling material", "Function1": "self-assemble", "Function2": "strong noncovalent interactions", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/self-assembling-material-inspired-by-protein-capsids/", "Strategy": "Self-Assembling Material Inspired by Protein Capsids\nMaterial from Northwestern University is a hydrogel that self-assembles utilizing the strong noncovalent interactions between its molecules.\n\nThe Challenge\nMany materials have a static set of properties that do not change throughout their usable life. Dynamic materials that can change their properties could open the door for novel inventions in many applications.\n\nInnovation details\nThe material is composed of molecules made of peptides and other molecules made of peptides and DNA. When mixed together, they form water-soluble nanoscale filaments that then form a soft hydrogel. This hydrogel becomes stiffer as hierarchical superstructures form. When a DNA molecule is added, it disrupts the interconnected filaments, and the structure returns back to its softer state. The material can reorganize on-demand to dynamically change its properties.\n\nBiological Model\nCapsids, the containers that house viral DNA, are stable, self‑assembling structures made of proteins. Their stability is due to the net strength that arises from weak attractive and repulsive forces that depend on the relative position of the proteins. The weak forces include attraction or repulsion between electrostatic charges, water solubility, and constituent amino acid structures in various parts of the capsid."}, {"Source": "chameleon's skin", "Application": "color-changing material", "Function1": "alter color", "Function2": "reflect specific wavelengths", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/color-changing-material-inspired-by-chameleon-skin/", "Strategy": "Color-Changing Material Inspired by Chameleon Skin\nMaterial from University of Chinese Academy of Sciences has core-shell structured layers which enable the display of a seamless range of vivid colors.\n\nThe Challenge\nMany materials are able to change colors to display images and patterns. Unfortunately, these synthetic materials often have only discreet color options, inhibiting the material from smoothly transitioning between a wider range of colors.\n\nInnovation details\nThe material is made of hydrogel layers that contain luminogens, molecules that emit light. The layers together make up a “core-shell” matrix. The core is a red fluorescent hydrogel that serves as the template for the other layers. This core is surrounded by blue fluorescent hydrogel laye, surrounded by a separate green fluorescent hydrogel. The unique layer configuration allows the material to show a spectrum of colors. Furthermore, the material functions as a chemosensor,  altering color in response to changes in temperature or pH.\n\nBiological Model\nChameleons are able to alter their colors through a combination of pigments and structures. Beneath the layers of color-bearing cells called chromatophores, a layer of cells called iridophores (iridescent chromatophores). Rather than using pigment, iridophores contain an organized array of transparent, nano-sized crystals that reflect specific wavelengths of light corresponding to different colors."}, {"Source": "bone and cartilage", "Application": "energy harvesting membrane", "Function1": "facilitate joint movement", "Function2": "provide support", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/energy-harvesting-membrane-inspired-by-bone-and-cartilage/", "Strategy": "Energy Harvesting Membrane Inspired by Bone and Cartilage\nMembrane from Deakin University is made of aramid nanofibers with boron nitride that harvest osmotic energy while providing structural reinforcement.\n\nThe Challenge\nStandard osmotic energy generators are consistently made of clay, graphene oxide, MXene, and molybdenum disulfide nanomaterials. Over time, these materials disintegrate, and the membrane becomes unusable.\n\nInnovation details\nThe nanocomposite membrane is an osmotic energy generator that leverages the pressure and salinity gradient between salt and fresh water to create energy. The membrane is made of aramid nanofibers and boron nitride. The boron nitride is the nanosheet base that facilitates the ion transport and the aramid nanofibers provide the structural reinforcement.\n\nBiological Model\nHumans have soft tissues, such as cartilage, that facilitate joint movement and provide support to maintain the shape of our bodies. Additionally, humans have hard tissue, such as bone, that protect organs and support muscles to allow us to move."}, {"Source": "butterfly's wing", "Application": "air filtration system", "Function1": "break down pollutants", "Function2": "filter out contaminants", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/air-filtration-system-inspired-by-butterfly-wings/", "Strategy": "Air Filtration System Inspired by Butterfly Wings\nMetalmark uses 3-D nanostructured materials to break down and filter out contaminants in the air.\n\nThe Challenge\nAir pollution is a growing worldwide problem. According to the US EPA, indoor air quality is often two to five times worse than outdoor air, which is where humans spend nearly 90% of their time.\n\nInnovation details\nInspired by the high surface area created by nanostructures on the surface of butterfly wings, Metalmark has developed 3-D nanostructured materials with similarly high surface area that function as highly effective filters. They work by increasing contact with catalysts capable of breaking down pollutants such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs), ultra-fine particulates, and odor-producing chemicals below 0.3 microns. When used in an air cleaning system, they breaks down pollutants without the formation or release of secondary contaminants.\n\nBiological Model\nButterfly wings have a very high surface area created by a two-tiered nanoscale texturing. The ridges and bumps are so small that they can interact with light at various wavelengths and with water on a molecular level. Metalmark was inspired to use a similar nano texturing to produce the very different effect of increasing exposure to their air-cleaning catalyst."}, {"Source": "sponge", "Application": "metavoxel technologies", "Function1": "open cellular architecture", "Function2": "achieve maximum performance", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/modular-building-material-inspired-by-sponges/", "Strategy": "Modular Building Material Inspired by Sponges\nMetavoxel creates high-performance materials by mimicking the open cellular architecture of bone, wood, and sponges.\n\nThe Challenge\nHumans use about 100 billion tons of material per year to make everything in our built environment. This produces about 25 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, and a third of this material ends up as waste.\n\nInnovation details\nEngineers at Metavoxel Technologies have designed simple building elements about the size of a credit card that can be mass produced and assembled by high-speed robotics into 3-D cellular building blocks. When connected together they form “metamaterials” that exhibit properties the raw materials themselves do not possess.\n\nBiological Model\nOver billions of years, evolution hones the architecture of not only the large-scale structures within organisms, but also the microscopic building blocks of those structures themselves.\n\nTake, for example, the deep sea sponge called Venus’s flower-basket. Its skeleton is a tube made of glass, but instead of being solid, it’s built up from threadlike vertical, horizontal, and diagonal struts.\n\nThe skeleton’s open cellular architecture allows it to compress, bend, and stretch––in ways that solid glass never could. The same is true of bone and wood. This structural system enables organisms to use a minimal amount of material to achieve maximum performance."}, {"Source": "trees and plants", "Application": "microfluidic device", "Function1": "transport water and nutrient", "Function2": "conduct liquid", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/osmotic-microfluidic-device-inspired-by-trees-and-plants/", "Strategy": "Osmotic Microfluidic Device Inspired by Trees and Plants\nMicrofluidic device from MIT uses slow, steady osmosis and a sugar cube to continuously pump liquid.\n\nThe Challenge\nMany robots require tiny, movable parts and pumps to power complex movements. These tiny parts are difficult and expensive to manufacture, they break easily, and they require external energy to operate.\n\nInnovation details\nThe microfluidic device operates passively, requiring no moving parts or pumps. It is made of two plastic slides with small, drilled channels. To create a sugar gradient, some of the channels are filled with both water and sugar, and others are filled with just water. A sugar cube is placed on the system to diffuse into the liquid. The device is able to to passively pump water from a tank to a beaker at a constant flow rate for several days, outperforming other designs that only lasted a few minutes.\n\nBiological Model\nPlants contain a tissue called xylem that consists of many small transport tubes. These tubes conduct water and nutrients from the roots to the leaves."}, {"Source": "mosquito's bite", "Application": "painless microneedle", "Function1": "reduce the pain", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/painless-microneedle-inspired-by-mosquitos/", "Strategy": "Painless Microneedle Inspired by Mosquitos\nMicroneedle from Ohio State University consists of two needles that work together to reduce the pain inflicted during injections.\n\nThe Challenge\nNeedles are not a popular instrument for patients at the doctor’s office. From young children to older adults, many people do not like getting shots. Some people even have trypanophobia, the fear of medical procedures involving needles. Although brief, shots often inflict a jab of pain in the location the needle enters.\n\nInnovation details\nThe microneedle consists of two smaller microneedles that operate independently. The first microneedle is built to reduce the force needed to penetrate the skin. It has a stiffness gradient in which the tip is more flexible than the rest of the needle. This needle injects a local numbing agent into the skin. After the numbing agent is released, the second microneedle is inserted to either draw blood or inject the necessary drug, reducing the patient’s pain.\n\nBiological Model\nThe mosquito punctures human skin to draw blood without the human even knowing it is happening. They do this using three techniques. First, upon insertion, they secrete numbing saliva. Second, the fascicle, or part that draws blood, vibrates when piercing the skin, reducing the force inflicted on the human. And third, the mosquito’s “needle” is serrated, which also, counterintuitively, makes the insertion easier and less painful for the human."}, {"Source": "bee", "Application": "robobees", "Function1": "monitor environment", "Function2": "avoid obstacle", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/tiny-flying-microrobot-inspired-by-bees/", "Strategy": "Flying Microrobot Inspired by Bees\nMicrorobot from Harvard contains smart sensors that help it respond dynamically to its surroundings as it flies through the air.\n\nThe Challenge\nRobots are made of many components: a physical body, energy storage, a variety of sensors, and more. All these components work together to perform the functions the robot was designed for. Unfortunately, these components are often heavy and bulky. Small robots are unable to carry heavy components without limiting their performance.\n\nInnovation details\nThe robots, also called “RoboBees,” are autonomous flying microrobots. One RoboBee measures about half the size of a paper clip and weighs less that one-tenth of a gram. They consist of three main components: the body, the wings, and the “brain.” The body is made of carbon fiber, houses the the sensors, and contains joints that the wings connect to. The wings are wafer-thin and independently controlled by piezoelectric actuators, which move the wings with ceramic that expands and contracts when an electric field is applied. The brain is a series of smart sensors that continuously monitor its environment, enabling the device to avoid obstacles and work closely with other RoboBees.\n\nBiological Model\nBees use their antennae to understand their surroundings. They have receptors on the antennae that are divided into 4 categories: plates, pegs, hairs, and pits. Plates are receptors for chemicals and light, pegs and pits are for smelling, and hairs are for touch. Together, this information enables bees to safely navigate to their destinations."}, {"Source": "plant", "Application": "biofungicide", "Function1": "combat diseases", "Function2": "produce volatile molecules", "Function3": "stimulate other plants' defense system", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/biofungicide-protects-crops-using-plant-defense-molecules/", "Strategy": "Biofungicide Protects Crops Using Plant Defense Molecules\nMikoks from Nanomik Biotechnology protects crops from fungi by controlling the release of plant defense molecules found in nature.\n\nThe Challenge\nEvery year, 25% of the fruits and vegetables produced are lost or wasted because of fungal spoilage. In order to prevent this loss, different synthetic fungicides are used. However, these can cause serious harm to both human and environmental health. Additionally, fungi develop resistance to these fungicides, making them ineffective over time.\n\nInnovation details\nNanomik Biotechnology is inspired by the defensive system of plants in nature, which use anti-fungal compounds to naturally deter fungi. Nanomik has encapsulated these compounds to create a liquid fungicide that can be applied to crops in the field as well as after harvest. When a fungus starts to grow on the surface of a fruit or vegetable, it makes the pH of the plant surface more acidic. This causes the capsule containing the anti-fungal compounds to break open, killing the fungus.\n\nBiological Model\nPlants have developed many methods to combat diseases. They naturally produce volatile molecules to protect themselves from many fungal diseases and also stimulate other plants in the environment to activate their defense systems."}, {"Source": "forest tree", "Application": "construction decomposition", "Function1": "break down toxic petrochemicals", "Function2": "produce sturdy, lightweight mycelium byproducts", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/construction-decomposition-inspired-by-forests/", "Strategy": "Construction Decomposition Inspired by Forests\nMycocycle uses fungi to break down toxic petrochemicals and produce sturdy, lightweight mycelium byproducts.\n\nThe Challenge\nAround the world, humans build extensively with petroleum-based products, especially using asphalt for roofing. At the end of their useful life, asphalt shingles and other building materials are generally incinerated or dumped in landfills––not only polluting the land, but adding millions of tons of climate-changing greenhouse gasses to our atmosphere every year.\n\nInnovation details\nInspired by the circular processes in forests that turn end-of-life trees into useful soil, Mycocycle is finding cost-effective and sustainable ways to harness the biochemical abilities of fungi to clean up construction debris and pollutants the way they clean up fallen wood in the forest.\n\nBiological Model\nForests are diverse ecosystems in which different members perform various complementary functions and produce and breakdown many complex materials. The cycle of growing, breakdown, and regrowing all in-place allows forests to be largely self-sustaining. For example, trees capture carbon from the air, produce wood, and provide shade and shelter. Fungi, insects and other microorganisms break down that wood and produce healthy soil that provides a medium in which a new generation of trees can take root and find necessary nutrients."}, {"Source": "plant seed", "Application": "nanofibers, cellulose, plant seeds, mucilage, friction characteristics", "Function1": "absorb and retain water", "Function2": "adhesive properties", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/adhesive-nanofibers-inspired-by-plant-seeds/", "Strategy": "Adhesive Nanofibers Inspired by Plant Seeds\nNanofibers from Kiel University are made of cellulose from dried plant seed mucilage that gives them tunable friction characteristics.\n\nThe Challenge\nTraditional nanofibers used in the medical, cosmetic, and food industries are made of carbon nanotubes. Although these carbon nanotubes work in these applications, their health effects have not yet been fully investigated.\n\nInnovation details\nThe nanofibers are made of cellulose nanofibrils derived from plant seed mucilage. The mucilage is dried using a gentle, critical-point methodology that does not harm the individual cell structures. The resulting nanofibers show strong dry friction and adhesive properties. Additionally, the nanofibers have electrical conductivity and are comparable in strength to their synthetic counterparts.\n\nBiological Model\nMany plant seeds form a mucous sheath called a mucilage. One function of this coating is to help absorb and retain water, which enable seeds to create their own microenvironments suitable for germinating in arid environments. In addition, mucilage’s adhesive properties can help a germinating seed anchor to the ground or allow a seed to spread to new locations by sticking to the feathers of a bird or the fur of a migrating animal."}, {"Source": "dna", "Application": "superconductive nanowires", "Function1": "assemble into nano-sized structures", "Function2": "create conductive wires", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/superconductive-nanowires-inspired-by-dna-assembly/", "Strategy": "Superconductive Nanowires Inspired by DNA Assembly\nNanowires from Bar-Ilan University are made using DNA origami coated in a superconducting material.\n\nThe Challenge\nSuperconductive materials are able to handle an electric current flow indefinitely with no power source. They are great for small-scale electronics applications where space and energy are limited. Many researchers are turning to molecular building blocks such as DNA to create conductive wires of unprecedentedly small shapes and sizes, known as DNA origami. Although DNA can self-assemble into a variety of nano-sized structures, using it for superconductive wires has proved challenging. This is because nano-sized superconducting wires tend to produce quantum fluctuations that create resistance and destroy the superconducting state.\n\nInnovation details\nPrevious techniques have used DNA origami to create self-assembling nanostructures. They are made of a circular DNA strand that serves as the scaffold, and short, complementary DNA strands that act as ‘staples’ to make the shape of the structure. Researchers were able to convert these nanostructures into superconducting nanowires that are approximately 220 nanometers long and 15 nanometers in diameter. By coating them with superconducting niobium nitride, they were able to reduce the quantum fluctuations and resistance by up to 90%.\n\nBiological Model\nDNA assembles using specific hydrogen bonding patterns known as “Watson-Crick” base pairing. This pairing dictate the iconic double helix structure in which DNA stores genetic information."}, {"Source": "nematode communication", "Application": "nematode communication", "Function1": "eat harmful organisms", "Function2": "recycle essential nutrients", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/natural-pest-control-inspired-by-nematode-communication/", "Strategy": "Natural Pest Control Inspired by Nematode Communication\nNemastim from Pheronym uses pheromones as a natural pesticide to help improve crop production.\n\nThe Challenge\nConsumers demand safe, eco-friendly, sustainable solutions for the food they eat because they are aware of the adverse effects of synthetic pesticides. This has led to restrictions and bans on the $56 billion synthetic pesticide market, but farmers still have to control pests for sustainable food production. The $4.5 billion global biopesticide market is growing at a rate of 14% due to increased demand from organic food production.\n\nInnovation details\nPheronym increases the effectiveness of commercially available beneficial nematodes (microscopic roundworms) by tapping into their natural communication platform, pheromones. These pheromones tell beneficial nematodes to be more effective and efficient predators, and also trick parasitic nematodes into thinking there are no food sources nearby. This allows for the widespread adoption of a proven organic farming technique and provides eco-friendly agricultural pest control.\n\nBiological Model\nNematodes are the most abundant animals on earth, and are a critical component of healthy soils. Beneficial nematodes protect crops by eating harmful organisms and recycling nutrients into the soil, while other species of nematodes act as pests, parasitizing crop roots or spreading viruses between plants."}, {"Source": "photosynthesis", "Application": "low-energy chemical reactions", "Function1": "convert solar energy into chemical energy", "Function2": "photosynthesis cycle", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/low-energy-chemical-reactions-inspired-by-photosynthesis/", "Strategy": "Low-Energy Chemical Reactions Inspired by Photosynthesis\nNew Iridium use light-driven chemistry to replace heavy metal catalysts and drive green-chemistry solutions.\n\nThe Challenge\nConventional chemical processes are energy-intensive, often requiring high temperatures and multiple process steps. Globally, the chemical industry consumes about 25% of the energy used across all manufacturing industries and generates significant waste.\n\nInnovation details\nNew Iridium has created a suite of organic chemicals that enable photocatalysis, or light-driven chemistry, eliminating the need for heavy metals or heat as catalysts. Their technology dramatically reduces the energy and time required for a wide variety of chemical reactions, lowering costs and paving the way for green chemistry to become industry standard. With products currently being used by pharmaceutical and chemical companies, New Iridium is working toward developing a platform that mimics photosynthesis by using light energy to convert water and CO2 into chemical energy.\n\nBiological Model\nPhotosynthesis converts solar energy into chemical energy that plants use to grow. First, light-sensitive chlorophyll loses electrons as it absorbs blue and red wavelengths of light. These freed electrons become mobile forms of chemical energy that two molecules—ATP and NADHP—carry around like energy transport buckets. The energy these buckets cart around forces carbon dioxide to combine with other molecules, forming glucose—the plant’s own food source. When plants have enough sunlight, water, and fertile soil, the photosynthesis cycle churns out more and more glucose, powering continued plant growth."}, {"Source": "plant's photosynthesis", "Application": "high performance catalyst system", "Function1": "produce organic compounds", "Function2": "fix carbon dioxide", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/high-performance-catalyst-system-inspired-by-plants/", "Strategy": "High Performance Catalyst System Inspired by Plants\nNovo22 from Novomer uses carbon dioxide to produce biodegradable plastic polymers.\n\nThe Challenge\nPlastics are a carbon-based material found in a variety of consumer products, such as clothing and furniture. To create plastics, traditional techniques consist of ‘cracking’ a carbon polymer into monomers, then using the monomers to create an array of different commercial products. This process is oftentimes energy intensive, uses hazardous chemicals, and releases additional CO2.\n\nInnovation details\nNovo22™ is an advanced catalyst technology that creates biodegradable and compostable plastic biopolymers. Novomer’s polymers are made from a polyhydroxyalkanoate backbone, which is produced by organisms such as algae. This means it will degrade much more quickly and easily in the environment compared to traditional plastics. Novomer’s patented process is feedstock agnostic, meaning it can use either waste CO2 or 100% renewable sources to create the biopolymers.\n\nBiological Model\nThe process of photosynthesis in plants involves a series of steps and reactions that use solar energy, water, and carbon dioxide to produce oxygen and organic compounds. Carbon dioxide serves as the source of carbon, and it enters the photosynthetic process in a series of reactions called carbon-fixation reactions."}, {"Source": "bromeliad", "Application": "seedling protection device", "Function1": "store water", "Function2": "prevent evaporation", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/reforestation-device-inspired-by-bromeliads/", "Strategy": "Seedling Protection Device Inspired by Bromeliads\nNucleário system increases survival rate of young trees while reducing reforestation costs.\n\nThe Challenge\nA key strategy to mitigate climate change and to conserve vibrant ecosystems is to restore forests by planting trees that absorb heat-trapping carbon dioxide gas from the atmosphere. But reforestation isn’t easy. In their early life stages, seedlings and saplings often die because of lack of water, or they are eaten by insects or overrun by weeds and grasses. It’s costly and labor-intensive to monitor and maintain plantings to ensure that they survive.\n\nInnovation details\nNucleário is a circular biodegradable device that surrounds and protects vulnerable saplings. It catches rainwater in an underlying reservoir, where a thin, absorbent layer of material prevents it from evaporating and draining away into the soil. The system makes water more continually available to growing trees. The Nucleário structure also blocks voracious insects such as leafcutter ants. It deters soil erosion and it inhibits weeds from overrunning and outcompeting the saplings. In short, Nucleário provides a mini-oasis for nascent trees that enhances their survival rates without using any harmful chemicals, while also decreasing maintenance costs.\n\nBiological Model\nThe Nucleário design is inspired by a variety of plants and natural materials found on forest floors. The general structure is based on bromeliads, bowl-shaped plants whose leaves catch and store water so that it doesn’t leach away quickly into the ground. Nucleário’s wide base also mimics the performance of leaf litter, which covers the ground around seedlings, deterring evaporation and soil erosion and creating a barrier for invasive insects and weeds."}, {"Source": "honeybee's optical flow", "Application": "optical learning process", "Function1": "perceive distance", "Function2": "slow down", "Function3": "smooth landing", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/adaptive-optical-learning-process-inspired-by-honeybees/", "Strategy": "Adaptive Optical Learning Process Inspired by Honeybees\nOptical learning process from Delft University increases the navigational skills of flying robots.\n\nThe Challenge\nFlying robots such as drones use optical flow to create a pattern of objects in a visual field, which helps them sense movement and distance, similar to animals. Optical flow “divergence” captures how quickly things get bigger in view. If an insect such as a honeybee were to fall to the ground, this divergence would keep increasing and the grass would become increasingly bigger in view. However, honeybees employ a strategy of keeping the divergence constant by slowing down. As a result, they are able to make smooth, soft landings. Drones however, are unable to adapt their reaction height while landing, and often end up oscillating above the landing surface. In addition, the optical flow is very small in the direction the robot is moving, and is oftentimes difficult to distinguish from noise. This means that obstacles are more difficult to detect, increasing the likelihood of collisions. If researchers can overcome these limitations, they can create small flying robots that can navigate their environments more safely and land smoothly.\n\nInnovation details\nIn order to improve the optical flow of flying robots, researchers allowed robots to estimate distances of objects through their visual appearance, including shape, color, and texture. Using artificial intelligence (AI)-based learning the robot repeated this process multiple times, and was eventually able to learn and remember the distances of objects over time and avoid them. This also allowed for faster, smoother landings.\n\nBiological Model\nHoneybees use optical flow to perceive distances to objects and control divergence to slow down when approaching an object. This allows the insect to make smooth, soft landings."}, {"Source": "human eye and mantis shrimp eye", "Application": "optical sensor", "Function1": "detect several different types of light", "Function2": "detect color, detect polarized light", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/precise-optical-sensor-inspired-by-mantis-shrimp-eyes/", "Strategy": "Precise Optical Sensor Inspired by Mantis Shrimp Eyes\nOptical sensor from North Carolina State University uses a combination of hyperspectral and polarimetric imaging to accurately detect a broad spectrum of light.\n\nThe Challenge\nTypical cameras are unable to capture the many different types of light that researchers need for scientific image analysis, including hyperspectral imaging and polarimetry. Hyperspectral imaging allows computer software to divide visible wavelengths of light into different, more narrow bands. Polarimetry is the measurement of polarization in light, which can be used to determine the surface geometry (such as rough or smooth) of an object in an image. Phone cameras and digital cameras work well for capturing a photo with many colors and dimensions, but do not accurately capture all the different wavelengths of light. To capture this additional information, bulky components need to be added, making the camera less portable.\n\nInnovation details\nThe researchers mimicked the eyes of the mantis shrimp to create a new optical sensor called SIMPOL (Stomatopod Inspired Multispectral and POLarization). Mantis shrimp eyes are some of the most astounding in the animal kingdom, with 16 photoreceptors that can distinguish between several different types of light, including UV and polarized light. SIMPOL uses a combination of hyperspectral and polarimetric imaging to measure four color channels and three polarization channels at one point. To do this it uses stacking polarization-sensitive organic photovoltaics (P-OPVs) and polymer retarders. The P-OPVs have an anisotropic (multidirectional) response and the retarders’ disperse the light signals. Altogether the optical sensor is ten times more precise than a typical sensor.\n\nBiological Model\nThe eyes of the mantis shrimp contain 16 photoreceptors (compared to four in humans) that are able to detect several different types of light, including UV and polarized light, simultaneously. Mantis shrimps can also detect six different types of polarized light, including horizontal, vertical, two diagonal types, and two types of circular polarization."}, {"Source": "cuckoo bird", "Application": "cuckoo search algorithm", "Function1": "lay eggs", "Function2": "steal resources", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/rapid-optimization-model-inspired-by-cuckoo-birds/", "Strategy": "Rapid Optimization Model Inspired by Cuckoo Birds\nOptimization model from Iowa State University uses random sampling and 'survival of the fittest' strategy to quickly solve a problem.\n\nThe Challenge\nHigh-entropy alloys are used in a variety of industries, including aviation, aerospace, and defense. They possess several desirable properties, including fracture resistance, corrosion and oxidation resistance, and usability in high-temperature and high-pressure environments. However, because they are a combination of five or more elements, there are billions of possible design options, making it difficult to quickly narrow the search to a few optimal candidates for a select application.\n\nInnovation details\nResearchers used a hybrid evolutionary algorithm that combines Cuckoo Search (CS) and the Monte Carlo algorithm. CS is based on the egg-laying strategy of cuckoo birds, which lay their eggs in the nest of other birds. This usually results in a bigger, stronger cuckoo chick. The CS algorithm does something similar: there are several ‘nests’, each with a different ‘egg’ representing a possible solution. The nests compete against each other until the best solution is found. In the case of high-entropy alloys, each ‘egg’ represents a different combination of alloys, and the different alloys are rapidly tested by the computer to see which combination is the most successful. By combining this strategy with the well-known Monte Carlo algorithm and mathematical concept called Lévy flight, researchers were able to quickly find optimal high-entropy alloys for any number of applications.\n\nBiological Model\nCuckoo birds are obligate brood parasite that lay their eggs in the nests of other birds. The hatched cuckoo chicks may push the host eggs out of the nest or be raised alongside the other chicks, stealing vital resources that allow it to grow bigger and stronger than if it was raised by its cuckoo parents."}, {"Source": "silkworm silk", "Application": "silk pavilion", "Function1": "generate silk", "Function2": "distribute silk", "Function3": "orient silk", "Function4": "densify silk", "Function5": "assemble silk", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/geometric-pavilion-structure-inspired-by-silkworms/", "Strategy": "Geometric Pavilion Structure Inspired by Silkworms\nPavilion structure from MIT is constructed using 3D-printers and silk worms to explore the relationship between digital and biological fabrication.\n\nThe Challenge\nTypical manufacturing processes build products by depositing layers of homogenous materials. Although these products are functional, they are often over-built with excess material, which decreases their efficiency and increases waste. Additionally, these base materials and processes can be toxic and harmful to the environment.\n\nInnovation details\nThe pavilion structure is called the “Silk Pavilion” and is made of 26 polygonal panels. These panels are constructed using silk threads made by silkworms, which a Computer-Numerically Controlled (CNC) machine lays down. The overall structure layout was formulated using silkworms as the “lead designer” to optimize material usage and placement.\n\nBiological Model\nSilkworms are able to make their cocoons using only silk. Silk is made of stretchable fibers, that if untangled, would be as much as 5,000 feet long. Having a single, long fiber enables the material to more effectively distribute mechanical stress than several shorter strands. Silkworm’s generate, distribute, orient, densify, and assemble their silk to build their cocoons."}, {"Source": "spherical membrane", "Application": "pneumocells", "Function1": "create a high-performance structure", "Function2": "use minimal materials", "Function3": "take up small space prior to final assembly", "Function4": "rapidly assemble in varying shapes and sizes", "Function5": "easily replace damaged components", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/light-weight-building-blocks-inspired-by-spherical-membranes/", "Strategy": "Lightweight Building Blocks Inspired by Spherical Membranes\nPneumocells are inflatable building materials that join together in a specific sequence to create a high performance structure.\n\nThe Challenge\nBuilding materials can be costly, heavy, and made of materials that are not environmentally friendly.\n\nInnovation details\nPneumocells are made of TPU (thermoplastic polyurethane), a 100% recyclable material. The pneumocells join together in a specific sequence to create a high performance structure, inspired by the way biological cells come together to form stable structures. Because they are inflatable, they use minimal materials and take up a very small amount of space prior to final assembly. The structures can be rapidly assembled in varying shapes and sizes. Single damaged components can be easily replaced, imparting substantial resilience on the structure.\n\nBiological Model\nIn many biological cells, similar to the cells of bee honeycombs and bubbles of all kinds, the outer surface of each cell or bubble forms a sphere, whereby the pressure in the membrane is minimized and is equivalent in all places. The larger the diameter of the sphere, the larger the outer tension under the same air pressure. When cell- or bubble-based constructions are divided into a series of cells that distribute the volume, the constructions become more stable and less sensitive to pressure. Biological cells utilize this principle and Pneumocell uses the same concept."}, {"Source": "spider's silk", "Application": "plant-based polymers", "Function1": "self-assemble", "Function2": "reorganize plant protein", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/plant-based-polymer-film-inspired-by-spider-silk/", "Strategy": "Plant-Based Polymer Film Inspired by Spider Silk\nPolymer film from University of Cambridge is made of sustainable, plant-based polymers that are reassembled to form immensely strong fibers that could be used to replace single-use plastics.\n\nThe Challenge\nPlastic pollution has quickly become one of the world’s most pressing environmental issues, as responsible waste management processes cannot keep up with plastic consumption. Plastic waste can take decades to decompose and poses a considerable threat to wildlife, killing millions of animals each year through entanglement or starvation. Moreover, the plastic industry has a significant carbon footprint; plastics are produced through the use of fossil fuels. In recent years, interest in compostable replacement materials has grown, but many of these sustainable products are difficult to engineer and lack the material properties of plastics, discouraging their use.\n\nInnovation details\nThe high-performance polymer film is made out of a plant protein called soy protein isolate, which can be sourced as a by-product of the agriculture industry. Soy protein isolate, like all proteins, consists of polypeptide chains. Under the right conditions, these peptides can undergo self-assembly, a process in which a system’s components interact with each other and organize into functional structures. To accomplish self-assembly, a solvent made of acetic acid and water helps to reorganize the plant protein as the temperature of the system lowers gradually. The resulting material performs as well as commonly used plastic materials such as low-density polyethylene, but is biodegradable.\n\nBiological Model\nThe high-performance polymer film is made out of a plant protein called soy protein isolate, which can be sourced as a by-product of the agriculture industry. Soy protein isolate, like all proteins, consists of polypeptide chains. Under the right conditions, these peptides can undergo self-assembly, a process in which a system’s components interact with each other and organize into functional structures. To accomplish self-assembly, a solvent made of acetic acid and water helps to reorganize the plant protein as the temperature of the system lowers gradually. The resulting material performs as well as commonly used plastic materials such as low-density polyethylene, but is biodegradable."}, {"Source": "mushroom", "Application": "flexible fastener", "Function1": "interlocking force", "Function2": "soft and flexible", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/flexible-fastener-inspired-by-mushrooms/", "Strategy": "Flexible Fastener Inspired by Mushrooms\nProbabilistic fastener from Wageningen University uses soft material and interlocking forces to create a strong yet gentle connection.\n\nThe Challenge\nFasteners like Velcro® and the 3M Dual Lock™ are made of rigid materials that can create a loud ripping noise when pulled apart. They easily hook to other fabrics but do not release automatically when pulled away, which can cause damage when hooked to softer, more delicate fabrics.\n\nInnovation details\nThe researchers used 3D printing to create fasteners with a mushroom design. The fasteners have half-spherical tops and a small stem made out of flexible materials. The half-sphere provides sufficient interlocking force on fabrics to stay connected without hooking on. The material safely connects to a variety of textiles without damaging the fabric or scratching the user.\n\nBiological Model\nMushrooms have four main parts. The cap is the half-spherical part at the top, and inside the cap are the gills. The cap is connected to the stalk, also known as the stem of the mushroom, which is connected to the mycelium. All parts of the mushroom are soft and flexible."}, {"Source": "slime mold's adaptive redundant network  bone's microscale lattice structure", "Application": "generative design software", "Function1": "optimize design solution", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/generative-design-software-inspired-by-slime-mold-and-human-bones/", "Strategy": "Generative Design Software Inspired by Slime Mold and Human Bones\nProject Dreamcatcher from AutoDesk Research is a generative design system that uses nature-based algorithms to create optimized design solutions in real time.\n\nThe Challenge\nTraditional design methods often use additional materials to increase the strength of structures. These materials can oftentimes end up being unnecessary in the final design. Designers can also be restrained by the shape of traditional building materials such as bricks. However, new AI technologies are creating the opportunity to explore different design options for traditional materials and designs.\n\nInnovation details\nThe Dreamcatcher system allows users to generate thousands of generative design solutions that meet a variety of constraints. Designers can input specific design objectives, including functional requirements, material type, manufacturing method, performance criteria, and cost restrictions. The AI then uses different algorithms to search a large number of generated designs to satisfy the design requirements. The first algorithm is based on the adaptive, redundant networks created by slime mold, and the second algorithm is based on the microscale lattice structure of mammalian bone growth. The resulting design alternatives, along with the performance data of each solution, are then presented in the context of the entire design solution space. Designers are able to evaluate the generated solutions in real time, returning at any point to the problem definition to adjust goals and constraints to generate new results that fit the refined definition of success. Once the appropriate design is selected, the designer is able to output the design to fabrication tools or export the resulting geometry for use in other software tools.\n\nBiological Model\nThe slime mold is an extremely effective forager, capable of creating extensive and highly efficient networks between food sources. It maximizes its ability to find food by “remembering” and strengthening the portions of its cytoplasm that connect to active food sources. By rhythmically contracting and expanding its body, the slime mold is able to move and grow its body in search of food. By trimming back connections and maintaining only active pathways, it uses the least amount of resources and energy possible while still creating a resilient and fault-tolerant system.\n\nBone is incredibly strong, due in part to its composition of collagen and calcium phosphate. The calcium phosphate adds strength by forming tiny crystals within the bone and linking with the collagen fibers to form a lattice structure. The end product is a material that is considerably stiffer than collagen but lower in weight and not as brittle as calcium phosphate."}, {"Source": "school of fish", "Application": "autonomous robot swarm", "Function1": "move in sync", "Function2": "self-organize", "Function3": "aggregate", "Function4": "disperse", "Function5": "follow the lights", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/autonomous-robot-swarm-inspired-by-schools-of-fish/", "Strategy": "Autonomous Robot Swarm Inspired by Schools of Fish\nRobot swarm from Harvard uses a 3D vision-based coordination system to move in sync while swimming.\n\nThe Challenge\nRobots are often designed to replace or help humans perform tasks. Robots can be programmed to complete these tasks, but still need input from the human to make dynamic decisions. Although many robots are able to move on their own in two-dimensions, they encounter issues when moving through three-dimensional spaces such as air and water. This is because of the extra energy required for sensing and locomotion in these areas. Additional human input reduces the number of tasks a robot can perform on its own in remote, hard-to-reach places.\n\nInnovation details\nThe robot swarm is made up of individual robots, called Bluebots, that have three blue LED lights and two cameras on each ‘fish’. The cameras can detect the LED lights from surrounding robots and use an algorithm to determine the distance, direction, and heading of neighboring robots and actively react to their positions. This allows the Bluebots to autonomously self-organize similarly to schools of fish. They can aggregate by calculating the positions of their neighbors to move towards the center, or can do the opposite to disperse. They can also follow the lights directly in front of them in a clockwise direction to swim together in a circle.\n\nBiological Model\nCertain species of fish are able to swim together in groups known as ‘schools’, and can perform complex, synchronized behavior without following a leader. Instead, they use signals from their neighbors to make decisions and coordinate their movement. Some fish vibrate their fins in certain subtle ways to signal danger. Other fish use the glimmer of light off their scales to signal a change in direction."}, {"Source": "pelican eel's stretchable mouth", "Application": "stretchable robotic architecture", "Function1": "expand ten times in size", "Function2": "dual-morphing mechanism", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/stretchable-robotic-architecture-inspired-by-pelican-eels/", "Strategy": "Stretchable Robotic Architecture Inspired by Pelican Eels\nRobotic architecture from Seoul National University is made of stretchable origami capable of expanding ten times in size.\n\nThe Challenge\nSoft robots can have a stretchable skin, allowing them to morph into different shapes. Unfortunately, over time the repeated stretching and shrinking process can damage the material. The material may eventually break, rendering the robot unusable.\n\nInnovation details\nThe robotic architecture is made of folded origami structures inspired by the stretchable mouths of pelican eels. It is a dual-morphing mechanism in which the folded structure first ‘unfolds’ itself and then ‘inflates’ to form a full, soft-bodied robot. These dual mechanisms occur quasi-sequentially, meaning the unfolding partially occurs before the structure partially inflates and the process repeats until fully inflated. Visually, the robot grows into itself in real-time.\n\nBiological Model\nThe pelican eel uses a scoop-like feeding method similar to large water birds. They inflate and deflate their heads from a slim eel to an inflated balloon-like organism in a matter of seconds to capture prey. Very little is known about Pelican eels as they live up to 6,000 feet below sea level."}, {"Source": "honeybee's food-foraging behavior", "Application": "route optimization for delivery trucks", "Function1": "evaluate the quality of the food sources", "Function2": "relay information back to the rest of the hive", "Function3": "do a waggle dance", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/optimized-route-planning-for-delivery-fleets-inspired-by-the-honeybee/", "Strategy": "Optimized Route Planning for Delivery Trucks Inspired by Honeybees\nRoute optimization software from Routific uses an algorithm that helps delivery trucks calculate more efficient routes.\n\nThe Challenge\nPoorly planned delivery routes decrease efficiency and productivity and also increase fuel consumption, leading to increased carbon emissions.\n\nInnovation details\nRoutific optimizes route planning for vehicle delivery fleets. It is based on the “Bees Algorithm”, a search algorithm that mimics the food-foraging behavior of honey bees to find the most efficient route between several different stops.\n\nBiological Model\nA colony of honey bees must forage over long distances in multiple directions to harvest nectar and pollen from different flower patches. Scout bees must evaluate the quality of the food sources and then relay this information back to the rest of the hive. They do this by doing a ‘waggle dance’ , where a bee shakes or vibrates and walks in a circle or ‘figure 8’ pattern that tells the other bees where the new site is. The faster a bee vibrates, the more promising it thinks the site is. Based upon the relative vigor of each bee’s dance, other scouts will asses the site. If they also think it’s promising, they will also do a waggle dance. This democratic process allows bees to quickly and easily find the best sites to forage for food."}, {"Source": "dolphin", "Application": "underwater acoustic communication", "Function1": "transmit information", "Function2": "compensate interference", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/underwater-acoustic-communication-inspired-by-dolphins/", "Strategy": "Underwater Acoustic Communication Inspired by Dolphins\nS2C technology from EvoLogics helps to detect tsunamis earlier by maximizing transmission of underwater signals in turbulent water conditions.\n\nThe Challenge\nReliable wireless communication is crucial for maritime and offshore applications, where malfunctions and delays could put the whole operation at risk. All systems must be able to perform in the most challenging weather and sea conditions. Transmitting data underwater is challenging due to the motion, noise, limited bandwidth, and variable delays. Even in calm seas, poor transmission quality and below-average transmission speeds can result in the transmission getting altered or lost. Earthquakes and the tsunamis they can generate can cause deaths, long-term suffering by survivors, widespread devastation, and environmental damage in areas even far from the quake epicenter. An early detection system can prepare residents to evacuate even sooner, and perhaps take precautions to reduce damage to infrastructure.\n\nInnovation details\nS2C (Sweep-Spread Carrier) technology continuously spreads underwater signals over a wide range of frequencies and adapts the signal structure so that the signals do not interfere with each other. This enables successful decoding of signals in harsh environments even when they are heavily masked by noise. These sensors can be used to detect underwater earthquakes and therefore aid in tsunami warning systems.\n\nBiological Model\nDolphins chirp and sing across a broad frequency bandwidth. This continuous change of frequencies not only serves to transmit information, but also to compensate for sources of interference that can occur underwater, such as echoes and noise."}, {"Source": "sea urchin mouth", "Application": "effective ground sampling device", "Function1": "eat with a structure made up of five sharp plates", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/accurate-ground-sampling-device-inspired-by-sea-urchin-mouths/", "Strategy": "Effective Ground Sampling Device Inspired by Sea Urchin Mouths\nSampling device from UC San Diego is a claw-like device that can collect soil samples with minimal loss during extraction.\n\nThe Challenge\nFor several occupations, soil sampling is a necessary task. Geotechnical engineers, environmental teams, and even space rovers on other planets may sample soil to gather data about the nature of a particular area. However, common sampling methods frequently disturb surrounding habitats and are inefficient, dropping significant portions of soil during the grab.\n\nInnovation details\nThe sampling apparatus is a 3D-printed, claw-like device. It has five small prongs with flattened ends arranged in a circular pattern. The claw is deployed in an open position, and once it reaches the soil, it closes to collect the sample. The device can be attached to a small rover to sample soil in a variety of extreme environments, including zero-gravity conditions.\n\nBiological Model\nSea urchins eat using a structure called Aristotle’s lantern, made up of five sharp plates that close together to form a beak. Sea urchins have a seemingly insatiable appetite for algae and kelp and use their sharp teeth to slowly munch away kelp pieces and scrape algae off of rocks."}, {"Source": "fin whale's song", "Application": "oceanic crust imaging", "Function1": "produce loud sounds", "Function2": "communicate", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/non-invasive-oceanic-crust-imaging-inspired-by-fin-whales/", "Strategy": "Non-Invasive Oceanic Crust Imaging Inspired by Fin Whales\nSeismic crustal imaging technique from Oregon State University uses fin whale songs to map subsurface layers.\n\nThe Challenge\nMapping out the density of ocean crust is a vital part of exploring the seafloor, and also helps researchers to better understand and predict earthquakes. The traditional method of imaging the oceanic crust involves the use of air guns. However, these guns are expensive, can be harmful to marine life, and can be difficult to obtain permits to use.\n\nInnovation details\nFin whales produce loud sounds known as ‘songs’ to communicate with one another. These sounds bounce between the ocean surface and ocean bottom. Part of the energy from these calls travels through the ground as seismic waves, which move through the oceanic crust and are reflected and refracted by the ocean sediment. These waves can be recorded by a seismometer, which allows researches to estimate the map and structure of the crust. This information can be used to learn more about earthquakes and ocean sediment movement, since earthquakes are known to move and shake up the sediment. Although the data from fin whale calls is of lower resolution than using traditional methods and does not replace them, it does enable researchers to survey areas that are deeper and more difficult to reach.\n\nBiological Model\nFin whales produce sounds known as ‘songs’ to communicate with one another. They are some of the loudest sounds in the ocean, sometimes reaching up to 189 decibels, similar to a large ship."}, {"Source": "blind cave fish", "Application": "low-powered sensor array", "Function1": "sense object", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/low-powered-sensor-array-inspired-by-blind-cave-fish/", "Strategy": "Low-Powered Sensor Array Inspired by Blind Cave Fish\nSensor array from Nanyang Technological University is made of a series of micro-sensors that sense obstacles using water pressure rather than light waves, allowing them to function in the dark.\n\nThe Challenge\nTypical autonomous underwater vehicles rely on cameras and sonar to gather information about their environment. Unfortunately, when the environment darkens, cameras can no longer perceive their surroundings. Additionally, sonar waves can pose harm to marine animals.\n\nInnovation details\nThe sensor array consists of two rows of five micro-sensors surrounded by a hydrogel. The sensor detects objects near and far through the transmission of ripples in the water. The ripples bounce back to the sensor to signal exactly where the object is without requiring light.\n\nBiological Model\nBlind cave fish survive without vision due to a strip of dense nerve centers along their sides. This area is called the lateral line system and consists of horizontal grooves that run along the body and onto the head. Within the grooves, there are lines of tiny organs called neuromasts. The neuromasts consist of small sensory cells that contain hairs embedded in a gelatinous material. As the fish swims, its movement create ripples in the water that contact objects and bounce back to the neuromasts, signaling the objects’ locations."}, {"Source": "non-flowering tree's xylem tissue", "Application": "non-flowering trees water filtration", "Function1": "filter pathogens", "Function2": "remove bacteria", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/low-cost-water-filtration-inspired-by-non-flowering-trees/", "Strategy": "Low-Cost Water Filtration Inspired by Non-Flowering Trees\nSimple filtration system from MIT contains an abundantly available resource, xylem tissue from native trees, that naturally filters pathogens from water.\n\nThe Challenge\nWater is essential for human survival, and access to clean drinking water is critical for good health. Contaminated drinking water can cause numerous health concerns, including diarrhea and exposure to viruses. Wastewater treatments systems can be expensive to build and require specialized parts from around the world, making the systems inaccessible to many countries.\n\nInnovation details\nThe water filtration system is made from the branches of native non-flowering trees, such as pine and ginkgo. These branches contain sapwood lined with interconnected conduits and thin tissue that serves as a sieve, known as xylem. Plants transport water from their roots to the leaves through the xylem. As the water travels through the xylem, pathogens and bacteria are removed. The natural filter, which is made from peeled cross-sections of sapwood branches, is able to produce purified water at a rate of 1 liter per hour. It can also remove 99% of E. coli and rotavirus, the most common cause of diarrheal disease.\n\nBiological Model\nPlants contain a tissue called xylem that consists of many small transport tubes. These tubes help transport water and nutrients from the roots to the leaves."}, {"Source": "cephalopod's chromatophore", "Application": "light‑sensitive hydrogel", "Function1": "shape change", "Function2": "alter color", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/light-sensitive-hydrogel-inspired-by-cephalopods/", "Strategy": "Light-Sensitive Hydrogel Inspired by Cephalopods\nSmart hydrogel from Rutgers University contains a light-sensing nanomaterial that enables it to change shape when exposed to light.\n\nThe Challenge\nElectronic displays are found everywhere and have made remarkable advances in recent years. However, they are still made from rigid materials, which limits the size and shape they can take. It also limits their use in numerous applications, such as color changing materials and medical devices.\n\nInnovation details\nThe light-sensing hydrogel contains an artificial chromatophore, which mimics the color-changing structures found in cephalopods. The artificial chromatophore is made from a nanomaterial that reacts to light. When the hydrogel senses light, the nanomaterial deforms, functioning as a kind of ‘artificial muscle’ that contracts or expands in response to changes in light. The hydrogel can be combined with 3D printed stretchy material that changes color, allowing for a camouflage-like effect.\n\nBiological Model\nCephalopods such as squid and cuttlefish often use adaptive camouflage to blend in with their surroundings. They are able to match colors and surface textures of their surrounding environments by adjusting the pigment and iridescence of their skin. On the skin surface, chromatophores (tiny sacs filled with red, yellow, or brown pigment) ab­sorb light of various wavelengths. Once vis­ual input is processed, the cephalopod sends a signal to a nerve fiber, which is connected to a muscle. That muscle relaxes and contracts to change the size and shape of the chromato­phore. Each color chromatophore is controlled by a different nerve, and when the attached muscle contracts, it flattens and stretches the pigment sack outward, expanding the color on the skin. When that muscle relaxes, the chro­matophore closes back up, and the color dis­appears. As many as two hundred of these may fill a patch of skin the size of a pencil eraser."}, {"Source": "animal movement", "Application": "smart material", "Function1": "produce repetitive motion", "Function2": "produce complex oscillatory and rotational motion", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/self-coordinated-materials-inspired-by-animal-and-bacterial-movement/", "Strategy": "Self-Coordinated Materials Inspired by Animal Movement\nSmart material from UMass Amherst is made of hydrogel nanocomposite disks that enable it to accurately respond to its environment.\n\nThe Challenge\nSmart materials respond dynamically to various environmental stimuli. Although the materials are programmed t0 react to the stimuli, coordinating the responses of nanostructures within the material remains a challenge that results in inconsistencies and reduced accuracy.\n\nInnovation details\nThe smart material is made of an array of oscillators that move in unison with one another to respond to changes in light and temperature. It contains hydrogel nanocomposite disks made up of polymer gels and nanoparticles of gold that are sensitive to changes in light and temperature. The thermal interactions between the particles induce complex oscillatory and rotational motions that allow the material to exhibit a collective behavior.\n\nBiological Model\nMany animals and bacteria create movement with a mechanism that involves an oscillator. The oscillator, or network of oscillators, produces a repetitive motion such as wriggling a tail or flapping a wing."}, {"Source": "morphogenesis", "Application": "morphogenesis", "Function1": "differentiate cells", "Function2": "control morphological changes", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/responsive-soft-materials-inspired-by-morphogenesis/", "Strategy": "Responsive Soft Materials Inspired by Morphogenesis\nSoft materials from Northwestern University autonomously morph when induced by a chemical reaction.\n\nThe Challenge\nNumerous chemical and mechanical signaling events help to dictate a variety of shape-forming biological processes, from the growth of a single cell to the functioning of an entire organ. However, many of these process are unknown or not wel understood. In order to better understand how theses processes work at a microscopic level, scientists must design experimental systems that mimic these biological interactions. Hydrogels, a class of hydrophilic polymer materials, are excellent at reproducing shape changes with chemical and mechanical stimulation. These can be used to mimic the biological interactions found in nature, to better understand natural shape-forming processes.\n\nInnovation details\nThe researchers designed a chemical-responsive polymeric shell that mimics living matter. It undergoes autonomous morphological changes when induced by chemical reactions. If the level of chemicals goes past a certain threshold, water within the gel gets absorbed, swelling the gel. When this occurs, the chemical species gets diluted, triggering chemical processes that expel the water, contracting the gel. This allows the researchers to create dynamic morphological changes, such as periodic oscillations reminiscent of heartbeats.\n\nBiological Model\nMorphogenesis is the differentiation of cells, tissues, and organs that occurs when an organism is first growing, giving rise to various organ systems. Numerous chemical and mechanical signaling events tightly control this process to ensure that an organism grows correctly."}, {"Source": "photosynthesis", "Application": "modular solar cell", "Function1": "produce energy", "Function2": "produce oxygen", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/modular-solar-cell-inspired-by-photosynthesis/", "Strategy": "Modular Solar Cell Inspired by Photosynthesis\nSolar cell from University of Illinois Chicago uses sunlight to recycle carbon dioxide into a renewable fuel source.\n\nThe Challenge\nHuman-caused greenhouse gas emissions are at the highest levels ever recorded. These gases absorb solar energy and keep heat close to the Earth, also called the greenhouse effect. The primary greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, is emitted from burning fossil fuels.\n\nInnovation details\nThe solar cells use an integrated system that combines carbon capture with artificial photosynthesis. The system converts carbon dioxide and water collected from the atmosphere into a usable hydrocarbon gas using sunlight. The inner unit absorbs sunlight, adding heat that enables catalysts inside the unit to convert carbon dioxide and water into a mixture of hydrocarbons. The resulting synthetic gas, called syngas, can be utilized as fuel.\n\nBiological Model\nPhotosynthesis is essential for life on Earth. It is the process by which plants produce energy and oxygen using sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide."}, {"Source": "photosynthesis", "Application": "solar cells", "Function1": "produce energy", "Function2": "absorb light energy", "Function3": "generate electricity", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/next-generation-solar-cells-inspired-by-photosynthesis/", "Strategy": "Next-Generation Solar Cells Inspired by Photosynthesis\nSolar cells from Penn State contain photosensitive molecules that use fluorescence resonance energy transfer to increase the efficiency of the energy generation.\n\nThe Challenge\nWhen solar cells convert sunlight into electricity they do not do so with one hundred percent efficiency. While solar cells absorb light, some of the loss in efficiency is due to the panels’ also reflecting light. Inefficiencies such as this are compounded in large-scale solar farms.\n\nInnovation details\nThe solar cells are perovskite-type solar cells that contain the protein bacteriorhodopsin (bR). The addition of the bR protein enhances the use of the Förster (fluorescence) resonance energy transfer (FRET). FRET is a mechanism for energy transfer between a pair of photosensitive molecules. The bR protein and the perovskite material have similar electrical properties and are able to absorb light energy to create electricity. Adding the bR protein improved the device’s efficiency from 14.5 to 17 percent.\n\nBiological Model\nPhotosynthesis is essential for life on Earth. It is the process by which plants produce energy and oxygen using just sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide."}, {"Source": "insect eye", "Application": "perovskite solar cells", "Function1": "protect the cell", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/durable-solar-cells-inspired-by-insect-eyes/", "Strategy": "Durable Solar Cells Inspired by Insect Eyes\nSolar cells from Stanford have a honeycomb of perovskite microcells that protect the device from large mechanical forces.\n\nThe Challenge\nAs greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels continue to exacerbate the climate crisis, the transition to renewable energy will be essential in limiting global warming and mitigating the impacts of climate change. Solar energy is one of the most promising forms of renewable energy available, but improving the efficiency and durability of solar technology remains a concern. Many solar panels contain perovskite, an alternative semiconductor to silicon, known for its low cost and high efficiency. However, perovskite solar cells are mechanically fragile, susceptible to damage from exposure to heat, moisture, and mechanical stress.\n\nInnovation details\nA compound solar cell, or CSC, is made up of hexagon-shaped perovskite microcells arranged in a honeycomb pattern. Each microcell is just half a millimeter (0.02 inches) wide, and is surrounded by an internal scaffold. The internal scaffold mechanically reinforces the cell and protects the perovskite from deterioration, making compound solar cells more resilient than typical solar cells in resisting heat, moisture, and mechanical stresses. The operational lifetimes of perovskite solar cells may be significantly extended with the use of this compound design.\n\nBiological Model\nSome insects, such as flies, have compound eyes: curved arrays of microscopic lenses. Each lens in the eye captures an image, which the brain combines to perceive a full picture. The individual lenses are very fragile, but each one is protected by a hexagonal scaffold surrounding it, which effectively shields the lens. Moreover, this design ensures that even if one segment fails, the others continue to operate. Like compound eyes, compound solar cells are sensitive and resilient."}, {"Source": "kynurenine molecule", "Application": "sunblocker", "Function1": "protect sensitive retina", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/sunblock-inspired-by-compounds-in-our-eyes/", "Strategy": "Sunblock Inspired by Compounds in Our Eyes\nSóliome produces non-toxic, biodegradable sunscreen based on the UV-protection provided by kynurenine molecules.\n\nThe Challenge\nHumans of all cultures have long known that the sun’s rays can damage your skin. To prevent sunburn we’ve used many techniques, but over the past hundred years, synthetic chemical sunscreen has grown, worldwide. As a result, tons of sunscreen has slithered off peoples’ bodies into the ocean. There, the chemicals that were helpful to protect human skin from ultraviolet light have wrought havoc on marine life. These compounds can persist for a long time in the environment and in our bodies, where they may have a much more harmful impact than they do on the surface of our skin.\n\nInnovation details\nInspired by this natural process, researchers at Sóliome are producing kynurenine-based sunscreens.\n\nBiological Model\nTo protect our sensitive retinas from UV damage, animals make use of a suite of chemicals called kynurenines that concentrate in the lenses of our eyes. As incoming photons of UV light hit kynurenine molecules, they spark changes that cause different parts of the molecule to swell with negative electrical charge. This causes positively-charged protons to ricochet like billiard balls through the kynurenine’s spindly molecular structure. This dissipates the potentially harmful UV radiation into safe vibrational energy before it can hit and damage DNA."}, {"Source": "bat ear", "Application": "sound sensor", "Function1": "pinpoint sound", "Function2": "echolocation", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/intricate-sound-sensor-inspired-by-bat-ears/", "Strategy": "Intricate Sound Sensor Inspired by Bat Ears\nSound sensor from Virginia Tech uses machine learning to more accurately interpret incoming sound waves.\n\nThe Challenge\nTraditional sound sensors are often designed simplistically, to streamline the interpretation of the sensory outputs. Unfortunately,  many sensors are unable to accurately identify the source of a noise because they are not good at eliminating extraneous information.\n\nInnovation details\nThe sound sensor consists of a synthetic bat ear and a microphone. The synthetic bat ear flutters as it hears a sound, funneling the sound waves toward the microphone. This microphone is connected to a system with a deep neural network, capable of learning sounds. The sensor is mounted on a rotating rig with a laser pointer, so when it “hears” a sound, it immediately rotates and points to it. The sensor can pinpoint the noise within half a degree, more accurately than humans, who are capable of pinpointing a sound within seven degrees.\n\nBiological Model\nBats use echolocation to pinpoint the location of prey and obstacles as they navigate through the air. To echolocate, bats send out sound signals from their mouth and nose. The sound signal travels through the air, bounces off the object, and returns to the bat, informing the bat of the location of the object. Essentially, bats use their ears to “see” their environment, much like how ships use sonar."}, {"Source": "pseudomonas bacteria", "Application": "visual speedometer", "Function1": "detect fluid movement", "Function2": "change glow intensity in real time", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/visual-speedometer-inspired-by-pseudomonas-bacteria/", "Strategy": "Visual Speedometer Inspired by Pseudomonas Bacteria\nSpeedometer from Princeton University connects a bacterial flow-regulating and light-emitting genes to create a real-time visual flow meter.\n\nThe Challenge\nFlow monitoring systems are important in many different industries. Whether to measure blood flow in medical settings, or pipe flow in industrial settings, the rate is an important parameter that may dictate the system’s performance. Traditional flow sensors are force-based, meaning they need to be in contact with the liquid to sense the flow rate, which can result in contamination.\n\nInnovation details\nThe speedometer is made of a bioengineered connection between the flow regulated operon present in the pseudomonas bacteria and the gene that causes the bacteria to glow. The bacteria’s glow intensity changes in real time as flow rates change.\n\nBiological Model\nSome bacteria use rheosensing as a way to detect liquid movement in their surroundings. Rheosensing is a force-independent sensory mechanism based on the rate the fluid passes by."}, {"Source": "leaf movement", "Application": "efficient electricity generator", "Function1": "convert light into sugars", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/efficient-electricity-generator-inspired-by-leaf-movement/", "Strategy": "Efficient Electricity Generator Inspired by Leaf Movement\nStretchable surfaces from Cornell are made of extensible silicone with an inextensible mesh that can instantly transform from a flat sheet into a 3D shape.\n\nThe Challenge\nA majority of wind energy in the US uses induction such as the 3-blade turbines seen on- and off-shore. Although these are a reliable source of renewable energy, they can be noisy and perceived as unattractive.\n\nInnovation details\nThe electricity generator has synthetic leaves with small strips of specialized plastic inside. When the leaves sway in the wind, the small strips release an electrical charge. Although the leaves are small, together they generate a sizeable amount of energy. Additionally, these generators look like natural trees with leaves fluttering in the wind.\n\nBiological Model\nWhen the wind blows on trees, their leaves flutter, dissipating the wind’s energy. Some types of tree leaves oscillate in a regular pattern, while others oscillate more sporadically. Leaves also help trees gain energy using photosynthesis to convert light into sugars."}, {"Source": "octopus", "Application": "programmable stretchable surfaces", "Function1": "change shape reversibly", "Function2": "hide or manipulate objects", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/programmable-stretchable-surfaces-inspired-by-octopuses/", "Strategy": "Programmable Stretchable Surfaces Inspired by Octopuses\nStretchable surfaces from Cornell are made of extensible silicone with inextensible mesh that can instantly transform from a flat sheet to a 3D shape.\n\nThe Challenge\nInflatable objects like balloons typically form unchangeable shapes. For example, taking a round balloon and reshaping it into a box is nearly impossible. This inability to change shapes results from a lack of order and control within the elastic base material.\n\nInnovation details\nThe stretchable surface is called a “Circumferentially Constrained and Radially Stretched Elastomer,” abbreviated as CCOARSE. It is made of a laser-cut rigid mesh attached to a stretchable silicone elastomer. The rigid mesh constrains the overall material to a targeted shape when the whole material is inflated.\n\nBiological Model\nSome animals such as cephalopods use soft tissue to change shape reversibly, helping them hide or manipulate objects. Cephalopods have conical papilla with strong erector muscles. These muscles create forces that pressurize and stretch the animal’s tissue in different directions, enabling them to embody a variety of shapes."}, {"Source": "tree", "Application": "high-performance biocomposites", "Function1": "shape materials for structural performance", "Function2": "adjust the size and number of different kinds of cells", "Function3": "adjust the thickness of cell walls", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/high-performance-biocomposites-inspired-by-trees/", "Strategy": "High-Performance Biocomposites Inspired by Trees\nStrong by Form mimics the growth patterns of trees to fuse the sustainability of wood with the performance of advanced composites.\n\nThe Challenge\nRecognizing the strength and flexibility of wood, humans––like birds and beavers before us––have long used it for construction.\n\nInnovation details\nArchitects and inventors at Strong by Form have devised a manufacturing process that mimics the way trees themselves shape their materials for structural performance, opening up revolutionary possibilities for the forms wood construction can take.\n\nBiological Model\nTo withstand forces that would break them, trees have evolved a strategic way of growing: they form their wood to compensate for those forces. As a trunk or branch grows, it will adjust the size and number of different kinds of cells, the thickness of cell walls, and the compounds within them.\n\nIn hardwood trees, that results in rings being thicker on the top side of branches, stuffed with lots of stretchy cellulose fibers to accommodate the downward pull of tension. Softwood trees build up the lower side of branches with rigid lignin to resist the crushing stress of compression. In all trees, structural support is highly adaptable, working at odd angles and curves, and built right into the material used for construction, at the micro scale."}, {"Source": "bird wing", "Application": "structural color display", "Function1": "reflect full visual light spectrum", "Function2": "manipulate light", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/vivid-structural-color-inspired-by-bird-wings/", "Strategy": "Vivid Structural Color Inspired by Bird Wings\nStructural color from University of Akron uses self-assembling synthetic melanin nanoparticles to display bright natural colors.\n\nThe Challenge\nCurrent display technologies rely on energy-intensive, bright lights behind screens. These bright lights may cause eye strain, headaches, and other health issues after prolonged use.\n\nInnovation details\nThe structural colors are made of synthetic melanin nanoparticles coated in silica, which are placed in a thin layer on a surface to display color. The color is projected by the nanoparticles because they have a high refractive index and broad absorption, making them perceivable to the human eye. Moreover, due to the components of the structural color, it is non-toxic and food safe.\n\nBiological Model\nMany birds have brightly colored feathers that assist with camouflage, sexual signaling, and predatorial defense. These wing colors are made from special arrangements of melanin (the same pigment that gives human skin color). The melanin is mixed with keratin (a protein also found in human hair and nails) to form tiny structures that reflect the full visual light spectrum. This method of manipulating light results in brilliant colors."}, {"Source": "lobster underbelly", "Application": "fatigue-resistant material", "Function1": "high tensile strength", "Function2": "fracture toughness", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/fatigue-resistant-material-inspired-by-lobster-underbellies/", "Strategy": "Fatigue-Resistant Material Inspired by Lobster Underbellies\nStructural material from MIT is a nanofibrous hydrogel arranged in a bouligand structure which helps mitigate damage from external forces.\n\nThe Challenge\nProtection gear such as helmets and guards are often made of plastic or styrofoam. These materials decompose slowly and are susceptible to cracking, making them both environmentally harmful and ineffective as protective equipment. Often additional material must be added to the product to ensure sufficient function, making gear bulky and resource-consuming.\n\nInnovation details\nThe flexible and resistant protective material is made of nanofibrous hydrogels stacked in a bouligand structure. The ultrathin fibers of hydrogel (approximately 800 nanometers in diameter, a fraction of the diameter of human hair) are created through a process called electrospinning in which the threads of hydrogel are drawn out of a polymer solution using an electric charge. The hydrogels are then made into a film and placed in a stack to be welded together in a high-humidity chamber. The films are stacked in a rotating pattern called the bouligand structure, resembling a spiral staircase or a twisted deck of cards. After welding, the film stack is set using an incubator to crystallize the nanofibers, further strengthening the material. The resulting material is more fatigue-resistant and durable than traditional nanofibrous hydrogels.\n\nBiological Model\nLobsters have hard shells that protect them from predators and other sea creatures, but the underbelly of their shells are soft and flexible, allowing them to maneuver easily along the seafloor. The fatigue-resistant hydrogels in the protective material mimic the bouligand structure of the natural hydrogel occurring in lobster underbellies. The bouligand structure gives the natural hydrogel high tensile strength and fracture toughness, which is also observed in the improved protective material."}, {"Source": "cuttlefish and mantis shrimp", "Application": "optimized structural materials", "Function1": "resilient", "Function2": "crack-resistant", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/optimized-structural-materials-inspired-by-cuttlefish-and-mantis-shrimp/", "Strategy": "Optimized Structural Materials Inspired by Cuttlefish and Mantis Shrimp\nStructural material from the Georgia Institute of Technology is made of continuously embedded microstructures that increase the material's overall strength.\n\nThe Challenge\nTraditional building materials such as steel and concrete are often dense and heavy. Although these characteristics make buildings stronger, these attributes increase the quantity of raw materials required as well as cost.\n\nInnovation details\nThe structural materials have an optimized layout of multiple micro-structured materials. Through a topology optimization algorithm, the materials are arranged to increase structural efficiency and require fewer raw materials. During 3D-printing, the printer receives 2D-information with embedded information about the material’s microstructures, reducing the amount of processing required, saving time and money. At the end of the print cycle, the printer combines the slices, creating a continuous, 3D-structure.\n\nBiological Model\nCuttlefish have a hard, brittle internal bone structure, which consists of narrow layers of upright pillars that form chambers. Mantis shrimp have a crack-resistant club to assist in capturing prey. The club has a strong calcium-based mineral outer layer with a resilient inner layer made of mineralized fibers arranged in a spiral-pattern."}, {"Source": "cartilage", "Application": "load-bearing material", "Function1": "absorb water", "Function2": "low-friction surface", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/load-bearing-material-inspired-by-cartilage/", "Strategy": "Load-Bearing Material Inspired by Cartilage\nStructural material from University of Leeds and Imperial College London consists of a hydrogel within a silicone-based matrix that enables it to be both flexible and strong.\n\nThe Challenge\nBearings are important components to many mechanical systems. They are commonly solid metal spheres that provide a connection point between static and dynamic parts. Due to the movement at the connection point, bearings have a low tolerance to damage. When a bearing fails the whole apparatus may stop working, leading to increased labor, costs, and waste.\n\nInnovation details\nThe material is designed to function as a bearing. It consists of hydrogel held in a matrix of a silicon-based polymer called poly-dimethylsiloxane. Hydrogels are known for their ability to absorb water and provide a low-friction surface, but they are also easily deformed. The matrix provides structure for the bearing to hold up under compressive forces. These bearings are effective and can be easily customized to fit in to an array of machines.\n\nBiological Model\nA joint is where two bones meet in the body. Different joints allow for different types of movement. Cartilaginous joints are connected by cartilage and allow for small movements: for example, the spine’s vertebrae. The cartilage protects the bone an joint from the wear and tear of repeated motions, much like a mechanical bearing."}, {"Source": "enzyme", "Application": "high-powered cleaners", "Function1": "break down toxins and complex chemicals", "Function2": "speed up chemical reactions", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/high-powered-cleaners-inspired-by-enzymes/", "Strategy": "High-Powered Cleaners Inspired by Enzymes\nSudoc uses enzyme-inspired catalysts to rapidly break down toxins and complex chemicals in the environment, and then break down themselves as well.\n\nThe Challenge\nMany chemicals that are useful in controlled ways (such as pharmaceuticals) are detrimental in the open environment, affecting the hormone systems of living beings, decreasing fertility, increasing diseases states, and impacting behavioral development. There are over 350,000 chemicals in common usage, and this volume creates a chemical burden that impacts everyone.\n\nInnovation details\nSudoc’s enzyme-inspired catalysts (called “New TAML” for “tetra-amido macrocyclic ligand”) speed up chemical reactions when paired with oxidants like hydrogen peroxide, from which it steals an oxygen atom and delivers it to oxidize the target. This mimics the way peroxidase enzymes work in our bodies.\n\nBiological Model\nEnzymes keep organisms clean by checking out everything that’s made it inside them and breaking it down for use or removal.\n\nOxidative enzymes are protein tools that usher oxygen atoms to break down complex molecules through oxidation, and convert them into forms the organism can handle. Enzymes make oxidation reactions work more quickly and efficiently. This transforms food into nutrients, and harmful chemicals into harmless byproducts."}, {"Source": "wheatgrass", "Application": "anti-frost surface coating", "Function1": "prevent water from pooling", "Function2": "roll off the surface", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/anti-frost-surface-coating-inspired-by-wheatgrass/", "Strategy": "Anti-Frost Surface Coating Inspired by Wheatgrass\nSurface coating from UCLA and University of Chinese Academy of Sciences uses hierarchical micro- and nano-structures to elevate surface temperatures and shed condensed water droplets.\n\nThe Challenge\nIn cold and humid environments, surfaces are particularly susceptible to ice formation. Unfortunately, these environments are also the most challenging to keep dry, and typical anti-icing methods tend to be temporary, ineffective, and costly. Thus, anti-icing surfaces that can maintain their ability to remove condensed water under extreme environmental circumstances are needed.\n\nInnovation details\nThe coating is a condensate self-removing solar anti-frost surface (CR-SAS), fabricated using pulsed laser deposition technology. The coating contains micro- and nano-structures that trap light, giving the surface excellent photothermal properties. Even in cold, humid environments, the coating is able to warm. The CR-SAS is also superhydrophobic to condensed water, so when droplets land on its surface, they are shed before being given the opportunity to freeze. The coating may be applicable in many anti-icing scenarios (e.g.., aircrafts flying through clouds, wind turbines operating in winter, and power transmission facilities working in extremely cold and humid regions).\n\nBiological Model\nWheatgrass plants have a hydrophobic surface that prevents water from pooling on their leaves. The leaves are covered in nanoscale bumps which keep liquids in droplet form, allowing them to easily roll off the surface."}, {"Source": "butterfly eye", "Application": "multispectral surgical camera", "Function1": "see multispectral images", "Function2": "increase sensitivity", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/multispectral-surgical-camera-inspired-by-butterfly-eyes/", "Strategy": "Multispectral Surgical Camera Inspired by Butterfly Eyes\nSurgical camera from Washington University and University of Illinois has microstructures on the lens that increase the sensitivity and accuracy of the imaging device.\n\nThe Challenge\nMany surgeons rely on just their sight to locate and remove cancerous tissue during surgery, leaving room for human error and omissions due to the limitations of human sight. In instances where technology is used, a dye is injected into the area of operation and specialized displays are used to identify the cancerous tissue. However, these technologies are expensive, bulky, and perform poorly under surgical illumination.\n\nInnovation details\nThe imager has specialized microstructures that allow it to simultaneously register colors familiar to the human eye and near-infrared signals. In each of the imager’s pixels, alternating stacks of insulating materials called dielectrics interfere with incoming light spectra, reflecting some while allowing others to be transmitted, creating a spectral filter. Four types of spectral filters are replicated throughout the imaging sensor, differentiated by varying thicknesses of dielectric layers. In a two-by-two arrangement, these four filters create the building blocks of the imager. Three out of the four pixels pick up the red, green, and blue spectra, while the fourth captures near-infrared photons, altogether enabling multispectral sensitivity. The resulting image accurately locates cancerous tissue, performing well even under surgical lighting. Researchers have integrated the imager into surgical goggles so that real-time information is displayed for doctors during surgeries. The technology has shown to have a 1000x higher sensitivity compared to clinical imaging systems currently in use. Moreover, the manufacturing cost of the bio-inspired image sensors is very low, less than $20.\n\nBiological Model\nMorpho butterfly wings contain tree-shaped photonic crystals which either allow for or stunt the propagation of electromagnetic waves of certain frequency ranges. The morpho butterfly eye has similar specialized nanostructures that allow it to see multispectral images, including near-infrared."}, {"Source": "slug slime", "Application": "surgical sealant", "Function1": "bond with a surface", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/flexible-surgical-sealant-inspired-by-slug-slime/", "Strategy": "Flexible Surgical Sealant Inspired by Slug Slime\nSurgical sealant from Harvard is a double-layered hydrogel that effectively binds biological tissue without causing lasting damage.\n\nThe Challenge\nAfter surgeries and other medical procedures, broken skin is patched back together to assist in healing. Typically, the skin is sewn with stitches or stapled in place. Both of these methods can damage skin, leading to scarring and infection.\n\nInnovation details\nThe surgical sealant is a double-layered hydrogel. The first layer is an adhesive surface with positively-charged polymers protruding from its surface. The adhesive bonds to the substrate through electrostatic interactions, covalent bonds, and physical interpenetration. The second layer is a stretchable, strong hydrogel, alginate-polyacrylamide. The combination of these two layers results in an impermeable, long-lasting adhesive that is effective in many surgical applications.\n\nBiological Model\nThe dusky arion, a type of slug, uses mucus to protect itself against predators. When threatened, it secretes a special mucus containing proteins that bond with a surface, gluing the slug into place. Due to the strong adhesion, predators then have trouble prying the slug off the surface."}, {"Source": "human tendon", "Application": "surgical suture", "Function1": "connect muscle to bone", "Function2": "protect tendon", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/robust-surgical-suture-inspired-by-human-tendons/", "Strategy": "Robust Surgical Suture Inspired by Human Tendons\nSurgical suture from McGill University is slippery yet tough, reducing irritation to healing wounds.\n\nThe Challenge\nSutures are frequently used in surgical procedures, but mechanical incompatibility with tissues limits their efficiency . Moreover, existing modification techniques for sutures often weaken the material, leaving it vulnerable to rupture or deterioration.\n\nInnovation details\nThe surgical suture is a multifunctional, tough gel-sheathed (TGS) material. It consists of a series of fiber-based strands encompassed in a hydrogel sheath. The fibers reinforce the material by providing strength against tensile forces, while the sheath protects the fibers and adheres to the skin. The suture has high interfacial adhesion, but easily detaches without causing damage.\n\nBiological Model\nTendons are tough, fibrous, rope-like tissues that connect muscle to bone or other structures within the body. Each tendon is protected by a tendon sheath, a membrane-like structure that surrounds the tendon, separating it from the tissue around it and allowing the tendon to move freely inside the sheath."}, {"Source": "zebrafish", "Application": "swimming robot", "Function1": "give off many signals", "Function2": "coordinate movement", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/realistic-swimming-robot-inspired-by-zebrafish/", "Strategy": "Realistic Swimming Robot Inspired by Zebrafish\nSwimming robot from NYU interacts with its surroundings to actively avoid obstacles and learn on its own.\n\nThe Challenge\nCommon robots operate on open-loop control systems that enable them to perform a predetermined set of activities. The robot operates on its own, but it does not respond to environmental stimuli, which increase malfunctions and decrease synergy with its surroundings.\n\nInnovation details\nThe swimming robot is 3D-printed in the same shape as an actual zebrafish. It is programmed with a closed-loop control system based on experimental data collected from live zebrafish. This system allows the robot to act on its own and interact with real zebrafish in such a realistic manner that the fish don’t realize there’s a robot in their midst.\n\nBiological Model\nAs fish swim in schools, they give off many signals to each other to coordinate their movement. For example, some fish vibrate their fins in subtle ways to warn of danger. Other fish use reflecting light off their scales to signal a change in direction."}, {"Source": "cephalopods such as squids", "Application": "jet propulsion", "Function1": "move rapidly", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/high-speed-swimming-robots-inspired-by-squid-movement/", "Strategy": "High-Speed Swimming Robots Use Jet Propulsion\nSwimming robot from UC San Diego uses jet-propelled locomotion to move rapidly underwater.\n\nThe Challenge\nRobots are capable of moving at fast speeds, but soft robots, especially underwater, have trouble moving quickly due to the slow propagation of their components. These robots also need a constant source of energy to move and if plugged into an external power source, the cord can hinder its motion.\n\nInnovation details\nThe swimming robot mimics the method of jet propulsion that cephalopods such as squids use to move through the water. The robot has a pressure chamber controlled by springs that periodically fills with water to inflate, and then releases the water to deflate. The water rushes through a nozzle during deflation, propelling the robot forward. When the robot repeatedly deflates, it reaches a certain thrust frequency, making the robot move smoothly and efficiently. The robot is also made of smart materials that camouflage the robot as it moves about.\n\nBiological Model\nCephalopods such as squids swim by jet propulsion. They expel water through a moveable tube called a siphon, which jets them in the opposite direction."}, {"Source": "elephant's trunk", "Application": "bionic handling assistant", "Function1": "move in a variety of directions", "Function2": "move with strength and precision", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/flexible-gripper-inspired-by-the-elephant-trunk/", "Strategy": "Robotic Arm Inspired by the Elephant Trunk\nThe Bionic Handling Assistant from Festo is a robotic arm that can easily move and grip objects without endangering humans.\n\nThe Challenge\nWorking in factories often requires being near machines, which can be dangerous for employees. Oftentimes the robots have to be shielded to prevent damage, which can limit mobility and productivity. In addition, many machines are heavy and rigid, further limiting the range and type of activities they can perform.\n\nInnovation details\nThe Bionic Handling Assistant is a robotic arm that was inspired by the wide range of motion and gripping ability of the elephant’s trunk. The Handling Assistant is comprised of three interconnected segments that are used to move, and the ‘gripper’ at the end is used to grip and pick up objects. The robotic arm moves because chambers inside the arm fill with compressed air, allowing for a wide range of movement while still being lightweight (the whole arm only weights 5 lbs). The chambers work with sensors within the arm to precisely control movements. The gripper is comprised of three ‘claws’ that can mold to the shape of an object, making it easier to pick up and hold objects.\n\nBiological Model\nThe trunk of an elephant is highly dynamic, able to not only move in a variety of directions but also able to do so with immense strength and precision. It does this without the skeletal support or fluid displacement throughout the muscle. Instead, the trunk is made up of an incompressible “fluid” (i.e., about 40,000 tightly packed muscle fibers) that maintains its volume to remain constant through a variety of movements."}, {"Source": "animal feces", "Application": "protective seedling nursery", "Function1": "protect seedling", "Function2": "protect from predator", "Function3": "protect from environmental stressors", "Function4": "collect water", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/protective-seedling-nursery-inspired-by-animal-feces/", "Strategy": "Protective Seedling Nursery Inspired by Animal Feces\nThe Cocoon from Land Life Company creates a nourishing, protective environment that helps seedlings grow in dry, arid conditions.\n\nThe Challenge\nMany dry, arid areas of the world face water scarcity, and populations are unable to grow ample food to support themselves. Additionally, the world is facing increased food demand. Commonly used drip irrigation systems contribute to the success of growing crops, but these systems consume a great amount of water and often use pesticides.\n\nInnovation details\nInspired by the way animal feces provide a safe environment for new seedlings to grow, the Cocoon protects newly planted seedlings from damage by predators or environmental stressors. The Cocoon is a circular container made from recycled material. The container has holes in the top and bottom for new seedlings, which creates a shelter to help it survive through the initial part of their growing cycle. The container is designed to protect the seedling from excessive sun and wind, and help it collect water. It is filled with water just once, and thereafter captures additional water through the collection of rainwater and condensation. The water stored in the container also helps to buffer the effects of thermal variation, protecting the plant from temperature extremes.\n\nBiological Model\nAnimals ingest plants and then excrete the seeds on top of the soil. The surrounding feces function as natural protection while the seed develops roots and taps into water resources necessary for further development."}, {"Source": "animal's locomotion", "Application": "locomotive robots", "Function1": "evade predators", "Function2": "move towards food", "Function3": "migrate to a new habitat or breeding ground", "Function4": "muscle and bone flexibility", "Function5": "reactive processing", "Function6": "decision making", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/locomotive-robot-inspired-by-biological-systems/", "Strategy": "Locomotive Robot Inspired by Animals\nThe iStruct robot from DFKI draws inspiration from biological models to improve the mobility and efficiency of locomotive robots.\n\nThe Challenge\nLocomotive robots could prove useful in a variety of ways, especially by performing tasks that can be dangerous to humans, such as assisting during natural disasters. However, creating machines that move as quickly and fluidly as animals is a challenging task.\n\nInnovation details\nThe iStruct robot contains biologically-inspired structural elements which effectively improve the locomotion and mobility of the robot. Rigid connecting elements are extended to single more flexible subsystems, and important sections of the robot have been protected against impacts and abrupt movements as well as vibrations.\n\nBiological Model\nAnimals utilize locomotion to evade predators, move towards food, or migrate to a new habitat or breeding ground. Several components, including muscle and bone flexibility, reactive processing, and decision making are essential for survival."}, {"Source": "earthworm's longitudinal and circular muscles", "Application": "peristaltic motion", "Function1": "expand and contract", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/burrowing-robot-inspired-by-earthworms/", "Strategy": "Burrowing Robot Inspired by Earthworms\nThe soft robot from the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia mimics the motion created by worms’ longitudinal and circular muscles.\n\nThe Challenge\nWhile soft robots have previously been created to imitate earthworms’ movement based on a wave of circular and lengthwise muscle contractions (called peristaltic motion), the designs used components that had to be switched between two configurations. They either produced longitudinal or radial forces, but not both together. Furthermore, previous designs generated force only during actuation and were passive at other times.\n\nInnovation details\nThe soft robot incorporates multiple, bi-directional peristaltic soft actuators (PSA) that link together to form a network of segments. Each segment is filled with an incompressible fluid that, when under positive pressure, causes the PSA to elongate while compressing radially (the segment stretches out while becoming thinner). When under negative pressure, the PSA contracts longitudinally, pushing the fluid radially outward (the segment grows fatter while becoming shorter). Adding friction pads to the bottom of each segment increases grip, and alternating pressure within segments in a coordinated manner causes the robot to move forward at speeds of up to 1.35 mm/s.\n\nBiological Model\nA peristaltic soft actuator expands and contracts:"}, {"Source": "sycamore seedpod", "Application": "aerodynamic ceiling fan", "Function1": "autorotation", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/aerodynamic-ceiling-fan-inspired-by-sycamore-seedpods/", "Strategy": "Aerodynamic Ceiling Fan Inspired by Sycamore Seedpods\nThe Sycamore Ceiling Fan from Sycamore Technologies has a single blade that provides high air flow and creates minimal noise.\n\nThe Challenge\nCeiling fans are a common sight in many residential and commercial buildings. However, conventional flat fan blades used on most ceiling fans require high operating speeds to achieve high airflow, creating high turbulence and wind noise. They also typically use 3-4 blades, which requires more materials and increases cost.\n\nInnovation details\nThe Sycamore Ceiling Fan fan has a specially designed blade inspired by sycamore seeds. It is able to operate at low speeds while providing high air flow with low turbulence and minimal wind noise.\n\nBiological Model\nA sycamore tree’s falling seedpod autorotates due to its curved shape, allowing it to stay in the air for longer and travel greater distances. The balance between the weight of the seed and the length of the single wing is accurately matched, enabling the seeds to autorotate smoothly during free fall."}, {"Source": "canine", "Application": "mechanical sniffer", "Function1": "rapidly inhale and exhale", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/mechanical-sniffer-inspired-by-canines/", "Strategy": "Mechanical Sniffer Inspired by Canines\nThe ventilation system from the National Institute of Standards and Technology fits onto commercial detectors and both inspires and expires air to improve sampling flow dynamics.\n\nThe Challenge\nChemical sensors such as those that detect explosives rely on inefficient approaches to sampling. Stationary sensors utilize passive sampling, which depends on air flow in the environment to carry compounds to them. Other sensors continually inspire air but can only sample gas in their immediate vicinity.\n\nInnovation details\nThe mechanical “sniffing” device fits over the inlet nozzle of a standard explosive detector and uses a separate ventilation system for sampling. The device not only inspires air but also expires it through two lateral holes, which create lateral air jets that help draw vapor from farther distances in front of the inlet nozzle to the sensor. The improved flow dynamics increase the aerodynamic reach of the sensor, improving its ability to detect trinitro-toluene (TNT) by 16-fold at a distance of 4 centimeters from the sensor’s inlet.\n\nBiological Model\nDogs are well-known olfactory detectives, with some able to distinguish a single molecule among trillions. One of their secrets is that when a canine sniffs, it rapidly inhales and exhales. During exhalation, air jets downward and out to the side, which flow modeling reveals actually pulls air from in front of the dog closer to its nose, allowing it to sniff scents from farther away."}, {"Source": "butterfly's wing", "Application": "thin film solar cells", "Function1": "absorb light", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/efficient-thin-film-solar-cells-inspired-by-black-butterfly-wings/", "Strategy": "Efficient Thin Film Solar Cells Inspired by Black Butterfly Wings\nThin film solar cells from CalTech and Karlsruhe Institute of Technology have disordered nanoholes that reduce light reflection.\n\nThe Challenge\nThin film solar cells are lightweight and require less material to construct, making them a possible option for utility-scale solar projects. However, current thin film solar cells have high rates of light reflection, making them inefficient, as only absorbed light can be converted to energy.\n\nInnovation details\nThe high-efficiency thin film solar cells consist of hydrogenated, amorphous silicon sheets. The top layer has tiny holes of various sizes that cause light to scatter and strike the silicon base below. The base then absorbs the light to be used in solar energy generation. This design has proven to be roughly twice as efficient as typical thin film solar cells.\n\nBiological Model\nButterfly wings appear black not because of pigment, but because they are able to absorb light with little to no reflection. This is made possible by a mesh-like surface of ridges and holes on the scales of the butterfly wing, which channels light into the scale’s interior. There, pillar-like beams of tissue scatter light until it is almost completely absorbed."}, {"Source": "mussel's adhesive", "Application": "michigan technological university", "Function1": "attach to a variety of surfaces under water", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/reversible-smart-glue-inspired-by-mussels/", "Strategy": "Reversible Smart Glue Inspired by Mussels\nUnderwater smart glue from Michigan Technological University is made of a catechol-containing material that can unstick using an electric current.\n\nThe Challenge\nCurrent smart glue technologies use pH changes in solution to stick and unstick. Due to the monitoring and maintenance required, it costs more to control and objects cannot “unstick” without human intervention.\n\nInnovation details\nThe underwater smart glue uses an electrical current to turn off the adhesion of a catechol-containing material. Catechol is a synthetic protein that is able to bind to wet surfaces and mimics the protein that mussels use to attach to rocks underwater. The use of electrical currents to deactivate the adhesion means the process could one day be controlled with the press of a button.\n\nBiological Model\nMarine mussels have fibers known as byssal threads that can attach to a variety of surfaces underwater. These fibers stick to the rock with a mussel-produced adhesive comparable in strength to human-made glues but without carcinogens, such as formaldehyde. The mussel glue can also cure under water."}, {"Source": "albatross wing", "Application": "wind-powered uav", "Function1": "fly quickly", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/autonomous-gliding-robot-inspired-by-albatross/", "Strategy": "Efficient Wind-Powered UAV Inspired by Albatross\nUnmanned aerial vehicle from MIT glides at high speeds using only the force of the wind thanks to its long wing span.\n\nThe Challenge\nUnmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, have many important applications, one of them being ocean monitoring. Ocean monitoring is necessary to characterize coastal and marine environments and is essential in understanding global conditions and the impacts of human activity. Oceans cover 70% of Earth, but they remain exceedingly under-monitored, partly because we lack proficient monitoring technology. Increasing the endurance and viability of UAVs in long-term missions remains a concern.\n\nInnovation details\nThe UNAv, an efficient air-water UAV, borrows features from both sailboats and albatrosses, using the wind to travel across the water. It is made up of a glider airframe with a vertical wing sail extending above the vehicle’s center of mass and a surface-piercing hydrofoil keel extending below. The UNAv features a high lift-to-drag ratio and produces a gravity canceling force employing its glider wings, while also interacting with the water to utilize the full force of the wind. It can stay airborne even in winds as low as 6.3 miles per hour (10.1 kilometers per hour) m/s, and can travel several times faster than wind speed, up to 23 miles per hour (37 kilometers per hour). If the wind dies down, the glider dips its tail under the surface and rides forward on the water. The UNAv is highly efficient and could have a significant positive application within the field of ocean monitoring.\n\nBiological Model\nAlbatross birds have long wings that help them fly quickly through the air to avoid predators and capture prey. Their wings function through a mechanical process called “transfer of momentum”, utilizing the lift of the wind to propel forward. This way, the bird is able to stay afloat without flapping its wings."}, {"Source": "octopus vision", "Application": "preventative vision screening device", "Function1": "detect color, detect polarized light", "Function2": "camouflage", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/preventative-vision-screening-device-inspired-by-octopus-vision/", "Strategy": "Preventative Vision Screening Device Inspired by Octopus Vision\nVision screening device from University of Bristol uses thresholds of polarized light to assess the presence (or lack) of macular pigments in human eyes, a fast method to diagnose future vision problems.\n\nThe Challenge\nAge related macular degeneration is an eye disease that can lead to incurable blindness. It is estimated that over 288 million people may be effected by the disease by 2050. Current screening methods for low macular pigment levels, one of the main causes of the disease, are time consuming and expensive.\n\nInnovation details\nThe vision screening device, also known as an ophthalmic medical device, measures the presence of macular pigments in human eyes. The device is easily added to conventional eye tests and measures the response of the eyes to different thresholds of polarized light. These measurements can then be correlated to the quantity of mascular pigments present in the eye, which is an indicator of risk for vision loss later in life. With the results, patients can take preventative measures earlier in life, decreasing the probability of sight loss.\n\nBiological Model\nOctopuses display bright patterns on their skin despite being colorblind (they are only able to see a shades of grey). What their vision lacks in seeing color is made up through their unique ability to detect polarized light. Octopuses use this polarized light to camouflage and hide from predators."}, {"Source": "ant", "Application": "walking robot", "Function1": "use polarized light to navigate", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/meticulous-walking-robot-inspired-by-ants/", "Strategy": "Meticulous Walking Robot Inspired by Ants\nWalking robot from Aix-Marseille University uses polarized light to navigate, enabling it to explore randomly and find its way back.\n\nThe Challenge\nTypically, robots use GPS to navigate. Although it works well, the robots need to be in constant communication with satellites, which requires them to carry communication equipment. These requirements can restrict the robot from exploring areas with no satellite coverage. Additionally, the GPS equipment can be bulky, increasing the size of the robot.\n\nInnovation details\nThe robot, also called AntBot, uses an optical compass that is sensitive to the sky’s polarized light to remember its path. It does this using a technique called path integration. With path integration, the robot associates polarized light patterns with obstacles and counts strides to remember where it has been.\n\nBiological Model\nBecause pheromones are destroyed in extreme heat conditions, desert ants—unlike most ants—use atmospheric polarized light instead of pheromones to navigate. The desert ants use polarized patterns emitted through the sky as a compass to find their way in the world."}, {"Source": "pufferfish", "Application": "off-the-grid water purifier", "Function1": "take in water", "Function2": "enlarge body", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/off-the-grid-water-purifier-inspired-by-pufferfish/", "Strategy": "Off-the-Grid Water Purifier Inspired by Pufferfish\nWater purifier from Princeton University is made of a hydrogel that expands and contracts to extract contaminants from water.\n\nThe Challenge\nWater is essential for human survival, and access to clean drinking water is critical for good health. Contaminated drinking water can cause numerous health concerns, namely exposure to bacteria and viruses. However, wastewater treatment systems can be expensive to build and require specialized materials, making them inaccessible in many places. Moreover, the impacts of climate change will soon make it harder than ever to acquire clean water in vulnerable locations, endangering human health and straining vital energy resources. Therefore, any technologies that extract potable water from tainted sources must be environmentally friendly.\n\nInnovation details\nThe solar absorber gel (SAG) consists of three layers, resembling a large sponge that soaks up water while removing pollutants like pathogens, lead, and oil. The innermost layer is composed of a sponge-like elastic gel, called a hydrogel. The hydrogel holds water between its long entangled polymers, and when heated, the structure contracts, squeezing out excess water. Surrounding this hydrogel is a layer of melanin-based molecules that absorb sunlight to provide energy to the purifier. This layer is also capable of removing heavy metals and organic dyes through chemical bonding, doing so as excess water is squeezed out of the inner hydrogel. Lastly, the outer layer is a filter layer that blocks impurities and pathogens. Altogether, the purifier exhibits efficient production of high-quality water in remote locations.\n\nBiological Model\nThe team was inspired to create this condition-based water-holding gel by the condition-based water retention of pufferfish. When in danger, pufferfish take in water to enlarge their bodies and raise their spines, making them appear larger and more threatening to predators. Once the threat is gone, the fish release the water and return to a smaller form. Similarly, the solar absorber gel takes in water when relatively cool, and then releases it when slightly warmed by the sun."}, {"Source": "animal feces", "Application": "plant incubator", "Function1": "provide a safe environment", "Function2": "protect from excessive sun and wind", "Function3": "collect water", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/nurturing-plant-incubator-inspired-by-animal-feces/", "Strategy": "Nurturing Plant Incubator Inspired by Animal Feces\nWaterboxx plant cocoon from Groasis creates a nourishing, protective environment that helps seedlings grow in dry, arid conditions.\n\nThe Challenge\nMany dry, arid areas of the world face water scarcity, and populations are unable to grow ample food to support themselves. Additionally, the world is facing increased food demand. Commonly used drip irrigation systems contribute to the success of growing crops, but these systems consume a great amount of water and often use pesticides.\n\nInnovation details\nInspired by the way animal feces provide a safe environment for new seedlings to grow, the Waterboxx® plant cocoon serves as an incubator to help trees survive through the initial part of their growing cycle. The box is designed to protect the seedling from excessive sun and wind, and help it collect water. It is filled with water just once, and thereafter captures additional water resources through the collection of rainwater and condensation. A wick delivers small amounts of water to the plant’s root system each day. The water stored in the container also helps to buffer the effects of thermal variation, protecting the plant from temperature extremes.\n\nBiological Model\nAnimals ingest plants and then excrete the seeds on top of the soil. The surrounding feces function as natural protection while the seed develops roots and taps into water resources necessary for further development."}, {"Source": "insect wing", "Application": "wind turbines", "Function1": "flexible wings", "Function2": "decrease drag", "Function3": "increase speed", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/efficient-wind-turbines-inspired-by-insect-wings/", "Strategy": "Efficient Wind Turbines Inspired by Insect Wings\nWind turbines from Paris-Sorbonne University are flexible to reduce drag and create a more powerful stroke.\n\nThe Challenge\nReports from the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) predict that wind energy will account for approximately 12% of total electrical energy produced on the planet by 2050. However, in the present day, wind power generates only 4% of the world’s energy. Decreasing costs of turbines and developing enough wind farms will be important, but to meet the world’s energy needs sustainably in the coming decades, wind energy technology itself must be improved. Current wind turbines are efficient only when wind speed and turbine load align with the conditions that the blades were designed to manage. Thus, energy generation is not maximized in different or fluctuating conditions.\n\nInnovation details\nThe turbine blades are elastic, made of a pliable material called polyethylene terephthalate, allowing them to morph when exposed to different wind conditions. As the blades morph, the angles at which wind passes through the blades changes, optimizing power generation. At high wind speeds, the blades were less susceptible to damage, and at low wind speeds, the blades were better able to utilize incoming winds. By allowing the turbine to operate efficiently at wind speeds outside the ideal range, the elastic turbines have increased the converted energy rate up to 35%.\n\nBiological Model\nInsect wings are made up of cuticles, and as a result,  insects are less able to adjust their wings through muscle movements compared to other fliers. To compensate, some insects, such as bees and dragonflies, have flexible wings that are designed to alter shape in response to physical forces in a way that is aerodynamically effective. This flexibility reduces drag, improves speed, and guards against gradual wing deterioration."}, {"Source": "bird wing", "Application": "aerodynamic wing additions", "Function1": "maximize lift", "Function2": "decrease drag", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/innovation/aerodynamic-wing-additions-inspired-by-birds/", "Strategy": "Aerodynamic Wing Additions Inspired by Birds\nWinglets from NASA are vertical extensions on airplane wings that help reduce drag and improve fuel efficiency.\n\nThe Challenge\nWhen an airplane is in flight, spirals of air are created at the tip of the wing. This causes extra drag, which increases fuel consumption. These spirals must dissipate before other planes fly through the air, increasing the time between take-offs on a runway.\n\nInnovation details\nWinglets are the upturned ends of airplane wings. The shape minimizes drag by reducing the size of the vortices created at the end of the wing. In addition, as the vortices hit the winglet some of the force is converted to thrust, which helps to move the plane. In essence, winglets serve the same function as lengthening the airplane wings. Longer wingspans are more efficient because they allow planes to fly for longer at cruising speeds. However, longer wings means added weight, which uses more fuel. Winglets offer an excellent solution by reducing drag without adding too much weight, which also reduces fuel consumption.\n\nBiological Model\nBirds spend much of their time in the air, so the longer they can fly and the less energy they can use, the better. Soaring birds have upturned wing-tips that maximize lift with a minimum wing length, improving performance and saving energy."}, {"Source": "harbor seal's whisker", "Application": "underwater sensors", "Function1": "sense the wake", "Function2": "feel ever-so-slight movement", "Function3": "sense surroundings", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/whiskers-sense-prey-movement/", "Strategy": "How Seal Whiskers Track Prey Underwater\n\nHarbor seal whiskers sense the wake left by swimming prey by cancelling out signals from the seal’s own movement.\n\nIntroduction\n\nIn the dim depths of the ocean, sharp eyesight isn’t so useful for hunting. Dolphins and whales listen rather than look. Sharks famously and literally smell blood in the water and can also detect weak electrical signals that living things give off.\n\nHarbor seals (and likely other seals and sea lions) have heightened yet another sense to secure meals. They can feel ever-so-slight movements in the water and follow a trail left behind in the wake of swimming fish. Their homing device is their whiskers, whose quirky structure makes them ideally suited to work in water.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nBut whiskers stick out of animals to sense their surrounding environment. They transmit signals to a rich network of nerve cells at the whiskers’ base that make them as sensitive as fingertips. Cat whiskers have some 200 nerve endings. Harbor seal whiskers, with up to 1,500, are even more finely tuned. But the real secret to their success is their structure.\n\nIf you’ve ever seen old-fashioned antennas on cars or flags on bicycles, you’ll notice how they sway and flutter when the vehicles move. Air currents swirl around them, causing them to vibrate. (The scientific name of whiskers is “vibrissae,” which comes from the Latin word for “vibrate.”)\n\nYou’d expect seal whiskers to behave similarly when seals swim through water. But instead, something remarkable happens: The whiskers cut through water like a hot knife through butter, barely wiggling in the waves.\n\nThe key is their shape. Seal whiskers aren’t circular in cross-section, but oval-shaped. And their leading edges aren’t straight, but have a wavy, in-and-out pattern. This structural design neutralizes the swirling action of water around the whiskers, so that the whiskers don’t vibrate when the seals move.\n\nInstead, they remain still and ready to respond to disturbances generated by other swimmers. The whiskers vibrate up and down, over and under oncoming swirls the way a skier slaloms back and forth down a slope of oncoming obstacles.\n\nBigger fish produce larger swirls, and faster fish leave more of them in their wakes. By feeling these swirls with their whiskers, seals can precisely identify the size, speed, and direction of potential targets and follow their downstream trail, in one test 30 seconds after a target had passed by.\n"}, {"Source": "kombucha", "Application": "eco-friendly, biocompatible materials", "Function1": "yeast fermentation", "Function2": "mutual survival of microorganisms", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/kombucha-a-microbial-metropolis/", "Strategy": "Kombucha: A Microbial Metropolis\n\nBacteria and yeast form a community to ensure their mutual survival and produce fermented tea.\nIntroduction \n\nKombucha is a slightly bubbly, sweet-and-sour, fermented tea drink that is reputed (though clinically unproven) to be healthful. It originated in East Asia more than 2,000 years ago, but in recent decades has become popular in the West.\n\nBut on another level, kombucha is something else entirely. It’s a marvelous multicultural microscopic metropolis.\n\nKombucha is made by (and continues to contain) a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast often abbreviated as “SCOBY.” These microorganisms cooperate and compete in a microbial marketplace—manufacturing and trading essential products and building infrastructure to create flourishing homes, warehouses to store resources, and defenses against invaders.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nTo make a new batch of kombucha (much like making sourdough), people put a sample of existing kombucha into sweetened tea, giving the microorganisms a new supply of sugar to feed on.\n\nFirst, the yeast, which are a type of fungi, use the sugars and nutrients in the tea to grow. In this process, called fermentation, they turn carbon into carbon dioxide gas, creating the fizz, and produce alcohol as a byproduct, which usually creates the buzz in other fermented drinks.\n\nToo much alcohol can be harmful to bacteria and yeast, but the bacteria in kombucha get rid of it. They use alcohol to grow, converting it into acids, such as acetic acid (vinegar), which gives kombucha its sour taste. The acids in turn inhibit the growth of competing bacteria that could be harmful to both the SCOBY and the kombucha drinkers.\n\nTo deter invaders further, the bacteria also use excess sugars to make long, thin fibers of cellulose—the same substance that plants and trees use as structural material. The fibers rise to the top of the brew, depositing layers that glom into a big multilayered biofilm called a pellicle. The pellicle is the characteristic rubbery-looking layer on top of brewing kombucha. It’s often simply referred to as “SCOBY” itself because it contains enough microorganisms to serve as a starter for new batches of kombucha (hence its other name, “mother”). The pellicle acts as a protective shield that blocks out competitors and keeps the microbial community from drying out. It may even offer protection from harmful ultraviolet rays.\n\nEmbedded in this floating biofilm, the bacteria can maintain access to oxygen near the top of the brew that they need to do their metabolic business. The cellulose also serves as a storehouse of material that the bacteria and yeast can convert back to sugar when needed. When yeast die, they in turn release vitamins and nutrients that are recycled by the microbial community.\n\nAll in all, the various microorganisms in kombucha coexist and cooperate to create a cycle of nutrients and a physical structure that ensure their mutual survival.\n\nThe Potential \n\nThough the general recipe for kombucha is well known, each brew comes from an individual “mother.” Each is a unique SCOBY with a singular combination of various species of yeasts and bacteria (and perhaps even viruses)—many of whose identities and activities remain unknown. SCOBYs can interact in different ways to produce different outcomes.\n\nScientists are exploring the inner workings of different SCOBYs to learn the intricacies of how they operate to see if they can manipulate them to create other useful products. These might include kombucha drinks that have more healthful properties or different tastes. Similar research could enhance other fermented foods made with SCOBYs, such as sourdough, kefir, and cheeses.\n\nOther exciting targets for research are SCOBY-generated biofilms. Their fibers are much thinner than those made by plants, but they are strong and hold much more water. SCOBY biofilms are being tested to make new eco-friendly, biocompatible materials for wound dressings, sustainable living water-filtration systems, cosmetics, paper, and textiles for clothing.\n\nOn a more abstract level, those single-celled critters could offer us multicellular humans a few lessons on balancing conflict and cooperation within communities."}, {"Source": "rainbow's body", "Application": "cyclists' stratgy", "Function1": "utilize water vortices", "Function2": "extract energy", "Function3": "produce a upstream force", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/body-uses-vortices-to-save-energy/", "Strategy": "Body Uses Vortices to Save Energy\n\nThe body of rainbow trout decreases energy required for swimming by interacting with vortices in its fluid environment.\n\nMany fish swim using an undulating motion of their bodies. The muscle activity that bends the body and produces these movements during steady, continuous swimming can cost a significant amount of energy. But some fishes, such as rainbow trout, can adopt a special swimming behavior that likely enables them to save their own energy by extracting energy from nearby water vortices.\n\nIn a fluid environment, vortices are swirls of water or air often released (or “shed”) from stationary objects and other living creatures, including other fish, that are in the path of an oncoming flow. Trout use water vortices that come their way from upstream sources to their advantage by adjusting their typical swimming behavior to produce a ‘slalom’ movement between vortices. Body bends increase in amplitude and curvature, and the tail beats at a frequency that matches the frequency at which vortices are shed upstream. The pattern of muscle activity along the body also changes, where only muscles close to the head are active. This differs from typical undulating motion where muscles contract all along the body, starting from the head and moving toward the tail to produce a traveling body wave that pushes the fish forward. Researchers hypothesize that these changes in muscle activity and body motion help the trout position its body so that it interacts with the vortices in a specific way. The exact nature of this interaction is still under investigation, but one explanation is that the fish controls the angle of its body so that local flow from the vortices produces a continuous upstream force on the body. Scientist James Liao uses the analogy, “…we hypothesize that trout use their body like a sail to tack upstream.”\n\nThe general concept of taking advantage of altered fluid flows behind other objects to reduce the energetic cost of motion is found in human behaviors too, for instance, in cyclists that draft behind one another to save energy.\nCheck out these videos to see the trout’s slalom movement in action.\n\n"}, {"Source": "desert beetle's back", "Application": "reduce engineered surfaces' frost", "Function1": "form water condense", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/surface-shape-controls-ice/", "Strategy": "Surface Shape Controls Ice\n\nMacro-scale geometry directs where water condenses and frost forms.\n\nIntroduction\n\nWater moves between organisms and their environment in a constant, creative dance, the underlying principles of which many humans have striven to understand. For instance, if you pay close attention on a cold morning, you’ll notice that frost appears in certain specific locations on leaves, but not other spots. Corners, edges, and bumps on leaves and other surfaces tend to gather more ice crystals, while flatter or more concave surfaces remain clear. Why do we see this kind of pattern?\n\nThe Strategy\n\nFrost forms when water vapor in humid air makes contact with a surface that is below freezing temperature. Every location on a smooth surface is equally suitable for becoming the site of a water droplet. However, the volume of air (and water vapor) around things that “stick out” is greater than the volume of air around embedded, concave surfaces that “stick in”. So there are simply more chances for a quantity of water vapor to condense at these locations. Moreover, as frost appears preferentially on convex features, individual ice crystals attract more ice formation and grow.\n\nSimilar principles are at work with water in liquid form condensing on the relatively large bumps on the back of the Namib Desert Beetle (Onymacris unguicularis). Condensation is more likely to happen on these more exposed, convex features that stick out into the air volume than elsewhere, while evaporation tends to remove what little water has condensed on concave features.\n\nThe Potential \n\nThe formation of ice can range from being inconvenient to being dangerous. A better understanding of how and where water condenses and ice forms has given scientists and designers a new set of ways to manipulate engineered surfaces to reduce frost formation. Without harmful chemicals or complex microscopic texturing, using large-scale geometry alone (i.e., millimeter-plus scales), frost can be better managed on many kinds of surfaces of interest, including aircraft wings, wind turbine blades, windshields, roads, sidewalks, and more."}, {"Source": "pipevine's parenchyma cell", "Application": "biomimetic self-repairing technical materials", "Function1": "efficient rapid repair mechanisms", "Function2": "seal fissue", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/vines-repair-themselves/", "Strategy": "Vines Repair Themselves\n\nStems of pipevines repair fissures and ruptures in their strengthening tissues by parenchyma cells from surrounding tissues swelling into the fissure to seal it.\n\n“The half-mens [Pachypodium namaquanum], growing in the same [Namib] desert, has reduced its leaves to one small bunch sprouting from the top of a pillar-like trunk bristling all over with ranks of long spines that must deter many a thirsty animal from gnawing it in search of liquid.”"}, {"Source": "giant larvacean's mucus “house”", "Application": "efficient filters", "Function1": "filter seawater", "Function2": "trap carbon", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/mucus-filters-and-traps-carbon-from-seawater/", "Strategy": "Mucus Traps Carbon From Seawater\n\nThe mucus “houses” of the giant larvacean enable it to filter seawater and sequester carbon in the ocean more efficiently than any other zooplankton.\nIntroduction \n\nThe tiny oceanic creatures called giant larvaceans are “giant” only in comparison to their relatives. New research shows these strange invertebrates have the greatest capacity for filtering seawater of any zooplankton, and so may play an important role in trapping carbon and keeping it from reaching the atmosphere.\n\nZooplankton (from the Greek for “drifting animals”) are generally microscopic waterborne organisms that feed on phytoplankton (“drifting plants”). Larvaceans specifically are simple creatures, consisting of a head (or trunk) and tail, somewhat resembling tadpoles.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nWhat aren’t simple are their feeding structures––complex filters called “houses” made of mucus that extend far past the body. For most 2-8mm larvacean species, these “houses” can range from 4 to 38 mm (up to 1.5 inches) in diameter, but for the giants of the family, like the Bathochordaeus seen below at 3 to 10 cm (1 to 4 inches), the filtering structures can reach a meter (39 inches) in width. It’s this house structure that enables giant larvaceans to do such an efficient job straining sea water for their tiny food. The wide-meshed outer parts of the filter keep out anything too big to consume, and a smaller inner filter funnels food particles to the mouth via a tube. It’s all powered by the constant motion of the animal’s tail directing water inside and through the house.\n\nThe Potential \n\nUnderstanding how giant larvaceans build such efficient filters, and how they do it so quickly, is a promising area of study. As our understanding of them improves, these amazing structures could inspire designs for new filters and expandable structures, perhaps even opening the doors for easier or more sustained deep-water or space exploration."}, {"Source": "bacteria", "Application": "degrade crude oil", "Function1": "degrade crude oil", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/microorganisms-degrade-crude-oil/", "Strategy": "Microorganisms Degrade Crude Oil\n\nBacteria degrade crude oil more quickly when working in multi-species consortiums.\n“The data reported here supported the premise that faster rate of degradation of HCs is achieved by the action of assemblages of pure strains of microorganisms with overall broad enzymatic capabilities rather than by a single versatile organisms.” "}, {"Source": "tree's trunks and branche", "Application": "software design program", "Function1": "evenly distribute mechanical tension", "Function2": "minimize shear stress", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/structure-distributes-stress/", "Strategy": "Structure Distributes Stress\n\nTrunks and branches of trees withstand external stresses through load-adaptive growth.\n\nTrees and bones achieve an even distribution of mechanical tension through the efficient use of material and adaptive structural design, optimizing strength, resilience, and material for a wide variety of load conditions. For example, to distribute stress uniformly, trees add wood to points of greatest mechanical load, while bones go a step further, removing material where it is not needed, lightweighting their structure for their dynamic workloads. At the scale of the cell, trees arrange fibers in the direction of the flow of force, or principal stress trajectories, to minimize shear stress. Engineers have incorporated these and other lessons learned from trees and bones into software design programs that optimize the weight and performance of fiber-composite materials. For example, car parts and entire cars designed with these principles have resulted in new vehicle designs that are as crash-safe as conventional cars, but up to 30% lighter."}, {"Source": "vampire bat's saliva", "Application": "anticoagulant", "Function1": "break down blood clot", "Function2": "acts as an anticoagulant", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/saliva-breaks-down-blood-clots/", "Strategy": "Saliva Breaks Down Blood Clots\n\nThe saliva of vampire bats acts as an anticoagulant due to a protein that inhibits Factor X, an enzyme involved in the coagulation pathway.\n\nVampire bats are sanguivorous or blood-eating bats. When they bite their victim, a protein in their saliva acts as an anticoagulant, which keeps their victim’s blood flowing while they feed. This anticoagulant contains the protein desmoteplase or DSPA, which was given the nickname Draculin. During the blood clotting process, DSPA inhibits Factor X, which is an enzyme involved in the coagulation pathway.\n\nThere is a protein in the vampire bat’s saliva that might one day benefit stroke sufferers, especially those who ignore their symptoms for several hours before calling 911 or going to the hospital…This enzyme–called desmoteplase, or DSPA–is what interests stroke experts. For more than eight years, researchers have studied it to see whether it can dissolve blood clots that starve the brain of oxygen during a stroke. ‘When you inject (the enzyme) intravenously in a human it can also keep the blood flowing,’ Torbey said."}, {"Source": "bees' electron-stripping enzyme", "Application": "certain insecticides detoxifition", "Function1": "detoxify pesticide", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/enzymes-break-down-pesticides/", "Strategy": "Honeybees Detoxify Insecticide\n\nBees detoxify pesticides using special electron-stripping enzymes\n\nIntroduction \n\nThe next time you eat a fruit, nut, or vegetable, give a thought to how the wondrous food in your hand or on your plate was grown. Very likely, a honeybee was involved in a vital way.\n\nHoneybees (Apis mellifera) are important pollinators for wild plants and human agricultural systems, crucial to the pollination of foods including apples, cherries, blueberries, broccoli, pumpkins, and almonds. Honeybee populations have been declining, however, because of a number of threats, including bacterial and fungal diseases and parasitic mites. Many insecticides cannot be used to control these threats though, because they also kill the bees.\n\nHoneybees have important chemical abilities that can help them deal with some of these threats, however. For example, the insecticide tau-fuvalinate, a derivative from pyrethrum daisies, successfully controls parasitic varroa mites without harming the bees themselves. That’s because bees have enzymes––special protein molecules capable of making changes to other molecules––which can detoxify certain insecticides.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nThe enzymes known as P450s (short for cytochrome P450 monooxygenases) appear to be especially effective at detoxifying the insecticide tau-fuvalinate. Researchers draw this kind of conclusion from studies in which chemicals known to inhibit P450 enzymes (e.g., piperonyl butoxide, or PBO) are added to sugar water and fed to bees, and the toxic effects of insecticides like tau-fuvalinate––such as a lack of coordination––become more apparent. Remove the PBO enzyme inhibitor, and the bees are no longer impacted as strongly by tau-fulvalinate.\n\nHow does it work? P450 enzymes are known to be capable of stripping electrons away from (i.e., oxidizing) molecular structures known as aromatic rings, found in natural toxins as well as pyrethrum-derived insecticides.\nA similar process occurs when you cut an apple and it begins to brown: oxygen in the air removes electrons from now-exposed molecules in the apple’s flesh, and you can see the apple’s molecules undergo change. The formation of rust from metal in moist air is another similar oxidation-degradation process.\n\nAromatic rings are molecules, or parts of molecules, that form circular chains of carbon atoms with various side groups. When these structures are stripped of electrons, they become unstable and begin to break down. Tau-fulvalinate contains an additional aromatic ring, which may explain why honeybees, with their P450 enzymes, are especially able to detoxify it.\n\nThe Potential \n\nThe abilities of enzymes to change and detoxify otherwise harmful chemicals is of great use not only to honeybees, but more widely for people in our efforts to cope with both human-made and natural toxins. The natural metabolic adaptations of other species can suggest enzymatic compounds and chemical processes which can help us neutralize toxins in our own environment. P450 enzymes similar to those found in honeybees, for example, are now used to break down a variety of chemicals harmful to people and other species alike, including carcinogens, steroids, and pesticides."}, {"Source": "spider's silk", "Application": "particular specifications' fibers", "Function1": "produce fiber", "Function2": "turn liquid into fiber", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/salt-and-squeezing-turn-liquid-to-spider-silk/", "Strategy": "Salt and Squeezing Turn Liquid to Spider Silk\n\nSpiders turn liquid into a strong, stretchy fiber by squeezing it through a small space that helps protein molecules to connect with each other.\nIntroduction \n\nPerched on a dewy leaf on a warm summer’s dawn, an orb-weaving spider begins her work for the day. Pushing proteins from her body, she produces a fine fiber that sticks to the surface of the leaf. Clambering from leaf to leaf, the spider creates a web she will use to trap insects to eat.\n\nSmall and often out of sight, spiders may seem little more than a decorative footnote to nature. In reality, they’re some of nature’s most remarkable engineers. To create the webs they use to trap meals, they turn a liquid into a fiber that’s far thinner than a human hair and five times stronger than steel. Most surprisingly,  these fibers are produced instantaneously, from the spiders’ own bodies, using only raw materials they get from the insects and other prey they catch.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nAt first glance, spinning spider silk thread may not seem a remarkable feat. Microscopy and chemistry have enabled humans to look closer though, and see it for the natural wonder that it is. For one thing, spiders store the proteins that make up the fiber in liquid form inside their bodies, preventing them from hardening into a fiber there. Second, the fiber itself takes on a variety of traits, with variations in thickness, stickiness, stretchiness, and other characteristics depending on how the fiber is “pultruded,” or pulled from a spider’s body as the spider moves away from an end that’s stuck to a surface.\n\nHow do spiders do it? It all has to do with the design of the silk’s protein molecules, the solutions they’re stored in, and the way they’re molded as they pass through a spider’s silk ducts.\n\nWhile silk proteins vary between spider species, they all appear to share a particularly important region called a “salt bridge.” Salt bridges are pairs of protein regions that are oppositely charged and therefore attracted to one another. Salt bridges help to stabilize the proteins and keep them folded. At lower pH levels, the salt bridge becomes unstable, and the protein structure can start to unfold.\n\nWhen the liquid silk is pulled from inside the spider, it goes through the spinning duct, which is a narrow tunnel. Large, folded proteins can’t fit through, so they must be unfolded. As the protein moves through the duct, the enzyme carbonic anhydrase helps to create a pH gradient that is slowly lowered from about 8 to about 5.7 (becoming more acidic). It does this by catalyzing the conversion of carbon dioxide and water into carbonic acid, and vice versa. This reduction in pH causes the salt bridges to come apart. This allows the protein to start unfolding into a more linear configuration that can more easily move through the spinning duct.\n\nThe narrow duct also creates shear forces that physically force the unfolded protein molecules into elongated shapes that can more easily line up in parallel to one another. This is an essential part of the spinning process, as it allows the viscous, protein-filled solution to flow more easily through the spinning duct, reducing the energy requirements for spinning. Some sections of the silk connect many times over with bonds forming between them like rungs between two sides of a ladder (a structure called a “beta sheet”). Other sections only connect end-to-end. The resulting structure is then both very strong and very stretchy, giving the finished silk its famous properties, perfect for capturing dinner.\n\nThe Potential \n\nPotential applications of a spider’s ability to turn a liquid into a durable fiber are all but endless. Most directly, the process could be applied to make thread that can be woven into fabrics for clothing, household goods, and more without the need for high temperatures, harsh chemicals, or other environmentally unfriendly inputs or byproducts.\n\nBecause so many details of the pultrusion process—speed, chemical environment, and more—affect the characteristics of the final product, spider silk production can be also applied to making fibers that conform to very particular specifications necessary for technical uses, such as water filtration. The ability to make a strong fiber that can be readily molded into specific shapes might be applied to making scaffolds for artificial organs.\n\nFinally, the overall process of fiber-making might be programmed into robots, enabling them to use environmental conditions to guide the production of variable fibers with minimal input from humans."}, {"Source": "hagfish's skin cell", "Application": "developing innovative filtration technologies", "Function1": "selective absorption", "Function2": "absorb through skin", "Function3": "deny non-vital compounds", "Function4": "selective transport", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/semi-permeable-skin-selectively-absorbs-organic-nutrients/", "Strategy": "Semi‑permeable Skin Selectively\nAbsorbs Organic Nutrients\n\nSkin cells of hagfish are capable of directly absorbing organic nutrients using specially adapted transport channels and leveraging sodium ion gradients.\n\nIntroduction \n\nAbsorbing nutrients from the environment is essential for all heterotrophic organisms. All but a few vertebrates accomplish this task orally by consuming food and absorbing freed nutrients through the gut epithelium. Nutrient uptake through the skin is not observed in most vertebrates because skin, by its nature, is meant to function as a tough, mostly impermeable barrier.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nHowever, Pacific hagfish have adapted to suit their feeding habitat by evolving the ability to absorb certain organic nutrients directly through their skin. Hagfish feed by burrowing through the decaying corpses of large animals, a rich stew of organic nutrients that have sunk to the ocean floor. In this environment, absorption of some nutrients through direct skin contact is a valuable adaptation. But skin must also be a strong physical barrier and capable of denying passage of non-vital compounds.\n\nHagfish feed by burrowing through the decaying corpses of large animals, a rich stew of organic nutrients that have sunk to the ocean floor.\n\nThe hagfish solves this conflict by embedding active transport proteins in its skin epithelium cells. The transport channels are highly selective for specific nutrient substrates like amino acids. They derive the energy required for transport from a sodium ion gradient that exists between the outside of the skin cells and the inside. Like almost all cells, hagfish cells actively pump sodium ions out of their cytoplasm. This creates a concentration gradient across the cell membrane. Allowing sodium ions to flow back into the cell through the transport channels fuels the energy-intensive uptake of useful nutrients, which is called symport.\n\nOther factors like allosteric regulation can manipulate how compounds are absorbed through the skin. In this way, the hagfish permit the transport of select nutrients through an otherwise impermeable skin barrier.\n\nThe Potential \n\nIn the case of hagfish, their skin functions as a highly selective semi-permeable membrane. Learning how its proteins facilitate passage of some compounds while inhibiting others could aid in developing innovative filtration technologies. These technologies could help clean our water, improve medical treatments like kidney dialysis, and help deliver targeted medical therapies to specific tissues in the body."}, {"Source": "oregano", "Application": "food preservation", "Function1": "prevent fungal infection", "Function2": "prevent food spoilage", "Function3": "initiate plants’ natural defense responses", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/chemicals-in-oregano-act-as-fungicide/", "Strategy": "Chemicals in Oregano Act as Fungicide\n\nVolatile compounds found in oregano destroy fungi by breaking down their cell membranes."}, {"Source": "rosette succulent's leaf", "Application": "storing water;controlling humidity", "Function1": "collect water", "Function2": "smooth surface", "Function3": "high surface area", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/leaves-capture-water-from-fog/", "Strategy": "Leaves Capture Water From Fog\n\nThe leaves of rosette succulents intercept water droplets from fog through their waxy, smooth surface.\n\nIntroduction\n\nDespite the relatively harsh conditions of North America’s deserts, a wide range of plants taking many shapes and forms have been able to thrive in these areas. Rosette succulents make up a diverse group of plants that have successfully established in desert ecosystems, especially at the elevations at which clouds form.\n\nMany of them have relatively large leaves that store large volumes of water and are arranged in layers spreading out from around the base of the plant. This structure helps them to collect and store water from rain and fog, and is one of the keys to their success in these environments.\"\n\nThe Strategy\n\nConsidering their evolutionary history, fog is a relatively new source of water for these plants. Nonetheless, rosette succulents have developed several characteristics to help them make use of this resource.\n\nAgaves, for example, are highly efficient at harvesting water––even from fog and the lightest of rainfalls––thanks to the smooth surface of their leaves created by a waxy outer layer that also serves as a barrier to water loss. The water droplets in fog have a lot of surface area with which to make contact with other surfaces. With this high surface area, and being relatively lightweight, fog droplets are captured by an envelope of slow-moving air that surrounds a leaf and directed along its smooth surface. Species in cloud belts also tend to use that effect, as well as an arrangement of leaves that act like a funnel, to transport harvested water to their roots.\n\nIn higher altitude areas where fog is common, many rosette succulents have evolved to exhibit the “narrow-leaf syndrome.” This is a specific set of traits that can help increase a plant’s efficiency in capturing moisture from fog. Narrow and flexible leaves are better able to catch water droplets and direct their movement to the base, while a longer basal stem helps the plant catch more fog by holding it higher above the ground.\n\nThe Potential Rosette succulents can serve as inspiration for ways we can harvest and store water from alternative, temporary sources like fog, for drinking and other uses.\n\nTheir strategy for removing moisture from the air can also be applied to enclosed spaces in which humidity control is necessary for maintaining livable conditions for people, plants, or animals. Some spaces that could benefit from this technology include indoor swimming pools, ice rinks, and stadiums, as well as large-scale enclosed habitats on land, in the sea, or beyond."}, {"Source": "mushroom anemone's protein", "Application": "colorful and environmentally friendly textiles", "Function1": "produce color", "Function2": "generate specific wavelengths of light", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/protein-turns-sunlight-into-vivid-color/", "Strategy": "Protein Turns Sunlight Into Vivid Color\n\nProteins made by Discosoma mushroom anemones produce color by using the sun’s energy to generate specific wavelengths of light. \n\nIntroduction \n\nTurn plain sunlight into vibrant color? These pancake-shaped coral relatives found in the Indian and Pacific oceans are on it. Members of the Discosoma genus, they have spots around their mouths that glow yellow-orange to bright red, depending on the species, after being exposed to light.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nBehind this ability are extremely long molecules known as fluorescent proteins that are folded into a shape that looks a little like a plate of spaghetti, with two tubelike sections, called beta barrels, sitting on top of it. Inside each of the beta barrels is a special stretch of protein called a chromophore. The chromophore’s unique configuration allows it to absorb a photon—a packet of energy—from the sun and use that energy to produce a pulse of red light. The beta barrels shield the chromophore from other molecules that could steal the energy before the chromophore can use it to create the fluorescent protein’s signature glow.\n\nThere are many very similar molecules that corals (and other marine creatures) produce, in colors that include red, cyan, green-yellow, and purple-blue. No one knows for sure, but scientists have speculated that the proteins might protect the corals from sunburn. They might help the corals contribute to a partnership with algae that capture light energy and share it with the coral. They might signal something about the coral to other animals. They also might help the corals deal with stress by destroying molecules that could harm them.\n\nThe Potential \n\nDiscosoma’s glowing reputation holds potential benefit for humans as well. Many conventional fabric dyes are toxic or cause cancer or mutations. They can pollute the environment, reducing water quality in lakes and streams and harming plants and beneficial microbes in the soil. In contrast, fluorescent proteins can biodegrade into simple molecules such as carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen found in all living things.\n\nIf manufacturers could incorporate these molecules into the molecules that make fibers, they could use those fibers to make textiles that are colorful without requiring harmful dyes. The colorful proteins could be designed to readily degrade when their useful life is over into friendly molecules.\nAs our ability to synthesize proteins and incorporate them into other molecules has advanced, it is now possible to use Discosoma’s design as a basis for producing environmentally friendly textiles with a range of built-in colors."}, {"Source": "bird's bone", "Application": "airframes", "Function1": "increasing density", "Function2": "maximize stiffness and strength", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/bones-maximize-stiffness-and-strength/", "Strategy": "Bones Maximize Stiffness and Strength\n\nThe bones of birds maximize stiffness and strength relative to weight by increasing density.\n“The skeletons of birds are universally described as lightweight as a result of selection for minimizing the energy required for flight. From a functional perspective, the weight (mass) of an animal relative to its lift-generating surfaces is a key determinant of the metabolic cost of flight. The evolution of birds has been characterized by many weight-saving adaptations that are reflected in bone shape, many of which strengthen and stiffen the skeleton. Although largely unstudied in birds, the material properties of bone tissue can also contribute to bone strength and stiffness. In this study, I calculated the density of the cranium, humerus and femur in passerine birds, rodents and bats by measuring bone mass and volume using helium displacement. I found that, on average, these bones are densest in birds, followed closely by bats. As bone density increases, so do bone stiffness and strength. Both of these optimization criteria are used in the design of strong and stiff, but lightweight, manmade airframes. By analogy, increased bone density in birds and bats may reflect adaptations for maximizing bone strength and stiffness while minimizing bone mass and volume. These data suggest that both bone shape and the material properties of bone tissue have played important roles in the evolution of flight. They also reconcile the conundrum of how bird skeletons can appear to be thin and delicate, yet contribute just as much to total body mass as do the skeletons of terrestrial mammals”"}, {"Source": "difflugia", "Application": "protective casing", "Function1": "casing built with sand", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/durable-casing-built-with-sand/", "Strategy": "Durable Casing Built With Sand\n\nThe protoplasm of a protozoan, Difflugia, incorporates sand and other particulate materials into an exterior casing by migrating the materials through its protoplasm and joining them with an organic cement.\n\n“A protozoan, Difflugia, has developed a unique system of ingesting elements of construction together with its food. It incorporates indigestible particles such as grains of sand among its food, usually tiny algae, in its flowing protoplasm. These sand particles migrate from the interior of the protoplasm to the exterior surface and become cemented together with a secretion of the animal to form a protective urn-shaped casing. The grains are very precisely fitted together, and this necessarily implies some system of selection and orientation.” "}, {"Source": "chloroplast in plant cell", "Application": "green chemistry", "Function1": "photosynthesis", "Function2": "absorb blue and red light", "Function3": "churn out glucose", "Function4": "convert solar energy into chemical energy", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/how-plants-transform-sunlight-into-food/", "Strategy": "Photosynthesis Converts Solar\nEnergy Into Chemical Energy\n\nBy absorbing the sun’s blue and red light, chlorophyll loses electrons, which become mobile forms of chemical energy that power plant growth.\n\nIntroduction \n\nFor the first half of Earth’s life to date, oxygen was all but absent from an atmosphere made mostly of nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and methane. The evolution of animals and life as we now know it owe everything to photosynthesis.\n\nAbout 2.5 billion years ago, cyanobacteria—the first organisms that used sunlight and carbon dioxide to produce oxygen and sugars via photosynthesis—transformed our atmosphere. Later, algae evolved with this ability, and about 0.5 billion years ago, the first land plants sprouted.\n\nAlgae, plankton, and land plants now work together to keep our atmosphere full of oxygen.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nPhotosynthesis occurs in special plant cells called chloroplasts, which are the type of cells found in leaves. A single chloroplast is like a bag filled with the main ingredients needed for photosynthesis. It has water soaked up from the plant’s roots, atmospheric carbon dioxide absorbed by the leaves, and chlorophyll contained in folded, maze-like organelles called thylakoids.\n\nChlorophyll is the true catalyst of photosynthesis. Cyanobacteria, plankton, and land plants all rely on this light-sensitive molecule to spark the process.\n\nChlorophyll molecules are so bad at absorbing green light that they reflect it like tiny mirrors, causing our eyes to see most leaves as green. It’s usually only in autumn, after chlorophyll degrades, that we peep those infinite shades of yellow and orange produced by carotenoid pigments.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nBut chlorophyll’s superpower isn’t the ability to reflect green light—it’s the ability to absorb blue and red light like a sponge. The sun’s blue and red light energizes chlorophyll, causing it to lose electrons, which become mobile forms of chemical energy that power plant growth. The chlorophyll replenishes its lost electrons not by drinking water but by splitting it apart and taking electrons from the hydrogen, leaving oxygen as a byproduct to be “exhaled”.\n\nThe electrons freed from chlorophyll are utilized in at least two ways. First, they are used to build up a high concentration of protons in the space inside the thylakoid (called the lumen), which in turn drives the transformation of ADP into ATP—nature’s energy carrier molecule. Secondly, they reduce NADP+ to NADPH. These transformations take place in the stroma, the area outside of the thylakoid folds but still inside the chloroplast “bag.” The energy brought by \nATP and NADPH fuels a series of reactions in which carbon dioxide is persuaded to give up its precious cargo of carbon to build glucose and other key metabolic compounds. As these reactions (known as the Calvin Cycle) occur, the molecules are depleted back to ADP and NADP+ returning to the thylakoid folds to replenish their store of energy through sunlight-stimulated chlorophyll.\n\nWhen plants have enough sunlight, water, and fertile soil, the photosynthesis cycle continues to churn out more and more glucose. Glucose is like food that plants use to build their bodies. They combine thousands of glucose molecules to make cellulose, the main component of their cell walls. The more cellulose they make, the more they grow.\n\nThe Potential \n\nNature, through photosynthesis, enables plants to convert the sun’s energy into a form that they and other living things can make use of. Plants transfer that energy directly to most other living things as food or as food for animals that other animals eat.\n\nHumans also extract this energy indirectly from wood, or from plants that decayed millions of years ago into oil, coal, and natural gas. Burning these materials to provide electricity and heat has, through overexploitation, led to dire consequences that have upset the balance of life on Earth.\n\nWhat if humans could harness this power in a different way? Imagine green chemistry that’s catalyzed by sunlight instead of having to mine for heavy metals like copper, tin, or platinum. Think of the potential that chemical processes requiring little heat have to reduce energy consumption. With a better understanding of photosynthesis, we may transform agriculture to consume less water and preserve more land for native plants and forests. As we continue to grapple with climate change, listening to what plants can teach us can shine a light down a greener path."}, {"Source": "forested peatland", "Application": "artificial carbon sequestration systems", "Function1": "capture carbon dioxide", "Function2": "store carbon dioxide", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/boreal-forested-peatland-captures-and-stores-carbon-dioxide/", "Strategy": "Trees and Peat Capture and Store Carbon\n\nBoreal forested peatland captures carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and stores it long-term through delayed decomposition of plants.\nIntroduction \n\nPlants are made of air.\n\nAbsorbing carbon dioxide as a gas, they break the invisible molecules apart and knit the atoms together into roots, stems, trunks, and leaves. Some of these structures are fleeting, disintegrating within weeks or months, and sending their carbon right back into the atmosphere. Other structures are built to last, and hold that carbon in place for decades, or even centuries––even after the death of the plant itself.\n\nThis is what gives plant-filled ecosystems like forests and peatlands so much potential for bringing down the level of carbon in the atmosphere. Trees are well known for providing this ecological service, but peat––the thick soil-like accumulation of waterlogged, partially decomposed plants––is the largest natural terrestrial carbon store. In areas where a forest grows on a bed of peat, we get boons from both worlds.\n\nHigh water levels in wetlands prevent large amounts of oxygen from reaching wetland soil, where it would enable aerobic bacteria to decompose organic matter.\n \nThe Strategy \n\nThe forested peatlands of North America’s boreal region can be as dense as other types of forests in these areas. This is significant because the less sunlight there is reaching the forest floor, the longer it takes for plants to decompose. In this way, forested peatlands can protect their peat from decomposing fully and releasing stored carbon back into the atmosphere.\n\nWithin forested peatlands, the peat itself does the heavy lifting, storing much more carbon than the trees. In fact, the forested peatlands of boreal regions in eastern Canada can store as much carbon as other wetlands, like fens and bogs, in the same areas. The combined storage capabilities and protection from decomposition create a self-sufficient system for capturing and storing carbon.\n\nNothing lasts forever though, and fire can cut short the long sleep that carbon would otherwise undergo, locked up in the peat. Whether natural or man-made, fires can result in both forests and peatlands releasing their stored carbon and losing some of their ability to continue storing carbon. Since forested peatlands have such high soil moisture, they are less vulnerable to fires and offer more effective, long-term carbon storage than other forests. Only the drier layers of peat at the surface of the soil are impacted by fires, leaving those deeper layers that are storing carbon unharmed. However, rising global temperatures as a result of climate change are causing drying deeper and deeper into the peat, making these areas increasingly vulnerable to fires.\n\nThe Potential \n\nWhile unforested wetlands generally have greater carbon storage capacity, forested peatlands present a compelling alternate model for a sequestering ecosystem, and are worth protecting for their potential role in reducing the impacts of climate change. As humans seek to develop artificial carbon sequestration systems, the diversity of forested peatlands provides examples and inspiration for how to more effectively pull solutions to climate challenges out of thin air."}, {"Source": "water snail's foot", "Application": "propulsion engine", "Function1": "underwater movement", "Function2": "crawl upside down", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/foot-aids-underwater-movement/", "Strategy": "Foot Aids Underwater Movement\n\nThe foot of water snails helps them move upside down beneath the water's surface by creating small ripples in the mucus-water interface.\n\n“A UC San Diego engineer has revealed a new mode of propulsion based on\nhow water snails create ripples of slime to crawl upside down beneath\nthe surface.\n\n“Eric Lauga, an assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace\nengineering at the Jacobs School of Engineering, recently published a\npaper…that explains how and why water snails can drag themselves across a\nfluid surface that they can’t even grip.\n\n“Based on Lauga’s research, the secret is in the slime. The main finding\nof Lauga’s research is that soft surfaces, such as the free surface of a\npond or a lake, can be distorted by applying forces; these distortions\ncan be exploited (by an animal, or in the lab) to generate propulsive\nforces and move. Some freshwater and marine snails crawl by ‘hanging’\nfrom the water surface while secreting a trail of mucus. The snail’s\nfoot wrinkles into little rippling waves, which produces corresponding\nwaves in the mucus layer that it secretes between the foot and the air.\nParts of the mucus film get squeezed while other parts are stretched,\ncreating a pressure that pushes the foot forward.” (Jacobs School of Engineering News 2008)"}, {"Source": "anaerobic bacteria", "Application": "microbial fermentation production materials", "Function1": "synthesize atp", "Function2": "alcohol fermentation", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/anaerobic-bacterias-breathless-variety-of-chemical-processes/", "Strategy": "Anaerobic Bacteria’s Breathless\nVariety of Chemical Processes\n\nAnaerobic bacteria use a broad and diverse range of chemical pathways to synthesize ATP.\nIntroduction \n\nFor over a billion years, life on Earth developed without the presence of high levels of oxygen in the atmosphere. Oxygenated air is so ubiquitous in the experience of our everyday life today, that we forget there are still many places where oxygen isn’t so plentiful. In these places––the ocean floor, the nooks and crannies of bedrock, and in your own intestines––descendants of some organisms who first evolved in that early-Earth environment still use oxygen-free methods to perform essential life-supporting chemical processes.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nNearly all organisms on Earth break down sugar (specifically glucose) to create the energy they need to carry out various activities. The energy from breaking down glucose is used to create another molecule called adenosine triphosphate, or ATP. ATP is used as a kind of battery, storing energy in cells for use as needed.\nATP isn’t created directly from breaking down glucose. Instead, the breaking of glucose starts a chain reaction, in which a sequence of specific molecules undergo changes that, each in turn, provokes changes in subsequent molecules in a kind of domino tumbling reaction. These changes occur largely as electrons move from one molecule and are incorporated into each subsequent molecule along what is called the “electron transport chain.” Without this flow of electrons through the specific sequence or pathway of molecules, the generation of ATP would grind to a halt. This energy-producing chemical process continues as long as something removes the “spent” electrons at the end of the sequence. In humans and other oxygen-breathing organisms, that something is oxygen. But organisms that live in oxygen-free environments need something different.\nAnaerobic bacteria known as fermenters use a range of pathways for removing spent electrons to keep the process of ATP formation going. For example, in lactic acid fermentation (used for instance in human muscle), a molecule known as NAD+ (Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide) is used as an electron receptor instead of oxygen, allowing the production of lactate, which is further metabolized in the liver. Another pathway using NAD+, known as alcohol fermentation, produces ethanol. Before there was an oxygenated atmosphere, a highly diverse set of chemical pathways evolved for ATP formation––chemical processes that have been retained in the diverse group of fermenting anaerobes that exist today.\n\nThe Potential \n\nPeople have learned to leverage the diverse chemical processes and products used by fermenting microbes to produce a wide variety of other chemical processes and end-products of interest to people. These include things like improving water quality; breaking down plastics; making bread, yogurt, cheese, wine, and miso; and, increasingly, manufacturing non-food items, such as fuel and plastics.\nProduction of industrial materials using microbial fermentation has many advantages. Plastics can be produced without the need to extract or process petroleum, for example. In addition, these plastics can be formulated to be biodegradable. Microbial production of plastics also requires fewer natural resources, such as land, than plastics made directly from plants. Ultimately, the diverse chemical pathways exhibited by fermenting microbes serve as models of possible chemical processes which have greatly broadened humankind’s chemical ideas and methods."}, {"Source": "bacteria's enzyme", "Application": "creating complex molecules", "Function1": "create complex molecule", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/chemicals-made-with-natural-ingredients/", "Strategy": "Chemicals Made With Natural Ingredients\n\nBacteria can use natural chemicals to create complex molecules, including antibiotics, with special enzymes.\n“Until now, only the intricate machinery inside cells could take a mix of enzyme ingredients, blend them together and deliver a natural product with an elaborate chemical structure such as penicillin. Researchers at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and the University of Arizona have for the first time demonstrated the ability to mimic this process outside of a cell.\n\n“A team led by Qian Cheng and Bradley Moore of Scripps was able to synthesize an antibiotic natural product created by a Hawaiian sea sediment bacterium. They did so by combining a cocktail of enzymes, the protein catalysts inside cells, in a relatively simple mixing process inside a laboratory flask…The antibiotic synthesized in Moore’s laboratory, called enterocin, was assembled in approximately two hours. Such a compound would normally take months if not a year to prepare chemically.” "}, {"Source": "asiatic lily bud", "Application": "new biomimetic designs for deployable structures", "Function1": "create internal stress", "Function2": "burst open bloom", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/petals-peel-open/", "Strategy": "Petals Peel Open\n\nPetals of the lily peel open from the top down due to faster growth rates of the outer edge of the petal.\n\n“Here we study the physical process of blooming in the asiatic lily Lilium casablanca. Our observations show that the edges of the petals wrinkle as the flower opens, suggesting that differential growth drives the deployment of these laminar shell-like structures…Our experiments and theory overturn previous hypotheses that suggest that blooming is driven by differential growth of the inner layer of the petals and in the midrib by providing a qualitatively different paradigm that highlights the role of edge growth. This functional morphology suggests new biomimetic designs for deployable structures using boundary or edge actuation rather than the usual bulk or surface actuation”"}, {"Source": "bumblebee", "Application": "thermoregulation mechanisms", "Function1": "counter-current heat exchange", "Function2": "heat-shunting mechanism", "Function3": "maintains regular temperature", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/mechanisms-help-thermoregulation/", "Strategy": "Mechanisms Help Thermoregulation\n\nThe body of bumblebees maintains a regular temperature via counter-current heat exchange and a heat-shunting mechanism.\n\n“1. The narrow passage within the petiole between thorax and abdomen is anatomically constructed so that counter-current exchange should retain heat in the thorax despite blood flow to and from the cool abdomen.\n\n“2. However, the counter-current heat exchanger can be physiologically circumvented. Exogenously heated bumblebees prevented overheating of the thorax by shunting heat into the abdomen. They also regurgitated fluid, which helped to reduce head temperature but had little effect on thoracic temperature.\n\n“3. Temperature increases in the ventrum of the abdomen occurred in steps exactly coinciding with the beats of the ventral diaphragm, and with the abdominal ‘ventilatory’ pumping movements when these were present. The ability to prevent overheating of the thorax by transport of heat to the abdomen was abolished when the heart was made inoperative.\n\n“4. At low thoracic temperatures the ventral diaphragm beat at a wide range of rates and with varying interbeat intervals, while the heart beat at a high frequency relative to the ventral diaphragm, but at a very low amplitude. However, when thoracic temperature exceeded 43 °C the amplitudes of both were high, and the interbeat intervals as well as the beating frequencies of the two pulsatile organs became identical in any one bee. Furthermore, heated bees engaged in vigorous abdominal pumping at the same frequency as that of their heart and ventral diaphragm pulsations.\n\n“5. The results indicate that the anatomical counter-current heat exchanger is reduced or eliminated during heat stress by ‘chopping’ the blood flow into pulses, and the blood pulses are shunted through the petiole alternately by way of a switch mechanism.”"}, {"Source": "caterpillar's stitch", "Application": "machine capable of reshaping", "Function1": "reshape leaf", "Function2": "build shelter", "Function3": "protect from predator", "Function4": "generate silk", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/caterpillars-roll-leaves/", "Strategy": "Caterpillars Reshape Leaves With Silk\n\nCaterpillars use stitches made with contracting silk threads to roll leaves into a tube-shaped shelter \nIntroduction \n\nIn the rich foliage of a cherry tree, some remarkable moving and shaking is going on. With the intensity of a camper trying to set up a tent before an impending thunderstorm starts, a cherry leaf roller (Caloptilia serotinella) caterpillar is turning a leaf into a tube-shaped shelter to protect itself from predators.\nHow does this caterpillar pull off this physically demanding task—the equivalent of a human rolling up a room-sized carpet without using their hands? The key to its success is a tool literally right in front of its face: a collection of organs called spinnerets that produce a stretchy, strong silk that can exert a force strong enough to roll the leaf into a curl.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nThe cherry leaf roller starts its construction project by crawling along the underside of a leaf, biting chunks out of the tough vein that runs down the middle to allow it to be more easily rolled up.\nWhen it gets to the tip of the leaf, the caterpillar starts to extrude silk from its spinnerets. It attaches one end of the fiber to the tip of the leaf and the other to a point on or near the underside of the leaf some 10 millimeters (a half-inch) or so away, stretching the strand out like a rubber band before attaching. Each strand creates a tiny amount of “pull,” and together, many strands create enough tension to cause the leaf to start to curl.\nLike a living metronome set at a half-second pace, the caterpillar swings its head back and forth between the gradually curling tube and the part of the leaf that is still flat, attaching new strands as it inches its way from the tip to the stem. Like any good worker, the leaf roller takes a break once in a while, interspersing 7 minutes or so of intense spinning with about 6 minutes of other activities.\nAfter 4 to 10 hours, when it has spun thousands of strands and about three-quarters of the leaf is rolled, the caterpillar moves over to one side of the roll and, rapidly and repeatedly reaching up and down, pulls it shut with more tightly stretched strands of silk. Finally, it seals the opposite edge, locking itself in a cozy shelter with abundant food (it slowly eats the rolled up layers of leafy goodness)–securely out of sight and reach of predators.\n\nThe Potential \n\nPeople have used caterpillar silk as a fiber for textiles for thousands of years. But that’s just the beginning of the benefit we might derive from knowing about this incredible material and how caterpillars make and use it. Silk offers inspiration for tapping the multiple traits of a substance that changes from one state (liquid) to another (solid) to benefit from characteristics of both (flexibility, strength).\nThe cherry leaf roller, with its rapid-fire constricting-strands construction technique, provides valuable insights into how builders might capitalize on momentum and the physical properties of materials to exert a force that can move or reshape an object. The strategy can also inform other efforts to develop better ways to attach surfaces to each other, including wound edges, fabrics, furniture, infrastructure, and more."}, {"Source": "matrix", "Application": "artificial cartilage material", "Function1": "dynamic mechanical behavior", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/matrix-supports-tissue-engineering/", "Strategy": "Matrix Supports Tissue Engineering\n\nThe matrix associated with individual chondrocytes and other stem cells manages varying demands over time during the tissue engineering process by having temporally dynamic mechanical properties.\n“Cell-based tissue engineering holds great potential for therapies involving regeneration and/or replacement of damaged cartilage…The ultimate goal and challenge is to produce a material with structural, biochemical and biomechanical properties similar enough to healthy cartilage so that upon maturation in vivo it can restore physiological function. To achieve this objective, it is important to understand the temporal evolution of the properties of the newly synthesized matrix. At early stages, matrix is formed around individual cells within the scaffold and these cell–matrix composites are often isolated from each other. As culture time increases, growth of neighboring cell-associated matrices leads to the formation of a more continuous neo-tissue which undergoes further evolution in structure and properties in vitro or in vivo. Throughout this process, the cell-associated matrix is important in facilitating cell signaling and mechanotransduction (Millward-Sadler et al.,2000; Millward-Sadler and Salter, 2004). Knowledge of the properties of the in vitro-generated matrix provides an assessment of the quality and ultimate success of a given tissue engineering approach and has great potential to be utilized for optimization…the present study investigates the dynamic oscillatory mechanical behavior (Mahaffy et al., 2000, 2004; Alcaraz et al., 2003; Park et al., 2005; Smith et al., 2005) of the cell-associated matrices of individual chondrocytes cultured in alginate scaffolds up to 28 days. Such time-dependent behaviors are important because tissue-engineered constructs implanted in vivo are expected to undergo cyclic and impact loading that includes frequency components as high as 1kHz, just as native cartilage does…\n\n“In summary, our AFM-based approach has enabled the measurement of the poroelastic dynamic mechanical behavior of the newly developing matrix associated with individual chondrocytes, and can be applied generally to study the dynamic behavior of extremely compliant (~kPa) biological, porous, and hydrated systems at nm-length scales over a broad range of frequencies. The high resolution dynamic mechanical approach described here is able to discern fine differences in the development and maturation of the cell-associated matrix temporally and with the addition of growth factors. The methodologies reported here can thus be employed to assess maturation of matrix synthesized by primary chondrocytes and, additionally, by other cells such as stem cells undergoing chondrogenesis in applications for cartilage tissue engineering. It may also be possible to use this methodology to study the mechanobiological response of single chondrocytes (Shieh and Athanasiou, 2006b) and stem cells to applied dynamic loads over a wide frequency range.”"}, {"Source": "spiny lobster's caribbean", "Application": "underwater sensors", "Function1": "trap underwater odor", "Function2": "identify odor", "Function3": "detect chemical signal", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/underwater-sensors-detect-odors/", "Strategy": "Underwater Sensors Detect Odors\n\nAntennules of the spiny lobster trap water to identify odors using chemosensory hairs.\n\n“…lobster olfactory antennules hydrodynamically alter the spatiotemporal patterns of concentration in turbulent odor plumes. As antennules flick, water penetrates their chemosensory hair array during the fast downstroke, carrying fine-scale patterns of concentration into the receptor area. This spatial pattern, blurred by flow along the antennule during the downstroke, is retained during the slower return stroke and is not shed until the next flick.”"}, {"Source": "cicada wing", "Application": "antibacterial microscopic cones", "Function1": "kill bacteria", "Function2": "nanopillars’ rupturing effect", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/how-cicada-wings-kill-bacteria/", "Strategy": "How Cicada Wings Kill Bacteria\n\nNanopillar cones covering cicada wings bond with bacterial membranes, stretching the portion between the cones to the point of rupturing.\n\nIntroduction \n\nEvery summer, annual cicadas emerge from underground all over the world, thickening the air with their distinctive clacking and rattling. Seventeen-year cicadas, which exist only in North America, slurp plant root sap beneath the ground for nearly two decades before surfacing and molting their shells to become breeding adults.\n\nThe Onondaga nation marks the time a brood of 17-year cicadas sprouted from the ground after George Washington’s 1779 scorched-earth campaign left the people with no crops, giving them an emergency food source that enabled them to survive.\n\nNow, cicadas may provide another means for human survival. Recent science shows that tiny structures on cicada wings kill bacteria, which could give us another way to fight germs that kill millions of people each year. \n\nThe Strategy \n\nIn 2012, scientists observed that cicada wings kill several types of harmful bacteria, but it wasn’t immediately clear how it worked. Were the wings coated in an antibiotic? Was there a rapid immune response? Using powerful microscopes to get an extremely close view of the wings, the scientists observed tiny cone-shaped bumps called nanopillars covering both sides in a hexagonal arrangement.\n\nThey hypothesized it was actually the cones themselves that were killing the bacteria, and they used “the Midas touch” to prove it. They coated cicada wings with a super thin layer of gold to inhibit any biochemical reactions. When exposed to the gold-plated cicada wings, bacteria still died, proving there was no chemical killer—the unique nanopillar structures were directly responsible.\n\nTo understand how the cones kill bacteria, think of a bacterial cell like a water balloon. With a diameter several times larger than the distance between cones, one cell rests on many nanopillars. It’s tempting to think of these nanopillars as a bed of nails that simply pop the water balloon. However, in 2013, the same group of scientists developed a model that told a different story.\n\nThe Potential \n\nFor centuries, the concept of bacterial infection went undiscovered, postponing the war we’d eventually wage against it. In the 1860s, French microbiologist Louis Pasteur kicked the battle off by finally proving that germs cause infection. Shortly after, he invented pasteurization to make some beverages safer to drink.\n\nJoseph Lister, a surgeon, quickly applied Pasteur’s work to hospitals, developing the first sterilizing technique to cleanse instruments, hands, and wounds with carbolic acid. Then in 1928, Scottish researcher Alexander Fleming accidentally discovered penicillin, sparking decades of antibiotic research.\n\nNow that some bacteria are developing resistance to antibiotics, we need to look to nature to help us discover new ways of fighting infection.\n\nCicada wing nanopillars may be the next weapon in our germ arsenal. Surgical instruments, biomedical implants, door handles, and food preparation surfaces might one day be coated with microscopic cones to kill bacteria before it can invade."}, {"Source": "snail's mucus", "Application": "glues", "Function1": "take on adhesive characteristics", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/mucus-takes-on-adhesive-qualities/", "Strategy": "Mucus Takes on Adhesive Qualities\n\nMucus of slugs and land snails takes on adhesive characteristics with the addition of certain proteins.\n“Researchers from Ithaca College and Cornell University studied the mucus and gel of land snails. Several molluscs have been shown to alternate between a non-adhesive trail mucus and a similar gel that forms a strong glue. The major structural difference between the two secretions is the presence of specific proteins in the adhesive mucus. This study identifies similar proteins from the glue of the slug Arion subfuscus and the land snail Helix aspersa. To investigate the role played by these proteins in adhesion, the proteins were isolated from the adhesive mucus of different molluscs and added to commercial polymer solutions. The effect was observed qualitatively, and quantified using a dynamic rheometer. The isolated proteins triggered gelling or visible stiffening of agar, pectin and polygalacturonic acid. The effect was stronger on more negatively charged polymers. The effect of the proteins was concentration dependent with an optimal concentration of 1–1.5 mg per ml, and was weakened when their structure changed. Other proteins and carbohydrates found in the adhesive mucus had no clear mechanical effect on gels. These findings show that the addition of these proteins to large, anionic polymers plays a central role in the formation of a glue from a mucus-like secretion. Such a mechanism may be common among invertebrates, and it may guide biomimetic approaches in the development of glues and gels.”"}, {"Source": "leaves of some plants", "Application": "sustainable agriculture", "Function1": "prevent pest", "Function2": "using a highly-evolved chemical language", "Function3": "attract pest-eating insects", "Function4": "release signaling molecule", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/leaves-communicate-pest-damage/", "Strategy": "Leaves Communicate Pest Damage\n\nThe leaves of some plants protect from pests because as they are chewed, they release a chemical combination of acids and alcohols that attract pest-eating insects.\n\n\nOne way plants protect themselves from pest damage is by using a highly-evolved chemical language. This chemical language communicates detailed information regarding what specific kind of insect pest is causing damage to the plant, and thus attracts the appropriate pest-eating insect to “rescue” it by killing off the pest.\n\nDamage from insect feeding elicits the release of signaling molecules systemically within the plant. These signaling molecules turn on genes for the production of volatile compounds, acids and alcohols which evaporate into the surrounding air to communicate the presence of the pest insect to pest-eating insects. Plants can recognize various insect pests by proteins in their oral secretions, as well as by the type of damage they cause. For example, piercing and sucking insects (such as whiteflies and aphids) elicit different signaling molecules than chewing insects (such as caterpillars). Because the signaling molecules elicited by different insect pests vary, the genes activated for volatile compound production are unique to that pest species, alone. The result is that the plant produces a specific volatile blend that attracts the most appropriate pest-eating insect.\n\nThe release of plant volatiles can be stimulated by an attack from a wide range of insect species, from mountain pine beetles to aphids. Furthermore, the type of pest-eating insect that is attracted to the plant’s volatiles can vary from parasite to predator. In fact, plant volatiles can be perceived by any insect or plant in the surrounding area that stands to benefit from knowing the status of the plant. A community benefit of this volatile chemical communication strategy is that, because the chemicals are airborne, plants in close proximity to the affected plant receive a warning of the impending danger.\n\nA better understanding of how plants are able to naturally limit pest control could lead to solutions for more sustainable agriculture."}, {"Source": "african beetle", "Application": "water lung", "Function1": "breathe underwater", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/bubble-allows-breathing-underwater/", "Strategy": "Bubble Allows Breathing Underwater\n\nThe Potamodytes beetle creates an underwater respiratory bubble via Bernoulli's principle.\n\n“One beetle, Potamodytes tuberosus, contrives to get the pressure in the bubble below atmospheric, taking advantage of the pressure drop attending fluid flow. That makes gas (at atmospheric partial pressure) move into the bubble, which can thus act as a permanent lung (Stride 1955). But it works only in very shallow water (about 4 centimeters) and very rapid flows (over 1 meter per second).”"}, {"Source": "termite's gut", "Application": "digest cellulose", "Function1": "microbial symbionts", "Function2": "digest cellulose", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/gut-microbes-digest-cellulose/", "Strategy": "Gut Microbes Digest Cellulose\n\nGuts of termites digest cellulose via microbial symbionts.\n\n“Termites do not digest cellulose directly…instead they collect vegetation, chew it up, and leave the chemical breakdown to other organisms. There are two strategies. The most primitive termites swallow the vegetation and pass it to a fermentation chamber where anaerobic bacteria and protozoa break down the cellulose…More advanced species have a different feeding strategy. The energy source is still cellulose, but it is digested outside the termite’s body…Fungi is the only kingdom of organisms able to digest cellulose in air, though they need warmth and humidity to do the job efficiently.”"}, {"Source": "shark skin scale", "Application": "commercial antifouling product", "Function1": "alter water flow", "Function2": "deter settlement of microorganisms", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/skin-reduces-biofouling/", "Strategy": "Skin Reduces Biofouling\n\nThe scales of shark skin may influence attachment of fouling microorganisms via shape and surface topography.\n\nThe ocean is full of floating microorganisms looking for a surface to collect and grow on. Objects submerged in water can become covered by unwanted films of bacteria or larger organisms such as algae and barnacles. This is referred to as biofouling. Biofouling can negatively impact an organism’s health and performance, and many marine organisms have mechanisms to resist biofouling. Sharks have long caught the attention of scientists because unlike other large marine animals, they seem to rarely suffer from biofouling.\n\nBiofouling begins when microorganisms make a transition between their free-floating form to their attached, stationary lifestyle. Called initial attachment, these organisms cling to the surface via weak and reversible forces. Initial attachment gives way to irreversible attachment when these organisms chemically bind to the surface by secreting an adhesive substance. It is best to avoid irreversible attachment by preventing initial settlement in the first place.\n\nShark skin is made up of microscopic scales that are triangular in shape and generally 200-500 μm long, with fine regularly spaced (30–100 μm) ridges aligned along the body axis. Previous studies have demonstrated that the scales can alter the flow of water closest to the skin and potentially reduce drag on the body (more info here). The same mechanism could help prevent biofouling since fast flowing water near the skin’s surface would reduce the time microorganisms have to settle on the surface as well as help wash away any that do settle. Another hypothesis is that the shark scale’s microscopic shape and surface topography deter the settlement of microorganisms. This idea has yet to be experimentally tested on real shark skin, but is based on studies of shark skin replicas and simple models that show certain microorganisms prefer colonizing particular groove widths and depths. More experimental research is needed to determine exactly how shark scales influence microorganism attachment.\n\nAlthough these mechanisms are still being examined in the organism itself, shark dermal denticles have inspired a successful commercial antifouling product called Sharklet AF™. Inspired by the microgrooves on each denticle, studies show this antifouling solution to be effective at impeding the settlement of algae, barnacles and bacteria."}, {"Source": "male silk moth's antennae", "Application": "synthetic nanopores", "Function1": "distribute chemicals", "Function2": "catche pheromone molecule", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/oily-coating-serves-dual-purpose/", "Strategy": "Oily Coating Serves Dual Purpose\n\nThe antennae of male silk moths distribute chemicals by having an oily coating that serves a dual purpose by binding to lipid-loving female pheromones and transporting them to nerve cells.\n\n“[A] coating on the male silk moth’s antenna…helps\nit smell nearby female moths. The coating catches pheromone molecules\nin the air and carries them through nanotunnels in the exoskeleton to\nnerve cells that send a message to the bug’s brain. ‘These\npheromones are lipophilic. They like to bind to lipids, or fat-like\nmaterials. So they get trapped and concentrated on the surface of this\nlipid layer in the silk moth. The layer greases the movement of the\npheromones to the place where they need to be,’ [according to Michael\nMayer, an associate professor in the University of Michigan’s\ndepartments of Biomedical Engineering and Chemical Engineering]”"}, {"Source": "gliding possums' membrane of skin", "Application": "airplane’s ability to glide", "Function1": "increase  lift", "Function2": "decrease drag", "Function3": "glid through the air", "Function4": "save energy", "Function5": "increase the total surface area", "Function6": "direction control", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/skin-aids-gliding/", "Strategy": "Skin Aids Gliding\n\nMembranes of skin between the wrists and ankles enable gliding possums to travel farther by increasing lift and reducing drag.\n\nIntroduction \n\nGliding possums have been known to glide up to 100 meters with the aid of a downhill slope, as well as 50 meters over flattened terrain. Sugar gliders and squirrel gliders can reach up to 50 meters, while yellow-bellied gliders are able to cover distances of up to 140 meters in one leap. How do they do it?\n\nThe Strategy \n\nGliding possums are able to drift between trees due to a “gliding membrane”- a thin sheet of skin that stretches between the wrists and ankles on both sides of the body. Gliding through the air allows these mammals to reach distant food resources, escape predators, and return to nests. This allows the possum to save more energy and time than it would if it was foraging on the ground.\n\nTo begin gliding, possums leap from high up in a tree, and spread out their limbs to pull the membrane taught. This increases the total surface area, which increases lift and decreases drag, allowing the possum to stay in the air for longer. The leap begins at a downward angle, but as the possum picks up speed, the angle of flight flattens out. The possum’s prehensile tip on its tail acts as a rudder, steering its body towards the desired location. As the possum begins to land, it brings its hind legs closer to its body, making a ‘nose-up’ position, to finally land on all fours.\n\nThe Potential \n\nAir travel contributes about 12 % of transportation emissions in the U.S. The more planes glide, the less fuel they consume. Learning how possums sail through the air could lead to technologies that increase an airplane’s ability to glide and lower greenhouse gas emissions.\n \nThis strategy was contributed by Cynthia Fishman and Brittany Longpre."}, {"Source": "maggot's enzyme", "Application": "anti-inflammatory medicines", "Function1": "liquefy dead tissue", "Function2": "break down protein", "Function3": "reduce inflammation", "Function4": "remove bacteria", "Function5": "coagulate blood", "Function6": "stimulate healing response", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/maggots-eat-the-dead-but-heal-the-wounded/", "Strategy": "Maggots Eat the Dead, But Heal the Wounded\n\nMaggots scrape dead tissue with mouth hooks then spew a stew of enzymes to liquefy, swallow, and digest it.\n\nIntroduction\n\nAn old mule deer stumbles to the ground in a forest and dies. The bacteria that had been living harmoniously within the deer immediately set about breaking its carcass down.\n\nGreen bottle flies, which have a nose for the dead, are usually the first wave of insects that dive into the decay. They lay their eggs in dead flesh to give their soon-to-hatch larvae, known as maggots, immediate food. The thought of squirming maggots devouring the rotting deer may seem sad or gross, but it’s the ultimate form of recycling. One animal dies and becomes the birthplace and food source of many others.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nGreen bottle flies are first at the scene of death, not because they’re ghoulish, but because their maggot offspring need soft dead tissue to eat. Maggots lack the teeth or beaks that would enable them to tear into old, dried-out meat, but the little larvae still have bite. Their mouth hooks and rough skin scrape away dead flesh as they crawl across a carcass. Then they secrete enzymes that liquefy the dead tissue, making it easier to swallow and digest.\n\nMaggot salivary glands, guts, and other digestive organs secrete the enzymes, called “peptidases,” which work by breaking down proteins. Maggot secretions don’t just contain a pinch of peptidase; they are more like enzyme stew. Scientists used genetic sequencing of their secretions to identify 185 individual peptidase enzymes.\n\nFor the record, all biological organisms—including plants, viruses, and people—use peptidases. These enzymes play critical roles in metabolism, reproduction, growth, and immune systems. While the functions of some individual peptidases are known, others are not. Moreover, their actions and mechanisms vary across species.\n\nMaggot enzymes reduce inflammation, eliminate bacteria, coagulate blood, and stimulate healing responses—all good things when trying to clean chronic wounds and infections.\n\nScientists are still learning how the green bottle fly maggot benefits from its abundance of enzymes, but one effect beneficial to humans is that their secretions help wounds heal. Maggot enzymes reduce inflammation, eliminate bacteria, coagulate blood, and stimulate healing responses—all good things when trying to clean chronic wounds and infections.\n\nThe Potential\n\nThere are accounts of caregivers making use of maggots to help heal wounds among the Maya, Aboriginal Australians, and other indigenous cultures. In Renaissance Europe, the benefits were acknowledged but not cultivated. By the time of the U.S. Civil War, at least one surgeon was intentionally applying maggots to the wounds of soldiers, saying, “In a single day, [maggots] would clean a wound much better than any agents we had at our command.” Maggot wound therapy declined with the advent of antibiotics but rebounded with the rise of drug-resistant bacteria.\n\nToday, “maggot wound debridement” remains an alternative therapy for treating persistent wounds and infections in patients with severe burns, diabetes, and other ailments that hinder healing.\n\nSome researchers are even going beyond “bio-utilizing” maggots directly on wounds. Isolating and reproducing maggot enzymes has already led to gels that mimic how medicinal maggots help people on the mend. In the future, understanding maggot secretions may lead to new antibiotics, anti-inflammatory medicines, and coagulants.\n\nMaggots exemplify why we shouldn’t judge organisms as good or bad based on appearances or habits we find off-putting. If we look away, we may miss a valuable opportunity to learn."}, {"Source": "refugia for the great barrier reef", "Application": "a network of refugia", "Function1": "providing emergency resource", "Function2": "sufficient connection", "Function3": "prevent crown-of-thorns starfish", "Function4": "boost resilience", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/refugia-for-great-barrier-reef-improve-disaster-recovery/", "Strategy": "Refugia Improve Disaster Recovery\n\nA network of refugia makes the Great Barrier Reef more resilient to injury by providing emergency resources for restoring damaged areas\n\n\nIntroduction \n\nThe Great Barrier Reef, located just off Australia’s northeastern coast, is Earth’s largest coral reef system. It is home to 400 kinds of coral and thousands of other species. Threats like bleaching due to climate change, cyclones and invasive species can cause serious damage to these critical marine habitats.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nBut when disaster strikes a reef, its neighbors can provide emergency aid to help restore it. Researchers say the best “rescue reefs,” known as refugia, have three important traits. First, historical patterns show they are less likely than others in the system to be inundated by warm water that leads to bleaching due to their location. Second, models of ocean currents suggest they are sufficiently connected by moving water to other reefs in the system during spawning season. This link helps coral larvae and other living things travel to and colonize the devastated areas to replenish them. Third, surveys show refugia are less likely than others to be infested with invasive crown-of-thorns starfish, whose larvae could travel to the injured reefs along with the desirable coral larvae.\n\nIn recent research, scientists mapped reefs that have each of these helpful traits. By combining the maps, they identified a few protected and connected areas. Each can serve as a seed for other parts of the Great Barrier Reef after they sustain injury. Keeping these refugia safe from damage such as development and pollution can boost the overall resilience of the Great Barrier Reef, scientists say.\n\nThe Potential \n\nMany disturbed natural and human systems could benefit from this ecosystem approach to disaster recovery. Fire ravages forests. Floods destroy cities. Pandemics devastate economies. To use it, we must first identify likely threats to the system. Next, we should look for parts of the system that are less vulnerable to these threats. Does a forest contain isolated patches of trees that are less susceptible to fire? Is there high ground in a community that would be safe from a flood? Where are a city’s essential businesses that must operate through an emergency? Then we must work to protect these valuable assets from other sources of destruction, such as logging, urban blight or  poor business practices. Identifying threats and safeguarding refuge areas that are particularly important to recovery will help the whole system thrive after adversity."}, {"Source": "root zone of forest", "Application": "striping clean runoff", "Function1": "trap sediment", "Function2": "absorb nutrient", "Function3": "improve water quality", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/vegetation-captures-nutrients/", "Strategy": "Vegetation Captures Nutrients\n\nVegetation within hedgerows strip clean runoff by trapping sediments and absorbing nutrients.\n\n\n“Like most croplands, the cornfield was quite ‘leaky,’ retaining little of the nitrogen fertilizer it received. Most of the nutrients not absorbed by the crop and harvested as corn were lost in surface runoff. Yet when that runoff reached a small belt of hedgerows and deciduous forest nearby, the gauntlet of sweet gum, red maples, and understory shrubs stripped most of the nitrogen and phosphorus from the water in the first nineteen meters of its passage. Groundwater flows through the root zone of the forest also resulted in a 50 percent drop in dissolved nitrate reaching the river. The amount of material removed by this one narrow band of forest led the researchers to suggest ‘coupling natural systems and managed habitats within a watershed’ to buffer open waters from pollution. This is a key service of biodiversity that, until recent times, could easily be taken for granted. Most rivers are bordered naturally by some type of riparian or floodplain forests that buffer aquatic habitats from activities on land…clearly, restoring forested corridors could do much to hold nutrients and sediments on the land and improve the quality of lakes, rivers, and wetlands.”"}, {"Source": "chameleon's  tongue", "Application": "engineer projectile-motion mechanical systems and materials", "Function1": "stunning speed", "Function2": "stunning force", "Function3": "work while lacking energy", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/chameleons-launch-ballistic-tongues/", "Strategy": "Chameleons Launch “Ballistic” Tongues\n\nTo catch prey from a distance, chameleons have a coordinated system of body parts that shoots out their tongues with high speed and power.\n\nIntroduction \n\nThe fast and furious flicks of chameleons’ tongues aren’t a novelty. They’re a key to their survival. When these reptiles sight prey, they launch their tongues like missiles and strike with stunning speed and force. Racing from 0 to 60 mph (96.5 kph) in a hundredth of a second, they can almost instantly reach a target twice their body length away.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nThese awesome ballistic tongues are the result of a remarkable coordinated system of body parts that builds up and quickly releases energy. Here’s how it works.\n\nAt the core of a chameleon tongue is a slim, tubular bone wrapped in thin layers of elastic tissue. Enveloping all of this is a layer of muscle.\n\nThe elastic tissue is made of collagen, a common biological material that gets remarkable stretchiness from its springlike fibers. Half the fibers spiral clockwise and half anticlockwise. Together they form a diagonally crosshatched pattern that looks like the stretchy plastic mesh sleeves used to protect glass bottles.\n\nWhen chameleons sight prey, they get ready, aim, and “load” their tongues by contracting their tongue muscles. The muscles squeeze inward around the collagen fibers, compressing them into tight coils. The fibers are now packed with stored energy, like a jack-in-the-box ready to pop.\n\nThe muscles and compressed collagen layers slide forward along the well-lubricated bone. At its tip, the bone thickness tapers down sharply, expanding the space for the collagen fibers. Suddenly uncompressed, the fibers spring forward, powered by their own momentum. Stored potential energy reverts to kinetic energy, amplifying the tongue’s speed and power. It shoots out at accelerations of 2,590 meters per second squared, or 264 G (faster than a fighter jet), and smashes its sticky tip into its prey within two-hundredths of a second.\n\nThe Potential \n\nChameleons’ highly refined and coordinated tongue system offers intriguing blueprints for scientists to explore ways to engineer projectile-motion mechanical systems and materials that store and release energy more efficiently, generate higher speed and power, and continue to work well in cold temperatures. Such innovations could be used in the fields of ballistics, missile engineering, robotic manipulator equipment, and prosthetic medical devices."}, {"Source": "microbe' enzyme", "Application": "fiber  decomposers", "Function1": "break down softer tissue", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/microbes-strip-plant-fibers-clean/", "Strategy": "Microbes Strip Plant Fibers Clean\n\nBacteria and fungi break down soft plant tissue and leave the tough stuff intact.\nIntroduction \n\nWhere would we be without nature’s recyclers? If it weren’t for bacteria, fungi, and other organisms that break once-living things into molecules new life can use, we’d be wallowing in mountains of detritus—assuming there were even enough molecules available for us to exist in the first place.\n\nBut when it comes to breaking down fibrous plants, decomposers have their limits. Some are able to break down one plant part, while others specialize in a different component. With teamwork, they get the job done—mostly.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nThe stems of fibrous plants such as flax and hemp are made of multiple layers. Some of these layers are more susceptible to decomposers than are others. The outer part of the stem is made up of gluelike pectin, gum, chemicals that impart color, and bast fibers, which surround the inner, woody part of the stem and provide structure to the part of the stem through which water and nutrients can flow.\n\nWhen a fibrous plant dies naturally or is harvested, microbes in the environment around it start gnawing away at these softer tissues. They use specialized enzymes to break down the structures that make up the various components of stems into small molecules, providing food for themselves in the process.\n\nThe type of microorganism that does the job depends on the setting. On land, the decomposers tend to be fungi that require oxygen to function. In freshwater, bacteria, particularly Clostridia, do the job. In saltwater, scientists have identified two kinds of bacteria normally found in the soil, Stenotrophomnas maltophilia and Ochrobactrum anthropi, as the primary degraders.\n\nDegraders use enzymes called pectinases to break down the pectin found in the cell walls and the matter between cells. They break down cellulose and hemicellulose with cellulases and hemicellulases. Relatively few, however, are able to make much of a dent in the central, woody part of the stem. As a result, the outer materials essentially get eaten away, leaving a clean fiber in much the same way as a dog gnawing on a bone removes every bit of meat and gristle but leaves the bone relatively intact.\n\nThe Potential \n\nThat’s good news for those of us who wear clothes. When manufacturers make textiles from natural fibers, they first need to strip all of the non-fiber bits away. One way to do that is to use harsh chemicals, but as concern grows for protecting the environment, manufacturers are turning to decomposers instead. The right mix can remove the undesirable part of fiber plants, freeing up the sturdy insides for use in fashioning fashion."}, {"Source": "flax plant's fiber", "Application": "structural materials", "Function1": "strong strength", "Function2": "cross-linked composites", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/matrix-produces-strong-structural-materials/", "Strategy": "Matrix Produces Strong Structural Materials\n\nFibers produced by the flax plant provide strength by being extensively cross-linked composites of cellulose, pectin, and protein in a long, tube-like architecture.\nFlax fiber has been used for millenia throughout the world for the production of linen textile. Its strength and desirable properties are a result of its microscopic structure and chemistry. Flax fibers are relatively long, tube-like composites (up to about 5 cm, or 2 inches) of cellulose supplemented by pectin and other polysaccharides, lined up in the direction of the tube, surrounded by concentric layers of cells forming a super-strong secondary wall. Extensive cross-linking, aided by the presence of several types of proteins, binds all the components into an intricate matrix."}, {"Source": "wild potato's glandular hair", "Application": "natural pesticide", "Function1": "emit pheromone", "Function2": "distract insects with a false danger.", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/wild-potatoes-trick-attackers-into-sensing-danger/", "Strategy": "Wild Potatoes Trick Attackers\nInto Sensing Danger\n\nThe glandular hairs on wild potato plants expel a pheromone that mimics the alarm pheromone of their aphid predators\nIntroduction \n\nIn the never-ending give-and-take between plants and the organisms that feed on them, many have evolved sophisticated methods of deceiving their attackers. The wild potato (Solanum berthaultii), native to Bolivia, defends itself from aphids by emitting a pheromone that mimics the insects’ own alarm pheromone, thereby distracting the insects with a false danger.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nWhen attacked by predators, aphids emit a chemical signal that acts as an alarm to other aphids nearby, giving them a head start to flee from the area. The wild potato has adapted to put this behavior to work as a defense of its own. \n\nPotato plants expel a pheromone similar enough to the aphid alarm pheromone to have the same effect, causing the destructive insects to disperse. The aphids keep a distance of 1-3 mm. Even entire colonies that have already settled on the plant take off when exposed to this pheromone mimic.\n\nThe wild potato’s defense pheromone is released from two types of tiny hairs on its leaves and stems: the type A hairs, which are shorter and rupture when touched to expel the pheromone, and the type B hairs, which form drops of the pheromone at their tips.\n\nThe Potential \n\nThe cultivated potato, a major food crop, is also fed on by aphids, but unlike its wild relative, it doesn’t have its own pheromone mimic to protect itself. Incorporating the wild potato’s pheromone mimic in pesticides for cultivated potato plants could protect this food staple from aphids (and the viruses they carry), and improve crop production.\n\nIt is worth conducting research on how the wild potato’s glandular hairs release (E)-β-farnesene as well, since it is an unstable and highly volatile compound that dissipates quickly. In addition to giving the cultivated potato and other crop plants the protection afforded by (E)-β-farnesene as a natural pesticide, this research could inform the development of technologies for dispersing (E)-β-farnesene so that its effects are longer-lasting."}, {"Source": "beet armyworm's vomit", "Application": "insecticides", "Function1": "ward off enemy", "Function2": "wetting hydrophobic cuticle", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/vomited-detergents-wreck-ant-waterproofing/", "Strategy": "Vomited Detergents Wreck Ant Waterproofing\n\nVomit of beet armyworms defend against ants by wetting their hydrophobic cuticle using a detergent.\n\n“Insects have evolved an astonishing array of defences to ward off enemies. Well known and widespread is the regurgitation of oral secretion (OS), fluid that repels attacking predators. In herbivores, the effectiveness of OS has been ascribed so far to the presence of deterrent secondary metabolites sequestered from the host plant. This notion implies, however, that generalists experience less protection on plants with low amounts of secondary metabolites or with compounds ineffective against potential enemies. Resolving the dilemma, we describe a novel defence mechanism that is independent of deterrents as it relies on the intrinsic detergent properties of the OS. The OS of Spodoptera exigua (and other species) was found to be highly amphiphilic and well capable of wetting the hydrophobic cuticle of predatory ants. As a result, affected ants stopped attacking and engaged in extensive cleansing. The presence of surfactants was sufficient to explain the defensive character of herbivore OS. We hypothesize that detergency is a common but unrecognized mode of defence, which provides a base level of protection that may or may not be further enhanced by plant-derived deterrents. Our study also proves that insects ‘invented’ the use of defensive surfactants long before modern agriculture had started applying them as insecticides.”"}, {"Source": "leaf-cutting ant's nest", "Application": "wind-powered-hvac engineering", "Function1": "turretlike structure", "Function2": "ventilating", "Function3": "increase airflow", "Function4": "wind-driven circulation", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/turrets-ventilate-nest/", "Strategy": "Turrets Ventilate Nest\n\nTurrets on nests of leaf-cutting ants enhance wind-driven ventilation\n\nIntroduction \n\nFeeding young is a big job for many animals, but leaf-cutter ants take it to another level. They spend their days harvesting bits of leaves, which they haul into chambers deep within massive nests made of soil. There, specialized colleagues. mash the leaves, mix in liquids to help break them down, add fertilizer and pesticides in the form of specialized bacteria, and use the concoction to grow fungi, which they in turn feed to the young.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nUnderground farming brings some challenges though: the damp soil that makes up and surrounds the nest is too compact to allow air to flow naturally into the chambers, removing carbon dioxide and refreshing the oxygen supply. For some species, the solution turns out to be blowing in the wind––which ventilates the nest with the guidance of turretlike structures constructed at the surface. This approach to indoor agriculture allows the ants to carefully control the temperature, humidity, oxygen, and carbon dioxide levels their crops need to thrive.\n\nThe Potential \n\nLeaf-cutter ants offer inspiration to humans in many ways. Their practice of tending a crop with fine-tuned inputs of nutrients and pesticides offers insights for optimizing inputs and outputs in human agriculture. Beyond that, their nest structures suggest ways to enhance the energy efficiency and sustainability of greenhouses, indoor farms, and gardens, and to improve the function of systems used to dry agricultural crops, paint, or other materials. Humans already have taken advantage of the principles demonstrated by leaf-cutter ants to enhance ventilation of homes and other buildings. This can save on costs of cooling buildings and reduce the threat of climate change by decreasing demand for fossil fuels. Organic farming. Wind-powered-HVAC engineering. Leaf-cutting is really just the start of the story of these impressive creatures.\n\n"}, {"Source": "fungi's enzyme", "Application": "clean up pollution", "Function1": "degrade undesirable chemicals", "Function2": "extract energy", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/the-fungi-that-clean-up-pollution/", "Strategy": "How Fungi Can Clean Up Pollution\n\nChemicals in fungi break down contaminants.\nIntroduction \n\nWhoever observed that “one person’s trash is another’s treasure” could easily have been speaking about fungi. These organisms, which form a kingdom all on their own, come in virtually endless sizes and shapes, from single-celled yeasts to massive, web-like organisms that stretch for miles underground. They make their way through life by tapping into resources few if any others want—horse manure, fallen leaves, dead animals, and the like—and breaking down the natural chemicals they contain into a source of energy and molecules to nourish themselves. Some fungi can use the same molecules that help them obtain food to break down artificial chemicals with which we humans have contaminated the environment.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nAll living things contain enzymes, proteins they use to break or make chemical bonds. By holding two or more molecules close to each other in a position that encourages them to react with each other, enzymes allow their owners to transform one substance into another, creating the molecules they need to provide structure, produce energy, and more.\n\nAs organisms that specialize in decomposing other living (or formerly living) things, fungi have a particularly impressive variety of enzymes they can use to break down a wide variety of chemicals to extract the energy and molecules they need to live. Scientists searching for ways to remove human-made pollutants from the environment have discovered that some fungi can use their enzymes to degrade these undesirable chemicals.\n\nContaminants that fungi have been found to break down include polyaromatic hydrocarbons (such as those found in crude oil and gasoline), heavy metals, herbicides, pesticides, cyanotoxins, pharmaceuticals, antibiotics, phthalates, dyes, and detergents. Often, the enzymes they use to do this are also ones they normally would use to break down lignin, the molecule that helps give plants their stiff structure. But other enzymes appear to be involved as well. The chemical reactions include removing oxygen or hydrogen, altering the configuration of chemical bonds, and more. Such changes, in some cases, can turn toxic substances into harmless molecules such as carbohydrates, water, and oxygen.\n\nThe Potential \n\nConventional processes for removing pollutants such as industrial waste, paints, and pesticides from land and water can be expensive, energy-demanding, and of limited effectiveness. Sometimes they even produce other undesirable molecules in the process. The right kinds of fungi could be introduced to a contaminated site though and begin to do the job themselves? This process, known as mycoremediation, uses other forms of life to accomplish tasks directly (as opposed to adapting lessons from them into new innovations) and so is a form of bioutilization. There is a very good reason why we don’t generally just put fungi into an environment to let them take care of our pollution: it is very difficult to scale. Fungi convert the pollution we have created at a much slower rate than we create it. Genetic modification could enhance the efficiency of some contaminant-degrading fungi though, or enable them to specialize in certain pollutants. Scientists are also exploring ways to introduce certain bacteria or natural chemicals such as cellulose to make fungi’s natural abilities more effective. This ability to take up toxic substances could also be used to improve recycling and decrease mining by “harvesting” precious metals from e-waste, wastewater, or naturally occurring deposits."}, {"Source": "sandpiper's bill", "Application": "surface tension transport", "Function1": "change surface tension", "Function2": "transport feeding", "Function3": "draw food", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/bird-bill-draws-food-into-mouth/", "Strategy": "Bird Bill Draws Food Into Mouth\n\nThe bill of the sandpiper draws food into its mouth using water’s surface tension.\n\nThe western sandpiper (Calidris mauri) is a shorebird that spends its winters on the coasts of the US. Probing in mud and sand with its long bill, the sandpiper picks up small prey like marine worms, crustaceans, and insects. It can also feed on tiny plankton floating in the water, but these prey are too small to probe or peck at individually. To eat plankton, the western sandpiper uses a strategy called “surface tension transport.”\n\nWater has a surface tension that results from attractive forces between water molecules. At an air-water interface, this surface tension tends to keep the interface as small as possible. Spreading water out and creating more interface takes energy. Water molecules are also attracted to keratin, the protein material that makes up the sandpiper’s bill. As it wades along the shore, the sandpiper dips the tip of its bill into the water and grasps at plankton like a pair of tweezers. It then lifts its bill out of the water and opens the bill slightly. The plankton-rich drop of water at the bill tip sticks to the upper and lower bill and stretches apart, creating an air-water interface. As the sandpiper continues to open its bill, the water drop continues to stretch. Water’s surface tension then reduces the stretched interface area by moving the drop up towards the sandpiper’s mouth. This delivers tiny plankton in the water drop to the throat where they can be swallowed."}, {"Source": "bacteria nanowire", "Application": "fuel cells", "Function1": "export electrons", "Function2": "extracellular respiration", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/bacterial-proteins-conduct-electricity/", "Strategy": "Bacterial Proteins Conduct Electricity\n\nMicrobes build external protein networks of \"nanowires\" to export electrons outside their cell walls.\nIntroduction \n\nIn earlier eras, single-celled organisms were seen as “simpler.” Advances in microscopy and biochemistry have shown us just how oversimplified that view is. They may be tiny, but they’re performing many of the same tasks as the largest multicellular organisms, and their size actually opens up interesting possibilities and alternatives for them.\n\nTo get energy to live and grow, some bacteria build electrical “wires” 100,000 times thinner than a human hair. They extend these nanowires outside their cell walls and create a microscopic electrical grid in the surrounding environment. The nanowires allow the bacteria to “breathe,” using metals instead of oxygen.\n\nLiving things generate energy by breaking down bigger chemical compounds into smaller ones through a series of chemical reactions known as cellular respiration. In each reaction, chemical bonds are broken, releasing electrons that are transported from compound to compound. At each step, the electrons give up a little more of their energy, which is siphoned off to do work that keeps cells alive. At the end of this cascade, the energy-reduced electrons must find a final resting place in the atomic orbit of some element or compound.\n\nHumans and many other organisms use oxygen to accept these electrons because it is readily available in the atmosphere and can be directly absorbed or inhaled. This is known as aerobic respiration. Many bacteria, however, live deep in sediments where oxygen does not penetrate, and must use another electron acceptor. This is known as anaerobic respiration, or respiration without oxygen.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nMetals such as iron, manganese, and arsenic—and even radioactive uranium—readily accept excess electrons, and they are commonly found in soil. But here’s the hitch: Bacteria can’t bring metals inside their cell walls, because the metals are too big, or toxic to the bacteria, or stuck to other surfaces. So the bacteria have to export their excess electrons outside, in a process known as extracellular respiration.\n\nThat’s where the nanowires come in. The bacteria use proteins to build thin structures 3 to 5 nanometers in diameter, about the size of a strand of human DNA. These nanowires extend beyond the bacterial cell walls, where they connect with the metals in surrounding sediments or water. Often, multitudes of bacteria assemble into a slimy biofilm, which can contain a whole network of nanowires.\n\nThe Potential \n\nAdding on electrons causes changes in metals. Instead of being dissolved in water, they form solid compounds. In solid forms, they are less toxic. They don’t spread widely into the environment and can be more easily removed.\n\nNanowired bacteria could help clean up sites polluted by toxic metals from industry and sewage. In addition, scientists are exploring ways to build bacterial nanowire systems to create fuel cells that use bacteria to generate energy, and bioelectronic devices that can be used to conduct electricity in water.\n\nDestroying nanowire systems could have benefits as well: Medical researchers are investigating ways to knock out disease-causing microbes by disrupting their nanowires."}, {"Source": "fire-bellied toad's antimicrobial peptide", "Application": "antimicrobial therapies", "Function1": "avoid microbes' resistance", "Function2": "prevent infection", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/brain-fights-microbes/", "Strategy": "Toad Brains Fight Deadly Microbes\n\nAntimicrobial peptides protect the brains of fire-bellied toads from microbes.\n\nIntroduction \n\nFire-bellied toads (Bombina species), found in Asia and Europe, get their name from their brightly-colored undersides. Two of the species, the large-webbed bell toad (B. maxima) and the small-webbed bell toad (B. microdeladigitora) share another noteworthy trait in addition to their name and coloration: Their brains contain large numbers of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), a class of powerful germ-killing molecules.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nAMPs are not in themselves rare or unusual molecules. Made of various combinations of short-chain amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, they are found in most living things. These amino acids have different segments that can penetrate the different layers of a cell membrane. This gives them the ability to poke holes in the membranes surrounding bacteria and microscopic fungi in a variety of different ways, causing the cells’ contents to leak out and the microbes to die. AMPs usually target the cell membrane itself, rather than interacting with receptors on the membrane surface. As a result, it is much more difficult for microbes to evolve resistance to AMPs compared with conventional antibiotics.\n\nAmphibians in particular are known for their abundant AMPs. Lacking hair or scales, these animals rely directly on their skin surface to protect them from germs. And AMPs help the skin deliver: In many species, external glands secrete AMPs onto the skin, where they can attach to and destroy infection-causing microorganisms. Scientists have identified some 300 or more kinds of AMPs on frogs alone. But it turns out that could be just the tip of the iceberg. When scientists decided to look for AMPs elsewhere, they found signs of 52 kinds of AMPs in the large-webbed bell toad’s brain and 27 in the brain of its small-webbed relative. Of these, 59 are AMPs that have never been seen elsewhere. Some were only effective against a very limited set of microorganisms. Others were able to knock off multiple kinds of bacteria as well as fungi.\n\nScientists suspect that the AMPs found in the toads’ brains are helping protect them from infections that could harm their nervous systems. They also think that the difference in the kinds of AMPs found in the brains of the two species tested may be related to the different types of microbes found in the toads’ respective habitats, with B. maxima more likely to encounter germs found in ponds and B. microdeladigitora needing defense against those found in trees.\n\nThe Potential\n\nThe newly discovered  AMPs in these toads’ brains open the door to a better understanding of how these small molecules can so effectively kill microbes. Because they can exist in the brain without harming brain tissue, they also offer an opportunity for gaining insights into how to make effective antimicrobial therapies that destroy germs without harming our own bodies. And they offer insights into how humans might develop new strategies for overcoming bacteria that have developed resistance to conventional antibiotics, with particular attention to those that attack human brains, causing life-threatening infections such as meningitis and encephalitis."}, {"Source": "mantis", "Application": "vibration detector", "Function1": "detect ultrasound", "Function2": "responds with erratic elusive behavior", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/ultrasound-detection-rapid-response-evades-bats/", "Strategy": "Ultrasound Detection, Rapid Response Evades Bats\n\nThe body of the praying mantis evades bats by detecting ultrasonic sound and rapidly responding.\n\n“In tethered flight, Parasphendale agrionina (Gerst.) males respond to ultrasonic stimuli with a unique suite of behaviors that includes full extension of the forelegs, strong dorsiflexion of the abdomen, a head roll, a 5% decrease in wingbeat frequency and a 33% increase in forewing excursion…Several components of the in-flight evasive behavior resemble defensive displays on the ground, and we suggest that this mantis has responded to predation pressure from bats with both flight derived maneuvers and an aerial deimatic display.” "}, {"Source": "quiver tree's branch", "Application": "sun radiation filter", "Function1": "produce reflective coating of white powder", "Function2": "protect from the heat of the sun", "Function3": "keeping cool", "Function4": "hold water", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/branches-protected-from-the-sun/", "Strategy": "Branches Protected From the Sun\n\nThe branches of a quiver tree are protected from the heat of the sun by a reflective coating of white powder.\n\n“The quiver tree that grows in the Namib is a kind of aloe. Like the rest of its family, it has thick succulent leaves growing in a rosette, but these are hoisted twenty feet in the air, each at the end of a stumpy branch. That in itself is a way of escaping the worst of the devastating heat and reducing the amount of moisture inevitably lost by evaporation from the surface of their leaves. The branches themselves are thickly covered in a fine white powder. That too helps in keeping cool for it reflects the sun’s heat instead of absorbing it…The branches and trunk are filled with a soft fibre that can hold a great quantity of water.” "}, {"Source": "pallas's long-tongued bat's wing", "Application": "air-lifting materials", "Function1": "create lift", "Function2": "hovering", "Function3": "creating pressure difference", "Function4": "creates vortice", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/wing-flexibility-generates-lift/", "Strategy": "Wing Flexibility Generates Lift\n\nThe wing of Pallas's long-tongued bat generates lift by flipping the outer edge upside down and quickly back up for the upstroke.\n\nIntroduction \n\nBats achieve lift at fast speeds by increasing the vertical (top to bottom) length of each wing flap. However, at low speeds, or while hovering to drink nectar, achieving lift is not as easy. Increasing flapping frequency can help, but the Pallas’s long-tongued bat compensates for the lack of lift in one very special way: by flipping its wing inside-out on every upstroke.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nFlipping its wings keeps the bat airborne by creating pressure differences: above and below the wing, as well as along it. This pressure gradient creates vortices by causing air to move passively from the higher pressure area to the lower pressure area, which stirs up the air. As the wing flips between upside out and inside out during flight, pressure gradients are created that and generate vortices, which counteract air resistance and keep the bat in the air.\nThese vortices are created at different points along the wing, from the armpit to the wingtip, as well as at the leading (front) and trailing (back) edges of the wing. At the armpit, weaker vortices are overcome by stronger tip vortices, causing air to circulate along the bottom of the wings and back to the bat’s body. This air circulation creates the lift needed to counteract air resistance acting on the bat.\n\nThe vortex created at the trailing edge is weaker than at the leading edge, creating another pressure gradient. This creates additional vortices that provide their own lift and reinforce the effects of the circulating vortices created by the pressure differences under the wingtip and armpit. In this way, a bat’s wing acts like a flag in the wind. Unlike rigid tree branches or bird wings, flags bend, churning and spinning the air as it passes. Just as a flag flaps and curls on itself in the wind, the wings of Pallas’s long-tongued bats create similar vortices that generate lift.\n\nThe Potential \n\nFlexible wings may not be practical for passenger planes, but investigating flexible wing aerodynamics could help develop technologies for air-lifting materials. For example, instead of using heavy, power-intensive cranes, perhaps efficiently flapping drones could raise and lower materials. Renewable energy sources like wind turbines might generate more power with more dynamic turbines. It’s possible that understanding how bats maneuver their wings could even aid in the design of static elements like roof shingles that need to withstand windy days.\n\n"}, {"Source": "grapple plant's fruit", "Application": "grappling hooks", "Function1": "attach to animal", "Function2": "split automatically", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/seeds-are-dispersed-long-distances/", "Strategy": "Hooks Grab On to Carry Fruit Far\n\nThe fruit of the grapple plant hooks onto animals with a strong but temporary grip to disperse seeds over great distances.\nIntroduction \n\nThere is a group of plants (Harpagophytum) native to southern Africa that go by several colorful common names, including “grapple plant” and “devil’s claw.” As you can imagine, these plants have an arresting look to them: the ripened fruit resembles gnarled brown claws that point in all directions.\n\nGrapple plants are found in drier habitats such as overgrazed plains and fossil dunes made of windswept sand hardened into distinct formations by calcium carbonate. If seedlings were to grow near their parents, it would result in direct competition for scarce resources and space for their roots to grow. So it’s to the grapple plant’s benefit that its seed be carried as far away as possible. To make such considerable journeys, these plants rely on the feet or fur of large grazing animals.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nThe trick to hitching the right ride with an unsuspecting giant is in those hooks: they must be catchy enough to carry the fruit for a good while, but also loose enough that it will eventually fall off. If the seeds are lucky, they will be dropped off where the soil hasn’t been depleted of water and nutrients from an overgrowth of other plants.\n\nThe grapple plant’s fruit is perfectly structured to be stepped on, wedged into the creases of the sole of a giant foot, and dragged long distances without damaging the seeds inside. It has a strong, woody seed pod that looks like it has already been flattened from above. Pointing outwards from all around the center of the flattened fruit are curled arms, and on the curled arms are the smaller hooks that keep the fruit attached to whatever part of an animal comes into contact with it. The pod starts to split along its side when it’s ripe, so it doesn’t need to be forced open like other types of seed pods.\n\nThere is also a group of plants (Proboscidea) in North America that belong to the same family (Pedaliaceae) as Harpagophytum and are also called devil’s claw, but have hooks of a more slender, arching form. Currently, only cattle transport the seeds because the large grazing animals these plants once relied on no longer share the same landscape.\n\nThe Potential \n\nThe grapple plant has found a way to protect its seeds while also getting them transported long distances. Humans can take inspiration from the strength and form of the plant’s fruit for the design of products like shoe grips, grappling hooks,  and fasteners for clothing. We might also think more broadly, and learn a thing or two from the plant’s method of timed release, or from the use it makes of existing transportation channels and energy expenditure to get where it needs to go.\n\n"}, {"Source": "slime mold's foraging skill", "Application": "self-driving cars algorithm", "Function1": "minimize distance", "Function2": "avoid adversity", "Function3": "maximize resilience to disruption", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/cytoplasm-creates-most-efficient-routes/", "Strategy": "Brainless Slime Mold Creates Smart Networks\n\nThis single-celled organism creates efficient, resilient networks by constantly expanding and retracting in many directions.\n\nIntroduction \n\nThough it looks like little more than a splash of paint and consists of but a single cell, slime mold has a remarkable life story. When times are good, it exists in its “plasmodium” form––a single cell with countless nuclei, spreading across damp surfaces near the forest floor as it grazes on microbes it finds there. When food and moisture are scarce, it forms a hard, stalked structure and releases spores that wind and rain can carry to new locations. When they find favorable circumstances, spores morph into amoebas, team up to make a new plasmodium, and the slimy search for food begins anew.\n\nThe way it performs that search has a thing or two to teach even sophisticated multicellular organisms like ourselves.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nIn its plasmodium stage, Physarum polycephalum (also known as “the blob”), looks like an expanding viscous fluid extending tiny fingers in various directions. As it grows, it pushes its fluid innards into these pulsating protuberances, creating a network of nutrient-carrying tubes. Tubes that encounter nourishment grow more robust. Those that fail to find food shrink back, leaving a trail that tells the organism not to bother heading that way again.\n\nThe Potential \n\nA slime mold’s approach to optimizing networks through exploration and reinforcement can be applied to enhancing efficiency in a wide range of human activities. Self-driving cars could use its algorithms to identify the best path to take to a destination in the context of real-time updates on road capacity, traffic volume, and intermittent obstacles. Infrastructure designers could apply it to designing efficient systems for rail transit, delivery routes, water pipes, power grids, and more. A slime mold itself can even be used to define optimal routes by creating a model of the routing puzzle for it to solve in real time.\n\nThe slime mold’s strategy might also be applied in search efforts, whether for lost hikers in a forest or for desired information online. It already has been used to develop an algorithm for modeling the positioning of galaxies relative to each other and to optimize material design.\n\nAny time the choices are many and efficiency is a goal, we might do well to turn to this seemingly simple organism to guide our path to success.\n\n"}, {"Source": "diatom's protein", "Application": "3d printing of nanostructures", "Function1": "build strong shell", "Function2": "protects from bacteria", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/diatoms-build-glass-houses-that-are-stable-and-strong/", "Strategy": "Diatoms Build Glass Houses\nThat Are Stable and Strong\n\nDiatoms build strong, intricate cases using proteins to arrange minerals.\nIntroduction \n\nIt’s easy to imagine that things too small for the eye to see are not very interesting, In reality, among the most intricate, fascinating, and inspiring structures around are the shells of single-celled microscopic organisms known as diatoms. Found throughout the world in lakes, rivers, and oceans, diatoms pull the mineral silicona from the water around them and craft it into astoundingly intricate containers for themselves, with the shape varying from species to species. \n\nThis material is the strongest for its weight known in nature. And it gives its owners a variety of benefits. It protects from predators. It can use its lenslike properties to turn harmful ultraviolet light into rays the microbes can harvest for energy. And it can selectively allow nutrients in while filtering out harmful organisms.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nDiatoms craft for themselves a shell, called a frustule, from silicona, the material that makes glass and much of the world’s sand. Each frustule consists of a top and bottom that fit together like a candy box. And each species of diatom makes a structure of a characteristic shape—circular, rectangular,  even star-shaped—with a characteristic pattern of pores. The combination of pores and solid material give the shells remarkable structural strength for their weight. The way they are structured also helps keep diatoms close to the surface of the water, protects the diatom from bacteria and viruses, and converts harmful ultraviolet light into a wavelength the diatom can use to photosynthesize.\n\nThe process of making a frustule resembles an assembly line with various proteins as the line workers. Proteins known as silicic acid transporters move silicon from the surrounding water into a baglike structure inside the cell called a silica deposition vesicle. There, other proteins link silicona atoms together to form a hard structure. Some proteins, called silaffins, make bits with tiny pores. Others, called pleuralins, help connect the top and bottom parts of the box. Yet others, known as cingulins, help make bands that wrap around the structure and  hold it together. A sugar polymer known as chitin offers additional strength. Finally, the diatom coats the structure with organic materials known as long-chain polyamines. Scientists think these help create customized shapes for various species.\n\nThe Potential \n\nThe biomimetic potential that diatom frustules offer is virtually endless. The porous construction offers insights for creating strong but lightweight materials for application in aeronautics, shipping, recreational equipment, and more. The ability to alter the wavelength of light could be used to make the capture of solar energy more efficient. The mechanism of laying down material accurately following diatoms’ template could inform 3D printing of nanostructures that could be used for filtering, drug delivery, nanorobotics, lenses, sensors, microelectronics, and other uses. And emulating diatoms’ construction capabilities could provide sand with customized properties for use in cleaners,  road materials, and more."}, {"Source": "flying dragon lizard's elongated rib", "Application": "airplane wings", "Function1": "improves aerodynamics", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/wings-enable-glide/", "Strategy": "Wings Enable Glide\n\nSpecial elongated ribs of the flying dragon lizard enable it to glide via adjustable membranes that act as 'wings'.\n“The ‘wings’ of this spectacular lizard are made from membranes stretched between a series of specially elongated ribs that act as struts. The end result bears uncanny resemblance to early designs for aircraft wings, but the lizard’s version is far more sophisticated since its wings can be opened and closed at will. The lizard’s flattened body improves its aerodynamics, and its slender tail acts as a counterbalance. On average, each flight carries it roughly 25 feet (8m)”"}, {"Source": "bird' behavior of building nest", "Application": "learning algorithm", "Function1": "select perfect location", "Function2": "select material of appropriate stiffness", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/birds-build-responsively/", "Strategy": "Birds Build Responsively\n\n Birds evaluate external threats, their previous success, and the success of others in determining where and how to build their nests.\n\nIntroduction \n\nWhat do you think is happening inside a bird’s head when it builds a nest? Do you think it’s a mindless, automatic process, as innate as a baby learning to crawl? Or do you think it’s a more intentional, thoughtful process of experimentation and learning? Recent evidence is strongly pointing to the latter scenario, with implications for how humans attempt to teach machines, programs, and themselves to carry out any complex activity.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nTake, for starters, the process of selecting the perfect nest location. Birds of the same species tend to build their nests in similar types of locations, so for a long time scientists assumed that this behavior was genetically determined. However, studies have shown that nest site selection changes greatly depending on a number of factors such as weather, encounters with predators, past success, and what other birds in the area are doing.\n\nIn one study, when cold weather set in, pinyon jays in northern Arizona began building their nests in higher, more exposed locations, where the increased sunlight both kept the mother warm and helped melt snow around the nest. However, 25% of pinyon jays then stopped building nests in exposed sites after multiple encounters with predators.\n\nMany species, like kittiwakes and piping plovers, will adjust their nesting sites year to year based on their own reproductive success. If a bird fails to produce young that survive to the fledgling stage, the following year it will build a nest much farther away, whereas a successful bird will stay in roughly the same area.\n\nEven more interestingly, birds who fail to breed will peek at their neighbors’ nests to help them decide where to build next. A study showed that piping plovers with unsuccessful neighbors chose sites 34 times further away the following year compared to birds with successful neighbors.\n\nThe Potential \n\nSuch research makes a strong case for nest-building as a carefully considered and constantly adapting endeavor, rather than a purely inherited, mechanical behavior. As humans seek to adapt fundamental processes in construction and other areas to changing conditions, there is much to learn from and admire about the methods birds have employed to be so successful. And it begs the question: how did we learn to build in the first place?"}, {"Source": "dolphin's whistle", "Application": "acoustic modem", "Function1": "prevent messages from being distorted", "Function2": "maintaining transmission of message", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/whistles-compensate-for-underwater-sound-distortion/", "Strategy": "Whistles Compensate for\nUnderwater Sound Distortion\n\nDolphins send out broadband whistles and bursts of clicks to prevent messages from being distorted underwater.\n\nIntroduction \n\nFrom early childhood most of us have been taught that dolphins use sound waves both to “see” underwater and to communicate with each other. If this doesn’t impress you, then you have not yet fully considered the challenges presented by trying to hear and be heard underwater. The dolphins’ solution to these challenges is so effective that it’s inspiring a wave of new underwater communication devices.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nWhile humans produce sound by pushing air past vibrating tissues in our throat, dolphins have vibrating tissues in their nasal passages, called “phonic lips.” The sounds they produce typically fall into three categories: whistles, clicks, and burst pulses (rapid series of clicks). Clicks are used mainly for echolocation and hunting, and span a narrow range of frequencies. Whistles and burst pulses are used more for communication between dolphins, and span a wide range of frequencies, low to high, even outside the range of human hearing. The “broadband” nature of these whistles and burst pulses can actually help ensure a dolphin’s message is not distorted as it travels to its intended recipient.\n\nSuppose you’re a dolphin swimming through shallow, pristine waters, trying to get a signal to a fellow dolphin about the location of food. You emit a sound, a wave that propagates through the water and can be picked up by your peer. However, the sound wave you emitted propagates in all directions: it also travels to the surface of the water and the ocean floor, bouncing off of both and eventually colliding with the other parts of the wave. This is called interference, and it is just one of many problems posed for any organism trying to make sense of a sound signal underwater. Researchers have confirmed, however, that broadband signals compensate for this interference. If a portion of a signal gets interfered with at one frequency, it may still get through at another, and a whole message can be transmitted without distortion of meaning.\n\nThe Potential \n\nA company called EvoLogics has employed this solution to design a highly effective “acoustic modem,” which encodes information as sound waves, transmits them, and decodes them on the other end. The device is currently being used for tsunami monitoring systems, underwater exploration vehicles, and even an underwater telescope built to detect neutrinos—subatomic particles emitted by stars and supernovae. In this way, dolphins are helping us save lives, see parts of the ocean we’ve never seen before, and learn more about the fundamental laws of the universe."}, {"Source": "corel's rock-hard reef", "Application": "durable materials", "Function1": "form rock-hard surface", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/how-proteins-help-corals-build-rock-hard-reefs/", "Strategy": "How Proteins Help Corals\nBuild Rock‑Hard Reefs\n\nCorals lay down proteins in an organized way to create a scaffold for minerals that produce rock-hard reefs\nIntroduction \n\nSome of the most extensive structures on Earth are made not by humans or beavers or other big builders, but by countless generations of tiny creatures beneath the surface of the sea.\n\nEach coral individual contributes to the reef that large populations of them form, helping to provide a vast home to an abundance of fish and other ocean-going animals. But until recently, humans hadn’t known exactly how the jelly-bean-sized invertebrates produce these massive, rock-hard habitats. Now, new information on how proteins interact with each other to form molecular scaffolds for rock crystals is offering valuable insights into how corals create—and how humans might create—durable structures that can stand up to saltwater, strong currents, and more.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nCorals start their lives as floating larvae called planulae. When they settle down, they take on a baglike polyp form and begin their work.\n\nFirst, a set of proteins containing collagens, laminins, fibronectin, and USOMP13 form a scaffold. Second, molecules called coral acid-rich proteins (CARP) attach to the collagens, pull calcium carbonate from the water, and shape it into a needlelike form called aragonite.\n\nThe corals then combine these aragonite crystals with sugars, fats, and more than a hundred kinds of proteins—at least one of which is similar to a protein that helps shape human bones. The organic molecules act like cement, gluing bits of aragonite together to form the literally rock-hard surface we know as coral skeletons. These structures provide some protection from predators for the invertebrate engineers that make them, and provide surfaces that other corals can attach to.\n\nThe Potential \n\nCorals’ capacity to make uniquely shaped, durable structures using a well-organized combination of minerals and organic molecules could find countless applications in the pursuit of engineering that respects, protects, and emulates nature. Scientists and engineers growing prosthetic bone could use the spatial arrangements coral researchers have uncovered as an inspiration for enhancing strength and durability of prosthetics. Materials scientists and engineers could use the spatial arrangements as a guide for creating a range of durable materials. This in turn could be applied to developing buildings and other infrastructure, consumer goods, packaging, cars, trucks, and airplanes, just to name just a few."}, {"Source": "pelican wing", "Application": "flying drones", "Function1": "increase  lift", "Function2": "decrease drag", "Function3": "save energy", "Function4": "glid across water", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/birds-surf-air/", "Strategy": "Birds That Surf the Air\n\nWhen pelican wings glide close to water, they use “ground effect” to maximize lift, minimize drag, and conserve energy.\n\nIntroduction \n\nIt’s low tide and a calm sea early in the morning as a flock of brown pelicans dips low and glides just above the surface of the Atlantic Ocean. The appearance may be graceful, but the real grace is efficiency. These birds are using tricks of physics to catch a nearly free ride over the deep.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nPelicans, skimmers, and other birds save energy when gliding across water because of something called the “ground effect,” which increases lift and reduces drag.\n\nThe Potential \n\nStudying methods that birds use to save energy flying can lead to innovations that help airplanes fly more efficiently, reducing fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Flying drones that survey and study waterways might be designed to glide close to the water to optimize energy and cover farther distances. And in the rising development of electric airplanes, it’s going to be particularly helpful to save as much energy as possible to help battery charges last as long as possible.\n\n"}, {"Source": "humpback whale's flipper", "Application": "design of wind turbines and fans of all sorts", "Function1": "channel flow", "Function2": "superior fluid dynamics", "Function3": "increase aerodynamic efficiency", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/flippers-provide-lift-reduce-drag/", "Strategy": "Flippers Provide Lift, Reduce Drag\n\nThe flippers of the humpback whale channel flow and increase aerodynamic efficiency due to tubercles or bumps.\n\nFlippers on humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) have non-smooth leading edges, yet demonstrate superior fluid dynamics to the characteristically smooth leading edges of our wings, turbines and other kinds of blades.\n\nDespite being 40-50 feet long and weighing nearly 80,000 pounds, humpback whales swim in circles tight enough to produce nets of bubbles only five feet across, which corral their shrimp-like prey. The whale’s surprising dexterity is due primarily to its non-conventional flippers, which have large, irregular looking bumps called tubercles across their leading edges. Whereas sheets of water flowing over smooth flippers break up into myriad turbulent vortices as they cross the flipper, sheets of water passing between a humpback’s tubercles maintain even channels of fast-moving water, allowing humpbacks to keep their “grip” on the water at sharper angles and turn tighter corners, even at low speeds.\n\nWind tunnel tests of model humpback flippers with and without leading-edge tubercles have demonstrated the fluid dynamic improvements tubercles make, such as a staggering 32% reduction in drag, 8% improvement in lift, and a 40% increase in angle of attack over smooth flippers before stalling. A company called WhalePower is applying these lessons to the design of wind turbines and fans of all sorts – industrial ceiling fans and other HVAC systems, computer fans, etc. – to improve their efficiency, safety, and cost-effectiveness."}, {"Source": "antarctic toothfish's eye len", "Application": "temperature manager", "Function1": "maintain right concentration of three isoforms of crytallin proteins", "Function2": "avoid cold-cataracts", "Function3": "remain clear", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/eye-lens-proteins-adapted-for-clarity-in-extreme-cold/", "Strategy": "Eye Lens Proteins Adapted for Clarity in Extreme Cold\n\nThe eye lens of the Antarctic toothfish avoids cold-cataracts at temperatures cold enough to freeze sea water by maintaining the right concentration of three isoforms of crytallin proteins.\n\nProteins are the workhorses of life, and they are very fashion conscious. That is, proteins are large molecules with elaborate carbon-chain frames decorated with a variety of chemical accessories. But nothing will work right if every fold, every dangling accessory, and every chemical undergarment is not in its proper position. They’re fussy about temperature, too. Taken out of their comfort zone, they’re a disorganized, dysfunctional mess. Egg white proteins are a common example. In their comfort zone, egg albumin, dressed to the nines, is clear and fluid. Turn up the heat and she loses her cool, turning opaque and solid. Eye lenses are also made up largely of proteins, particularly three forms of crystallin (alpha, beta, and gamma crystallin). When all is well, lenses are clear, but too hot or too cold, these proteins lose their finesse and turn opaque. But not the eye of the giant nototheniid fish, Dissostichus mawsoni, an Antarctic toothfish living in the coldest marine environment–the Antarctic region of the Southern Ocean–where water temperatures are perennially at or near the freezing point of seawater (-2°C, 28.4°F). Its eye lens remains clear at this freezing temperature and even as cold as -12°C (10.4°F). Although science does not know for sure how toothfish lenses remain clear, the relative concentration of the gamma isoform of crystallin protein in the toothfish lens appears to be key in its ability to maintain optical clarity at temperatures cold enough to freeze sea water solid.\n"}, {"Source": "mussel byssal thread", "Application": "surgical glue", "Function1": "chemical bonding", "Function2": "underwater adhesive", "Function3": "amazing adhesive quality", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/mussels-hold-on-with-fancy-footwork/", "Strategy": "Mussels Hold On With Fancy Footwork\n\nMussel byssal threads attach to wet rocks using adhesive proteins that first prime their surfaces and then chemically bind to them.\n\nIntroduction \n\nWhile humans have spent decades trying to make adhesives that stick underwater, mussels have been doing it for hundreds of millions of years. They tether themselves to rocks or each other with stringy fibers called byssal threads. Each thread has a foamy adhesive “plaque” at the end containing a mixture of proteins that give mussels their amazing adhesive qualities.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nBefore it makes byssal threads, a mussel’s foot snakes out of its shell, probing for a suitable place to stick. When the foot is ready to attach, it secretes a series of liquid proteins in a specific sequence, which quickly solidify. Some, mostly collagen (the same protein that makes skin stretchy), become the thin but strong thread itself. Others form a hard protective coating around both the plaque and thread. And just a few of the proteins are adhesive and form the anchoring plaque.\n\nWhat makes these proteins so sticky is that they contain high concentrations of a special molecule called L-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine, or dopa. Dopa sticks very easily to many surfaces, including famously non-stick ones like Teflon, because of how it bonds chemically to them. Each molecule contains side chains that share electrons with rocky surfaces, forming phenomenally strong bonds.\n\nBut just like the primer you have to apply to wood before you paint it, scientists have recently discovered that another protein, lysine (lys), helps prepare the wet surfaces for dopa.\n\nThe Potential \n\nDeveloping underwater adhesives, of course, has many maritime applications. But artificial mussel glues might also save lives. Because bodily fluids also contain salts, similar adhesives could result in new methods for closing wounds and incisions. Mussel adhesives might also transform surgery on babies in the womb, enabling surgeons to reseal incisions made in the amniotic sac, which is too fragile for traditional suturing or other techniques.\n\nMussel-based adhesives could also help preserve our oceans. Coral reefs provide food and shelter to 25% of ocean species, yet they face serious risks of global extinction. Restoring reefs can involve transplanting thriving sections to less healthy areas, but they need a biofriendly glue to fix them in place. Mussel proteins might just be the missing link."}, {"Source": "bull snake's single vocal cord", "Application": "hearing aid design", "Function1": "high amplitude sound", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/snake-sounds-like-bull/", "Strategy": "The Snakes That Bellow Like Bulls\n\nWhen bull snakes and their relatives bellow in defense, tissue boosts air flow as it passes over a single vocal cord to create an initial burst of sound.\n\nIntroduction\n\nA snake is slinking across a grassy meadow when a red-tailed hawk swoops from the sky to try to catch it. In response, the snake lets out a loud bellowing sound that earns it the name of “bull snake.”\n\nNo other genus of snake is known to make such a sound. What’s going on?\n\nThe Strategy\n\nWhen a bull snake, gopher snake, or pine snake (all members of the genus Pituophis) is attacked or frightened it makes two defensive noises. Both noises result from when the snake forces air through its larynx while exhaling, similar to how humans can only speak while exhaling.\n\nScientists recorded bull snake defensive noises in an acoustic chamber and analyzed their characteristics. They found that the snakes bellow usually during the first or second exhalation. The bellow is characterized by a high amplitude (louder-sounding) burst of sound followed by a longer period of low-amplitude (quieter) and constant-frequency sound that resembles a hiss.\n\nThe researchers found that bull snakes also hiss during their third or fourth exhalation, which resembles the second portion of the bellow in its low amplitude and constant frequency.\n\nPituophis snakes have a few unique anatomical features that help create these sounds. For one, these snakes are the only known animals to have a single vocal cord. Other animals have paired vocal cords made of smooth muscle tissue that vibrate and constrict to change the pitch of the sounds they make.\n\nWhereas human vocal cords are paired and vertically oriented, bull snakes and their relatives have a single cord that is oriented horizontally across the top portion of the larynx. The bellowing likely occurs when air flows over the tensed vocal cord, causing it to vibrate.\n\nThe scientists also found that another piece of tissue, called the epiglottal keel, had a minor role in the bellow. The keel is an oblong and stiff piece of tissue that sits in the path of the air flow and divides it like a boulder might split a river into two streams. When the snakes partially close their mouths, it’s like having a bigger boulder dividing a river that forces the water (or air with the snakes) down narrower paths. Having more air pass through partially obstructed paths amplifies the sound of the bellow’s initial burst.\n\nThe Potential\n\nStudying how snakes vocalize and amplify their sound could lead to devices that amplify sound through their structure, as opposed to through electronic means. Warning systems that alert people to natural disasters might one day use structural elements to efficiently carry sound further. Or perhaps they could lead to a revolution in hearing aid design."}, {"Source": "red harvester ant", "Application": "research in fastest spread", "Function1": "speed information flow", "Function2": "vary levels of connectivity.", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/individuals-share-information/", "Strategy": "Ant Colonies Speed Information Flow\n\nRed harvester ant colonies speed information flow by varying levels of connectivity.\n\nIntroduction\n\nEvery day, as a matter of routine, ants around the world do something that humans find extraordinarily difficult, if not impossible: They carry out elaborate, coordinated activities, such as finding food and caring for offspring, without any single ant being in charge. Rather, the direction of their activities emerges from information-sharing interactions among the thousands of individuals comprising a colony. Through positive and negative feedback loops, those activities synergize and lead to a favorable outcome.\n\nIn many instances, the speed of information flow is critical to the quality of the outcome. For instance, if a marauding animal starts digging up a nest, the faster that the ants can communicate the need to move the young to safety, the more young will likely be saved. As a result, thanks to natural selection and evolution, it’s likely that the way information flows among ants has some built-in efficiencies that could offer insights for other systems. So, how do they do it?\n\nThe Strategy\n\nRed harvester ants, Pogonomyrmex barbatus, have some lessons to share. Native to the southwestern U.S. and Mexico, these seed-eaters adapt to unpredictable and widely varying food supplies through a fascinating division of labor. Early in the morning, patrollers set out from the bare-ground anthill to assess the availability of food. When they return, they touch antennae with foragers waiting in the chamber of the nest closest to the entrance. If they take too long to return, the forager ants don’t bother to go seed hunting but rather rely on their previously gathered underground stash to sustain them for the day. If the patrollers return quickly enough with food in jaw, foragers get the abundance message and set out to gather seeds.\n\nSimilarly, the rate at which foragers return and touch antennae with other foragers determines whether and how quickly additional foragers deploy. This system allows them to maximize the benefits of foraging and minimize the cost of spending time and energy on activities with little return for the colony.\n\nThis leads to the question: What’s the best way for the various categories of ants to communicate with each other to convey the messages to all involved as quickly as possible? Researchers studying the red harvester discovered that not every ant has an equal chance of being contacted by another ant. Rather, the path each ant takes and its location in the entrance to the anthill is correlated with interaction frequency. As a result, some ants end up becoming information hubs, interacting far more frequently than average with other ants. Feeding this pattern into a model, the researchers discovered that this “hub” strategy makes information flow faster than if the interactions among ants were more evenly distributed.\n\nThe Potential\n\nKnowing the fastest way to spread something through a network is extremely valuable in today’s connected world. This lesson already is being applied and has still more potential in realms such as speeding computing, improving emergency response, enhancing communication in an organization, or even helping control air traffic. Conversely, it also can improve our ability to develop strategies to slow the spread of diseases and invasive species."}, {"Source": "snakes' manufacturing", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "produce as needed", "Function2": "conserve resources", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/just-in-time-manufacturing-conserves-resources/", "Strategy": "Just‑in‑time Manufacturing Conserves Resources\n\nSnakes conserve resources by just-in-time manufacturing.\n\n“Just-in-time manufacturing: Producing as needed and at the time of the need is widely used in biology and such examples include the making of the web by spiders or the production of the toxic chemicals by snakes. Such a capability is increasingly adapted by industry as a method of lowering the cost of operation. Many industries are now manufacturing their products in small quantities as needed to meet consumers demand right at the assembly line. Thus, industry is able to cope with the changing demand and decline or rise in orders for its products.”"}, {"Source": "mosquito's chemical sensor", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "sense chemical", "Function2": "protect offspring", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/chemical-sensing-of-predators-determines-egg-laying/", "Strategy": "Chemical Sensing of Predators\nDetermines Egg‑laying\n\nThe mosquito, Culiseta longiareolata, protects its offspring by sensing chemicals released by its predator, the backswimmer, Notonecta maculata, before laying its eggs.\n\nMosquitoes can detect the chemical signatures, called kairomones, of the predators that eat their larva. Mosquitos avoid areas that contain these kairomones when laying their eggs so that their offspring have a better chance of survival."}, {"Source": "papuan weevil's screw and nut leg joint", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "better climbers", "Function2": "strong foothold", "Function3": "preventing passive straining", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/screw-and-nut-leg-joint-assists-climbing/", "Strategy": "Screw‑and‑nut Leg Joint Assists Climbing\n\nScrew-and-nut leg joint of the Papuan weevil allows rotational movement combined with single axis translation.\n\n“It is remarkable that in the case of the weevil leg a rotary movement is accomplished by a screw-and-nut system. In engineering, such systems are mainly used for fixing connections, whereas an axle would be used for a simple rotation. The possible advantages and disadvantages of a screw-and-nut system over an axle in a leg joint may be most apparent at its end points. In ventral position, when fully tightened, the joint comes to a dead stop. One possible disadvantage, the danger of overwinding the thread, then is negligible, because the depressor muscles are already fully contracted at that point. We suggest that an advantage of this construction is that the leg comes to a stable resting position, preventing passive straining of leg muscles, which would not be accomplished by an axle construction. If the weevil’s leg is pulled in the opposite direction over its back, the muscles are torn off, and the trochanter can be neatly dislodged from the coxal nut. Such dislocation can be produced with the help of delicate forceps. Under natural circumstances, this is a highly unlikely event, because the beetle’s natural defensive reflex is to bring the legs into a ventral position if attacked by a predator.”  \n\n“As a rule, weevils are clumsier than many other beetles, e.g. carabidae. Transformation of a hinge joint into a screw joint, however allowed them to move their legs further down, which made them better climbers. The Trigonopterus oblongus weevil analyzed here lives on twigs and foliage in the jungle of Papua New Guinea. For feeding, the thorn is pushed into the plant tissue, while the hind legs provide strong foothold. Presumably, the screw joint also is advantageous in this respect.   \n\n“‘Meanwhile, we have also studied other weevil species and always found screw joints,’ explain Riedel and van de Kamp. ‘Obviously, this joint exists in all weevils, of which more than 50,000 species exist worldwide.’ In this case, the researchers would have identified the screw joint to be a so  far unknown basic feature of the weevil family.\n\nThe best known species in Germany are Curculio nucum and curculio glandium as well as the corn weevil, a grain pest.”"}, {"Source": "weakly electric fishes' skin receptor organs", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "detect signal", "Function2": "filter out background signals", "Function3": "generate electric signal", "Function4": "focus on navigation and communication", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/receptor-organs-filter-background-noise/", "Strategy": "Receptor Organs Filter Background Noise\n\nReceptor organs in the skin of weakly electric fishes filter out background noise and enable communication using cells as capacitors.\n\nWeakly electric fishes can both generate and sense electric fields. Changes in the electric field around the fish provide information on its surroundings, including whether there are prey, predators, or potential mates nearby. Being able to perceive their surroundings with an electric sense is helpful for these fishes that are typically active at night and live in murky streams and rivers.\n\nA weakly electric fish can sense low and high frequency signals. The Earth’s electromagnetic field and all living organisms moving in the water contribute to a  constant, very low frequency electrical field. Weakly electric fishes, however, can actively generate high frequency electric signals using specialized electric organs. These high frequency signals often vary in rate and intensity, and they are used for navigation and communication.\n\nTo detect information from the high frequency signals while filtering out the low frequency background signals, weakly electric fish use special electro-sensitive organs called tuberous receptor organs. The organ consists of a small chamber connected to the surface of the skin with a pore. Electro-sensitive cells sit at the base of the chamber. The tube leading from the surface pore to the receptor cells is partially blocked by skin cells, which appear to function like a capacitor: they offer a high resistance to constant low frequency electrical signals, but little resistance to varying high frequency signals. The folding pattern of the lining inside the tuberous organ further reduces resistance to high frequency signals. The result is that high frequency signals easily pass through to the receptor cells.\n\nTuberous receptor organs are especially sensitive or “tuned” to the peak frequency of signals coming from other weakly electric fishes. This enables weakly electric fish to focus in on detailed electrical communications from other electric fishes."}, {"Source": "rattlesnake's sidewinder", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "efficient move", "Function2": "firm hold", "Function3": "short contact time with sand", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/moving-efficiently-across-sand-without-slipping/", "Strategy": "Moving Efficiently Across\nSand Without Slipping\n\nThe sidewinder rattlesnake moves efficiently across sand without slipping by pushing on the ground with parts of its body and lifting the rest sideways.\n\nThe sidewinder rattlesnake is a venomous snake that lives in deserts of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. The snake gets its name from its unusual and efficient way of getting up sandy slopes without slipping. Like most snakes, the sidewinder moves across a surface by bending its body into a curvy S-shape and passing those curves down its body. But instead of sliding straight ahead along the ground, the sidewinder sets only parts of its body on the loose sand while the rest of its body lifts up and moves sideways. This process continues all along the sidewinder’s body, so that each part touches the sand for only a brief time. This appears to help the snake get a firm hold on the sand and travel quickly while limiting total contact time with the hot and unstable sand.\n\n"}, {"Source": "e. coli bacteria's membrane", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "detect chemicals", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/bacteria-sense-and-move-toward-chemicals/", "Strategy": "Bacteria Sense and Move Toward Chemicals\n\nThe membrane of E. coli bacteria detects chemicals of interest via transmembrane receptor proteins.\n\n“Chemotactic bacteria navigate complex chemical environments by coupling sophisticated information processing capabilities to powerful molecular motors that propel the cells forward. Escherichia coli recognize chemoattractants using five transmembrane receptor proteins, which cluster with one another and interact with a set of well-characterized cytosolic proteins to effect changes in the directional rotation of the flagellar motor.”"}, {"Source": "shark' scale and denticle", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "decrease drag", "Function2": "resulte more suction", "Function3": "produce forward thrust", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/scales-manipulate-flow/", "Strategy": "Scales Manipulate Flow\n\nScales on sharks influence drag and thrust during swimming by manipulating fluid flow next to the body.\n\nSome species of sharks can swim at impressive speeds of 50 km/h (31 mph). Their skin is covered in bony scales called dermal denticles (literally ‘skin teeth’), generally 0.2-0.5 mm small, with fine regularly spaced (30–100 μm) longitudinal ridges aligned along the body axis. It has long been hypothesized that shark scales reduce drag by managing the water flow closest to the skin. In addition, shark denticles may help vortices (low-pressure regions of swirling water) stay attached to particular areas of the shark’s body, resulting in more suction and forward thrust. Thus, a shark’s denticles may increase swimming speeds by increasing thrust in addition to reducing drag.\n\nScale texture is just one of the factors that can influence shark skin hydrodynamics, however. Laboratory experiments have revealed that surfaces covered with shark skin, as well as synthetic replicas, experience faster swimming speeds (and presumably decreased drag) compared to surfaces with denticles removed. But this increase in speed only occurred when the textured surface was allowed to flex and bend (as a shark’s body would in the wild), and not when it was kept rigid. Why this difference exists is still under investigation. The shark scales’ ability to bristle in excess of 30-50˚ angles when the body bends may change the nature of fluid flow.\n\nThere is still debate regarding shark denticles’ effectiveness at reducing drag. A recent computational study found that shark skin experienced increased drag by 45-50% when compared to a flat plate without shark skin. These researchers speculate that the three-dimensional shape of a denticle interacts with local flow in such a way that it increases drag. However, it is important to note that this model made necessary simplifying assumptions, including a rigid surface on which the denticles are mounted and a static angle of bristling. Further research, including empirical studies, will be required to address these contrasting results."}, {"Source": "western honeybee", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "regulate hive temperature", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/varying-response-thresholds-aid-hive-thermoregulation/", "Strategy": "Varying Response Thresholds\nAid Hive Thermoregulation\n\nHoneybees in a colony regulate hive temperature due to diverse response thresholds.\n\n“A honey bee colony is characterized by high genetic diversity among its workers, generated by high levels of multiple mating by its queen. Few clear benefits of this genetic diversity are known. Here we show that brood nest temperatures in genetically diverse colonies (i.e., those sired by several males) tend to be more stable than in genetically uniform ones (i.e., those sired by one male). One reason this increased stability arises is because genetically determined diversity in workers’ temperature response thresholds modulates the hive-ventilating behavior of individual workers, preventing excessive colony-level responses to temperature fluctuations.”"}, {"Source": "beaver dam", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "cleanse stream", "Function2": "reduce the speed of flow", "Function3": "improve water quality", "Function4": "filter out sediment", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/beaver-dams-cleanse-streams-by-slowing-water/", "Strategy": "Beaver Dams Cleanse Streams by Slowing Water\n\nObstacles placed in the path of sediment-laden water reduce the speed of flow, allowing debris from wildfires to settle out and improving water quality downstream.\n“Along with deterring the flames themselves, beaver dams and ponds also function as filters for ash and other fire-produced pollutants that enter waterways—thus maintaining water quality for fish, other aquatic animals, and humans—emerging evidence suggests.”\n\n“Beaver dams and ponds filter out sediment by slowing the rate at which water flows, says researcher Sarah Koenigsberg at the Beaver Coalition, an Oregon-based nonprofit organization that promotes conservation. When water lazily drifts through a beaver pond rather than rushing in a torrent down a narrow channel, suspended sediment has time to settle on the bottom where it poses less risk to fish and other aquatic animals. ‘You can almost think of it like a coffee filter,’ Koenigsberg said.”"}, {"Source": "geese's down feathers", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "insulating", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/feather-structure-insulates/", "Strategy": "Feather Structure Insulates\n\nDown feathers of geese insulate through special architecture.\n\n“Feather keratin occurs in a ‘b-sheet’ configuration which differs from the a-helices that occur in mammalian keratins. . . We have measured the properties of individual down feathers from ducks, geese and penguins and found that their properties are similar to flight feathers and, indeed, the man-made polymers used in artificial insulation fibres. The message is that the architecture of down feathers is probably more important than material properties in determining their advantages over synthetic materials. . .Recently, we have begun to explore the toughness of feather keratin by using instrumented clippers and scissors. The fracture toughness of β-keratin has proved to be very high, around 10 kJ m-2.”"}, {"Source": "petals of pansy flowers", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "hydrophobicity", "Function2": "maintain self-cleaning", "Function3": "maintian grip", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/petals-self-clean-without-being-slippery/", "Strategy": "Petals Self‑clean Without Being Slippery\n\nPetals of pansy flowers maintain self-cleaning without sacrificing grip because of cone-shaped cells.\n\nSelf-cleaning is a very useful surface property for plants as they are unable to clean themselves mechanically. The most famous example of plant self-cleaning is the sacred lotus, which uses micro-scale bumps coated in tiny wax needles to form very stable air bubbles between droplets of water and the leaf surface. When the droplets roll off the surface, they pick up dirt and contaminating microbes and wash them away.\n\nFlowers are also often water-repellent (hydrophobic), however, their main function is to attract pollinators, and waxy surfaces like those on lotus leaves are slippery, making it more difficult for visiting insects to grip them. As flowers are short-lived organs and consequently contamination doesn’t matter as much, many flowers may have sacrificed self-cleaning for grip. Petals on flowers like roses have bumps similar to those found on lotus leaves, but they are covered with a smooth layer of wax instead of needles. This makes them less slippery, but also less repellent. Rose petals are still hydrophobic, enabling the flower to avoid becoming waterlogged, but water droplets stick to the petal surface instead of rolling off. As a result, contaminating particles are not washed away.\n\nPansy petals, on the other hand, do show self-cleaning properties comparable to those of lotus leaves, but they do so with a smooth wax coating like that of rose petals, ensuring that visiting pollinating insects are still able to grip them.\n\nPansy petals have unusually tall and pointed bumps on their surfaces that are 45 microns in height: nearly three times the height of similar bumps on rose petals. The bumps of both rose and pansy petals have a wrinkled surface. In roses, the wrinkles are wide enough that water can enter by capillary action, holding droplets in place and preventing them from rolling. But on pansy petals, the wrinkles are too narrow for water to enter. In addition, the tips of the bumps are smaller and closer together on pansy petals than they are for rose petals or lotus leaves. This keeps the total contact area between the petal and the water droplet small and prevents the air bubble from collapsing. The result is enhanced hydrophobicity and a self-cleaning surface that insects can still get a grip on."}, {"Source": "nematodes' anhydrobiosis", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "become desiccated", "Function2": "revive when moistened", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/anhydrobiosis-protects-during-desiccation/", "Strategy": "Anhydrobiosis Protects During Desiccation\n\nSome nematodes survive drought conditions by entering an ametabolic state known as anhydrobiosis.\n\n“Some nematodes, or round worms, undergo a similar, though less profound, form of cryptobiosis. As demonstrated by Newcastle University researcher Prof. Conrad Ellenby during a series of classic experiments, they become wholly desiccated when confronted with unfavorable external conditions, yet they revive fully when moistened.” "}, {"Source": "mammal's stratum corneum keratin", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "arrange filaments into cubic rod-packing symmetry", "Function2": "tough", "Function3": "adaptable", "Function4": "flexible", "Function5": "resistant to water", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/skin-properties-derive-from-arrangement-of-components/", "Strategy": "Skin Properties Derive From Arrangement of Components\n\nThe skin of mammals may derive its unique mechanical properties and other characteristics from the arrangement of its stratum corneum keratin intermediate filaments into cubic rod-packing symmetry.\n\nKeratin is tough, adaptable, flexible, and resistant to water. These qualities make it an ideal material for the moulding of claws, nails and hooves, and as a body covering."}, {"Source": "australian stinging tree's leaves", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protect from herbivory", "Function2": "contain poison", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/leaves-protect-from-herbivory/", "Strategy": "Leaves Protect From Herbivory\n\nThe leaves of the Australian stinging tree and other plants protect themselves from herbivory with venomous stinging hairs.\n\n“There are even more ferocious stingers elsewhere in the world. Tropical Australia has three different species. Some are low bushes. One is a tree that can grow to fifty feet tall. A traveller failing to recognise the large and characteristic heart-shaped leaves and brushing past them is likely to be so badly stung that he may have to be taken to hospital. The poison, like that of the nettle, contains histamine but also other as yet unidentified venoms that cause an intense pain which can last for weeks. There is no known antidote.”"}, {"Source": "pompeii worm", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "tolerate temperature gradient", "Function2": "withstand high temperature", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/worm-tolerates-temperature-gradient-of-140-deg-f/", "Strategy": "Worm Tolerates Temperature\nGradient of 140 Deg F\n\nPompeii worms tolerate the steepest temperature gradient on the planet using multiple strategies.\n\n“Some of my colleagues have nominated the worm Alvinella pompejana (right) as the most thermally tolerant animal on Earth. Whole galleries of alvinellids live in tubes on the sides of black smokers, at the very seething heart of the vent. University of Delaware marine biologist Craig Cary has gathered data that show alvinellids living in water that’s 149o F and surviving frequent temperature spikes well above 175oF. Alvinellids–on average a half inch in diameter and about three inches long–also tolerate the steepest temperature gradient on the planet. Specimens have been found in water 140oF hotter at one end of the animal than at the other. Superheated fluids from black smokers do not mix well with ambient cold seawater, so transitions between them are abrupt. ‘Textbook biology tells us that animals can be psychrophilic [cold loving] or thermophilic [heat loving] but not both,’ says Cary. ‘I guess the alvinellids just didn’t read the textbook.’ We don’t yet know how Alvinella worms survive these extremes. The answer may lie in their behavior or in some specialized cellular biochemistry, or both.” "}, {"Source": "killer whale's sounds", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "adapt linguistic behavior", "Function2": "vocal learning", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/vocal-learning-makes-communication-style-adaptable/", "Strategy": "Vocal Learning Makes\nCommunication Style Adaptable\n\nKiller whales use vocal learning to adopt vocalization patterns of neighboring species.\n\nIntroduction \n\nAnimals communicate with one another to warn against predators, find mates, and travel in groups. Most animals are born with basic linguistic abilities, but some animals can learn new ways to communicate as they grow. Understanding how animals learn and adapt their behavior can tell us a lot about the expanded roles communication can play in their lives.\n\nKiller whales (Orcinus orca) are very intelligent, highly social marine mammals that use clicks, pulses, and whistles to communicate with each other. These sounds vary slightly between pods and result in different ways of “speaking” called dialects. Similar to how English spoken in Boston might sound different from English spoken in Dallas, killer whale dialects function similarly, but each has its own flavor.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nHumans are now understanding more about how killer whales learn their vocal repertoire—and why. A study of killer whales held in captivity alongside bottlenose dolphins found that the killer whales changed their vocal patterns to more closely emulate the dolphins’ sounds. They used a higher proportion of clicks and whistles, similar to the dolphins, and fewer pulses. One killer whale even adopted a sound that was taught to a dolphin by humans, indicating they can learn and use sounds not found in the natural environment.\n\nThis ability to learn new communication sounds is called “vocal learning,” and it suggests killer whales can receive new information and adapt their linguistic behavior to best fit their environment. Effective communication is critical to building relationships, which is necessary in animals like killer whales who rely on social groups to hunt and move through the ecosystem.\n\nVocal learning illustrates that communication is not stagnant, but rather evolves based on environmental and social conditions. As killer whales in the wild face disruptive threats through ship traffic, oil drilling, marine debris, and climate change, the ability to change communication strategies to best fit a new social group could be a very important skill.\n\nThe Potential \n\nSince humans are also a highly social species, lessons from killer whales could be applied to our own approaches towards communication and learning. Their willingness and ability to adapt shows that when in a new social context, it may be valuable first to listen to how the group is already sharing information, then incorporate that style into your own communications.\n\nIt is also a model for thinking outside the box in terms of community and communication. While it is unclear what effect the adopted sounds have on the dolphins or their relationship with the killer whales, there are several possibilities: they could allow for the communication of detailed information, improve group cohesion, or they could go unnoticed by the dolphins. Doctor Doolittle jokes aside, what improvements in the safety of humans, livestock, and wildlife could be made if humans could better learn to adopt other species’ forms of communication?"}, {"Source": "african lion's claw", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protected from the wear", "Function2": "control claws", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/claws-protract-to-grip-prey/", "Strategy": "Claws Protract to Grip Prey\n\nClaws of the African lion protract from sheaths of skin to grab prey using muscles and tendons.\n\nThe African lion has a remarkable adaptation for hunting. Unlike other carnivores that commonly have permanently extended claws, lions (and most other cats) sport protractile claws. With this protraction mechanism, the claws are either passively retracted within the paw or actively extended out of the paw. In the paw’s relaxed state, elastic ligaments and tendons hold the claws within sheaths of skin. In this state, the claws are protected from the wear and tear that comes from walking on rough ground. Using this covering is like keeping a sword in its scabbard to protect it from becoming dull. When the lion is ready for action, it uses muscles to actively straighten its toes and extend its blade-like claws from their sheaths. This specialized arrangement enables the lion to control when to use its sharp claws for hunting, as well as climbing and mating.\n\n"}, {"Source": "leafhopper skin", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "repel water", "Function2": "hierarchical surface roughness", "Function3": "healable water-repellent coat", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/brochosomes-offer-protection-from-sticky-liquid/", "Strategy": "Brochosomes Offer\nProtection From Sticky Liquid\n\nRenewable coating of brochosomes on leafhopper skin protects from sticky honeydew by repelling water.\n\nLeafhoppers are small insects that feed on sap from the leaves of deciduous trees. They excrete droplets of a liquid waste called honeydew. Excreted honeydew falls as a constant rain onto anything that happens to be underneath, including leaves and other leafhoppers that might be feeding from the same tree. Honeydew is very sticky and, for these tiny animals less than 8 mm long, becoming clogged up by it can be very dangerous.\n\nBrochosomes are tiny hollow football-shaped honeycomb spheres 400 nm across. Leafhoppers produce brochosomes from a special gland and then use a comb-like arrangement of setae, or hairs, on their legs to apply brochosomes across the whole surface of their bodies, including their eyes. Insect skin coated with brochosomes is superhydrophobic—meaning it is able to repel water as well as other water-based liquids like honeydew.\n\nMany animals and plants have solid surfaces that are water-repellent, but leafhopper brochosomes are a powder coating. This means they adhere to the surface of droplets that contact the insect and move with them as they roll off. Brochosomes also form a rough surface as they aggregate to different depths. This creates hierarchical surface roughness, which is one of the keys to water repellency.\n\nThe often intricate structures that make a surface water repellent are susceptible to damage. Structures that are built directly into the solid surface of an organism, like those of the sacred lotus plant and springtail skin, are difficult to repair. But because leafhoppers use a renewable coating of spheres, if anything removes the brochosomes, the coat can be quickly replaced. Furthermore, spheres are connected into branching chains. This means that, if spheres at one end of a chain are dislodged, those at the other end might stay attached to the animal. By repeatedly and vigorously grooming themselves, leafhoppers heal their water-repellent coat in a way that isn’t possible for organisms with permanent repellent surfaces."}, {"Source": "porcupine's quill", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "resistance to buckling", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/quills-resist-buckling/", "Strategy": "Quills Resist Buckling\n\nQuills of porcupines resist buckling because they are made of a dense outer shell surrounding an elastic, honeycomb-like core.\n\n“Thin walled cylindrical shell structures are widespread in nature: examples include porcupine quills, hedgehog spines and plant stems. All have an outer shell of almost fully dense material supported by a low density, cellular core. In nature, all are loaded in some combination\nof axial compression and bending: failure is typically by buckling. Natural structures are often optimized. Here we have investigated and characterized the morphology of several natural tubular structures. Mechanical models recently developed to analyze the elastic buckling of a thin cylindrical shell supported by a soft elastic core "}, {"Source": "oysters' polyaspartate", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "help mold shells", "Function2": "stop shells' excess growth", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/biopolymer-stops-shell-growth/", "Strategy": "Biopolymer Stops Shell Growth\n\nPolyaspartate is a biopolymer in oysters that stops growth of shells by inhibiting growth of excess calcium carbonate.\n\nPolyaspartate is a biopolymer produced by oysters to help mold their shells into their characteristic shape. Polyaspartate stops excess growth of calcium carbonate, the principal constituent of oyster shells. "}, {"Source": "baobab tree's trunk and outer bark", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "water content affects stiffness", "Function2": "resistance to buckling", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/large-trunks-and-thick-bark-prevent-buckling/", "Strategy": "Large Trunks and Thick Bark Prevent Buckling\n\nThe large trunk and thick outer bark allow baobab trees to grow tall while resisting buckling.\n\nThe thick trunks of baobab trees give them a distinct appearance. One species, Adansonia digitata, grows up to 25m tall and can reach a diameter of 10m. The Baobab’s large trunk size has long been thought of as a way to increase water storage, since the climate where they grow can have extended periods without rainfall. Studies examining trunk water usage during the dry season show conservative use of its stored water, as it has also been shown that drawing from the trunk water negatively affects the tree’s structural integrity. Moderate water use, however, is compensated for by its trunk geometry and outer bark.\n\nBaobab wood is characteristically soft and less dense than other types of wood, and the water content in the trunk is so high that the amount of solid wood in a given volume is as low as 5% in some species. The large amount of water within the inner wood directly affects the wood’s stiffness by affecting the cell turgor pressure, which is the pressure exerted by water inside a cell against the cell wall. The more water pushing against the cell wall, the greater the turgor pressure and the more rigid the cell becomes; with less water, the cell becomes flaccid. This in turn affects the overall stability of the tree, particularly the possibility of it buckling under the weight of its own mass during water shortages. Reported instances show that a large withdrawal of water has actually caused trees to collapse. In contrast, the water content of the thick outer bark remains constant throughout the year, which may help compensate for moderate use of water from the rest of the trunk.\n\nThe height of the Baobab tree and lack of material stiffness in its wood could cause the tree to collapse under its own weight, if it had a smaller trunk diameter similar to that of other trees. Instead, its large trunk compensates and allows the tree to grow to the same height and with the same resistance to buckling as other studied trees. Increasing trunk diameter directly increases its strength against buckling, which would cost more energy to construct for trees with denser wood. Testing of the baobab’s low-density wood has shown that the energy to construct such a large trunk is not more than other trees of the same height. Additionally, the trunk has a thick outer bark which helps increase its overall stiffness."}, {"Source": "desert lark's skin", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protects from water loss", "Function2": "adjust ceramide-rich lipid ratio", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/skin-protects-from-water-loss-2/", "Strategy": "Skin Protects From Water Loss\n\nThe skin of the desert lark protects from water loss via a ceramide-rich lipid ratio.\n\n“Adjustments of lipid ratios to favor ceramides over free fatty acids and sterols have also been shown to correlate with reductions of TEWL [transepidermal water loss] in desert larks (Haugen et al., 2003a,b). The comparatively higher ratios of ceramides in stratum corneum allow the lipid lamellae of the permeability barrier to exist in a more highly ordered crystalline phase, which creates a tighter barrier to water vapor diffusion .” "}, {"Source": "ocean sunfish's low‑density and subcutaneous tissue", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "change depth rapidly", "Function2": "stably buoyant", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/tissue-provides-neutral-buoyancy/", "Strategy": "Tissue Provides Neutral Buoyancy\n\nThe thick layer of low-density, subcutaneous tissue of the ocean sunfish enables rapid depth changes by having a incompressible, gelatinous composition.\nThe ocean fish displays a laterally compressed body that is equipped with rather large dorsal and anal fins, and terminates with a broad, stiff lobe (the clavus) instead of the usual caudal fin. Internally, the fish lacks an active swim bladder and has large deposits of low-density, subcutaneous, gelatinous tissue. While these unusual characteristics and awkward shape could at first suggest Mola mola to be a planktonic fish with poor swimming capabilities, the ocean sunfish is able to move over considerable distances, both horizontally and vertically. This ability is directly related to the morphologic adaptations described above. The fish swims by stroking its dorsal and anal fins laterally and in a synchronous manner, thus generating a lift-based thrust that enables it to cruise at speeds of 04.-0.7 ms-1. This mode of swimming which resorts to fins that are not bilaterally symmetrical has not been found in other organisms so far. At the same time that it moves forward, the ocean sunfish is also able to undergo substantial vertical movements in the water column. This behavior is facilitated by the fact that the fish is neutrally and stably buoyant independently of the depth, a crucial property that is related to the absence of a swim bladder (the presence of which would otherwise change volume with hydrostatic pressure) and to the water-rich gelatinous tissue deposits."}, {"Source": "pygmy mole cricket's paddle and spur", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "jump quickly from water", "Function2": "decrease drag", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/leg-paddles-and-spurs-speed-aquatic-jumps/", "Strategy": "Leg Paddles and Spurs Speed Aquatic Jumps\n\nPaddles and spurs on the legs of the pygmy mole cricket create faster aquatic jumps by increasing the cricket's surface area.\nThe pygmy mole cricket is adept at jumping quickly from water. When the cricket prepares to jump from rest on the water surface, it extends its hind legs so rapidly that they break the water surface. During this movement, a varying number of paddles and spurs flare out from each leg, increasing the cricket’s surface area in contact with the water. When the leg is fully extended, the spurs and paddles are retracted to reduce drag. This pattern creates a laminar flow beneath the cricket, pushing down the water directly beneath it in streamline, parallel layers that launch the cricket upward.\n\nThe leg pads and spurs contain resilin, an incredibly elastic protein, suggesting that these structures are spring-loaded. The cricket’s jumping mechanism emphasizes speed over control.\n"}, {"Source": "moon moth caterpillar's air hole", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "avoid dehydration", "Function2": "prevent evaporation", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/air-holes-protect-from-dehydration/", "Strategy": "Air Holes Protect From Dehydration\n\nThe air holes of a moon moth caterpillar help avoid dehydration by closing to prevent evaporation.\n\n“This portion of the body of a moon moth caterpillar shows the spiracles very clearly, ringed in red pigment. The spiracles are equally distributed among its body segments, and can be closed if it is in danger of dehydration. Each new skin that it grows will have pores for the spiracles, which connect with a network of tiny tubes that carry oxygen deeper into its body.”"}, {"Source": "pleasing fungus beetle's glands", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "secreting volatile fluids", "Function2": "kill microbes", "Function3": "deter predators and competitors", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/secretions-protect-from-multiple-organisms/", "Strategy": "Secretions Protect From Multiple Organisms\n\nGlands of the pleasing fungus beetle kill microbes, deter predators and competitors by secreting volatile fluids.\n\nPleasing fungus beetles living partly concealed in their fungal food source have devised a chemical arsenal that keeps predators and competitors at bay. Almost a dozen small, highly volatile compounds have been identified in glandular secretions near its front legs and reflex blood from its abdomen. Glandular secretions are thought to play predominantly antimicrobial functions whereas the malodorous reflex blood compounds deter competitors and predators, such as ants and rodents, while defending against microbial pathogens.\n"}, {"Source": "hedgehog's spine", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "honeycomb-like core", "Function2": "longitudinal stiffening", "Function3": "shock-absorbers", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/spines-work-as-shock-absorbers/", "Strategy": "Spines Work As Shock Absorbers\n\nThe spines of hedgehogs function as shock-absorbers during falls thanks to their honeycomb-like core and longitudinal stiffening.\n\n“In the second category, comprising animals with masses between about 100 kilograms and 100 grams (4 ounces), falling may be injurious, but the fall must involve a distance greater than the height of the animal…Hedgehogs (about 500–1,000 grams in mass), are also just above the lower limit, but, according to Vincent and Owers (1986), cope with falls by using a special device–spines that can act as shock absorbers.” (Vogel 2003:44)\n“[T]he hedgehog spine is a shock-absorber…The foam-like structure down the center of spines and quills supports the thin outer walls against local buckling, allowing the structure to bend further without failing…Porcupine quills perform more or less the same as hollow cylinders in buckling as struts with an axial load; in bending they are 40% or so better. But the spines of the hedgehog, with their square honeycomb core and longitudinal stiffening, are three times better than they would be without the core.” "}, {"Source": "dunaliella salina algae's β‑carotene", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "absorb and neutralize the damaging oxygen radical", "Function2": "defense against radiation", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/%ce%b2-carotene-protects-from-solar-radiation/", "Strategy": "β‑carotene Protects From Solar Radiation\n\nDunaliella salina algae protect themselves from the effects of solar ultraviolet radiation by producing immense quantities of β-carotene to quench the damaging effects of reactive oxygen radicals.\n\nDunaliella salina algae is bombarded with the full brunt of solar UV (ultraviolet) radiation and has evolved a novel mechanism for defending itself from the radiation’s damaging effects. More than 8% of its dry body mass is β-carotene, more than any other organism that produces the compound. The algae produces β-carotene in response to UV stress and localizes it to lipid droplets within its chloroplasts. In that location it is able to absorb and neutralize the damaging oxygen radicals produced from excessive UV and sun exposure."}, {"Source": "chickens' eggshells", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "thin yet strong material", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/protein-turns-nanoparticles-into-crystals/", "Strategy": "Protein Turns Nanoparticles Into Crystals\n\nEggshells of chickens are formed from amorphous calcium carbonate nanoparticles which are transformed into ordered crystals by protein mediation.\nEggshell this a thin yet relatively strong material due to its composite makeup of ordered calcium carbonate crystals and protein. A layer of crystalline calcite clusters overlays partially aligned calcite columns. The mineral begins as amorphous calcium carbonate nanoparticles, then is transformed to ordered crystals by the presence of C-type lectin-type proteins. The proteins attach themselves to the nanoparticles, initiating crystal transformation, and then detach while crystal growth continues.\n\n"}, {"Source": "honeybee's antennae", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "smooth landing", "Function2": "sense distance and angle", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/antennae-ensure-smooth-landings/", "Strategy": "Antennae Ensure Smooth Landings\n\nThe antennae of the honeybee enable smooth landings by sensing landing distance and angle, signaling the body to orient appropriately.\n\nHoneybees come in contact with a variety of surfaces throughout their day of flying and foraging. It has been observed that a honeybee can achieve smooth landings upon any surface, regardless of the angle or orientation of its landing. This means that the bee lands just as smoothly upon a vertically-oriented leaf as a horizontal one.\n\nThis smooth landing is attributed to the bee’s ability to evaluate and adjust its distance from the landing platform. When nearing a landing surface, the bee decelerates. Within a few centimeters of the surface, the bee hovers, using its antennae to sense the platform’s orientation. Once the bee is 16 miillimeters away, it adjusts its body based upon the angle sensed by its antennae. The base of its antennae remain at this 16-millimeter distance from the landing platform regardless of the platform’s orientation. Only the body of the honeybee adjusts to the tilt of the platform. The bee’s closest feet touch down first, allowing the rest of its body to follow.\n\nThis 16-millimeter distance seems to be the ideal placement for the honeybee to make contact with the surface with any one of its feet. The foot that first contacts the surface varies by landing orientation. A horizontal platform initiates a hindleg landing, while a vertical platform initiates a foreleg landing."}, {"Source": "tropical hornet's nest", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "leads rain water away", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/nest-sheds-water/", "Strategy": "Nest Sheds Water\n\nNest of tropical hornet sheds water via conical roof.\n\n“The conical shape of the [nest of the] tropical hornet Vespa affinis leads rain water efficiently away from the nest.” "}, {"Source": "piddock's shell", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "grind through rock", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/shells-grind-through-rock/", "Strategy": "Shells Grind Through Rock\n\nThe shell of the piddock grinds through rock using hard shell projections.\n\n“Some piddocks (e.g. Pholas dactylus) slowly bore themselves into solid rock. They use their foot as a lever by which they move their shells, which are provided with extremely hard surface projections, back and forth to scrape the rock and slowly hollow out a burrow.”"}, {"Source": "treecreeper's feet", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "running on tree trunks", "Function2": "grip bark", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/running-up-and-down-trees/", "Strategy": "Running Up and Down Trees\n\nThe feet of treecreepers allow them to run both up and down tree trunks thanks to a rotating toe.\n“The tree-creeper is able to run up or down a tree with equal ease. Two toes on each foot point forwards for gripping the bark on the way up, and the other two point backwards for gripping while going down. The long sharp claws hook into the bark, and its stiff tail feathers are used as a prop as it moves up the tree.” "}, {"Source": "human skin", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "helical fibers of keratin woven into a three-dimensional pattern", "Function2": "maintain structural rigidity", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/skin-maintains-structural-rigidity/", "Strategy": "Skin Maintains Structural Rigidity\n\nHuman skin maintains its structural rigidity while expanding in water due to helical fibers of keratin woven into a three-dimensional pattern.\n\n\"’Our model provides an explanation as to why the skin maintains its structural rigidity and expansion in water, which was something that was never quite able to be explained,’ says [Myfanwy Evans of the Australian National University in Canberra]. Evans says the stratum corneum is made up of helical fibers of keratin that are woven together in a three-dimensional pattern. The researchers found the particular weave of the keratin enables it to act like a sponge, staying robust while absorbing water. The helical fibers also straighten out, allowing the material to expand and increase the volume of water it can hold, says Evans. But the key point is that as the material expands, all of the contacts between each of the fibers are maintained. ‘Contact between fibers are what gives the material structural stability,’ says Evans. ‘In this expansion all of those inter-fiber contacts are maintained so the material stays as a rigid material.’ Hence the remarkable properties of skin while we soak in the bath…[Evans] says the new understanding will make it easier for scientists to make materials that have this same property as skin.\" "}, {"Source": "houseflies digest food externally", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "dissolve food", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/food-digested-externally/", "Strategy": "Food Digested Externally\n\nHouseflies digest their food externally by apply a solvent liquid to food particles to dissolve them, and then suck up the liquid food.\n\n“The housefly uses the labellum in its mouthpart to ‘quality test’ food before feeding. Unlike many creatures, flies digest their food externally. It applies a solvent fluid to the food. This fluid dissolves the food into a liquid that the fly can suck. Then, the fly takes the liquid nutrients into itself by means of the labella which gently dabs liquids into its proboscis.” "}, {"Source": "aquatic organism", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "maximize propulsion efficiency", "Function2": "jet fast", "Function3": "alternating power", "Function4": "recovery strokes", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/moving-efficiently-through-water/", "Strategy": "Moving Efficiently Through Water\n\nAquatic organisms move effectively through water by maximizing propulsion efficiency.\n\n“It [the Froude propulsion efficiency] says that for highest efficiency, the velocity of the fluid issuing from the propulsive unit–paddle, propeller, jet, or whatever–should be as close as possible to the velocity of the craft…Clearly the way to maximize Froude propulsion efficiency consists of moving the largest possible mass-per-time (m/t) of fluid and giving it the least possible increase in speed (v2-v1). In practical terms that means maximizing S, the cross section of the propulsive flow stream.”\n\nWhile the Froud efficiencies “vary in quality and involve differenty underlying assumptions and simplifications, the picture that emerges is satisfyingly consistent with our expectations.”\n\n“* Moving water with undulating body, beating wing, or swinging tail beats squeezing water out of a jet, as anticipated. A squid may jet fast, but when it wants to go far, it’s more likely to use its fins.\n\n“* The same undulating devices do better than systems that move water back-wards with a paddling system, with its alternating power and recovery strokes. We’ll return to this comparison between ‘lift-based’ and ‘drag-based’ propulsion in chapter 13.\n\n“*Bigger (or at least moderate size) is better than smaller. Except for one questionable datum for a bacterial flagellum, no creature below about a centimeter in length does better than ηf = 0.5. The pernicious effects of low Reynolds number (chapter 11) cannot be denied.\n\n“*The broad hydrozoan medusae (essentially small jellyfish) may use jet propulsion, but they do it by pushing out an especially large volume (relative to their own) through a wide aperture. So they have a much higher m and lower v2 than the other jetters, and thus evade most of the difficulty inherent in equations (7.5) and (7.6).”"}, {"Source": "mass migration of norwegian lemming", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "search food", "Function2": "expand living range", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/periodic-swarming-to-find-new-resources/", "Strategy": "Norway lemmings emigrate en mass in search of food once their population size reaches 40‑100 individuals per acre.\n\nNorway lemmings emigrate en mass in search of food once their population size reaches 40-100 individuals per acre.\n\n“One much smaller species of herbivorous mammal that still undergoes periodic swarming on a spectacular scale is the lemming. Displaying a formidable reproductive rate – more than 100 offspring can be born to a single pair within six months – a population of Norwegian lemmings (Lemmus lemmus) can expand very dramatically. In doing so, the lemmings deplete their food supply within a given area of the Scandinavian tundra and scrub that comprises their normal habitat. Once the population size reaches 40-100 individuals per acre (100-250 individuals per hectare), which tends to occur every three to five years, emigration ensues, whereby a sizable horde of these volelike rodents travels southward in search of food, expanding their population’s range by 120 miles (200 km) or more as they go.” "}, {"Source": "orb weaving spider web", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "resist slippage", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/granules-prevent-slippage/", "Strategy": "Granules Prevent Slippage\n\nGlue droplets on orb-weaver spider webs resist slippage through adhesion, elongation under load, and force transfer due to granules.\n“Sticky viscous prey capture threads form the spiral elements of\nspider orb-webs and are responsible for retaining insects that\nstrike a web. These threads are formed of regularly spaced aqueous\ndroplets that surround a pair of supporting axial fibers. When\na thread is flattened on a microscope slide a small, opaque granule\ncan usually be seen within each droplet. These granules have\nbeen thought to be the glycoprotein glue that imparts thread adhesion.\nBoth independent contrast and standard regressions showed\nthat granule size is directly related to droplet volume and\nindicated that granule volume is about 15% of droplet volume. We\nattempted to find support for the hypothesized adhesive role of\ngranules by establishing an association between the contact surface\narea and volume of these granules and the stickiness of the\nviscous threads of 16 species in the context of a six-variable model\nthat describes thread stickiness. However, we found that granule\nsize made either an insignificant or a small negative contribution\nto thread stickiness. Consequently, we hypothesize that\ngranules serve to anchor larger, surrounding layers of transparent\nglycoprotein glue to the axial fibers of the thread, thereby\nequipping droplets to resist slippage on the axial fibers as\nthese droplets generate adhesion, elongate under a load, and\ntransfer force to the axial fibers.”"}, {"Source": "sheep ticks' mouthpart", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "anchor itself", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/mouthparts-hold-tight/", "Strategy": "Mouthparts Hold Tight\n\nMouthparts of tick hold tight using a combined ratchet and barb mechanism\n\nTicks are a familiar nuisance for anyone that enjoys hiking. Like all blood-feeding parasites, they can become considerably more than a nuisance when they carry and transmit infectious diseases such as Lyme disease. Unlike other biting insects, which bite quickly and leave before they can be discovered, ticks can hold onto their prey for days at a time, increasing dramatically in size during that time from their blood meal. To stay in place for such a long time, most ticks secrete a cement like substance from their mouthparts after biting, but one species, the sheep tick Ixodes ricinus doesn’t produce cement and it must hold on with physical force alone. This is more challenging than it might appear, as mouthparts specialized for insertion and feeding will be a different shape to those specialized for grip. Sheep ticks get around this problem with a combined ratchet and barb.\n\nThe mouthparts of sheep ticks include a two-part insertion needle with a jointed barbed tip. Insertion and attachment is a multi-step process where the tick first sweeps the skin with the tip to find a suitable point for insertion and then pushes through the skin’s surface. At first, the two halves of the insertion needle push in alternately, with the barbed hooks on the tip of one side forming the anchor against which the other pushes deeper into the tissue. Once in past a certain depth, the tick switches to a breast-stroke like movement, where the jointed tips first thrust in and then spread out, pulling the rest of the mouthpart in behind them. Once fully inserted, the barbs stay spread, anchoring the tick in place."}, {"Source": "chicken egg's protein", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "mop up vitamin", "Function2": "strong and stable bond", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/protein-binds-permanently/", "Strategy": "Protein Binds Permanently\n\nProtein from chicken egg permanently binds vitamin by changing shape\n\nVitamin B7, or biotin, is a small molecule that’s important for cell growth. Birds, lizards and reptiles all lay eggs and the egg yolks contain everything necessary for an embryo to grow, including biotin. Biotin is also necessary for bacteria to grow, and so this makes egg yolk great food for bacteria and susceptible to infection.\n\nOne way of preventing bacterial growth is to make sure there’s no biotin available. To protect the yolk and the growing embryo, the white of eggs contains avidin, a biotin-binding protein that mops up any of the vitamin it comes into contact with. This makes the egg white a poor environment for bacterial growth and creates a physical protective barrier between the outside world and developing embryo.\n\nIt’s extremely important that, once it has been captured, biotin is not released back into the egg white. For this reason, the bond between avidin and biotin is one of the strongest and most stable known in nature. Although it is non-covalent and, technically, reversible, the bond is so strong that, in practice, it is permanent.\n\nSeveral factors make the avidin—biotin bond so strong. Avidin contains a very deep binding pocket that is shaped perfectly to fit biotin. Once the vitamin enters the pocket there are multiple interactions that hold it in place. Small electrical charges in biotin induce corresponding electrical charges in the lining of the binding pocket. Once these charges have been induced, they act like tiny magnets, gluing the biotin in place. At the same time, there are waxy patches on the walls of the pocket that match oily parts of the smaller molecule. In the same way that oil and water don’t mix, the oily patches cannot easily move past the induced charges and they also cement biotin in place. Finally, the avidin itself changes shape following binding of biotin. Once a single molecule of biotin is inside the pocket, a portion of the avidin protein swings across the top, sealing the entrance and insuring the vitamin cannot escape."}, {"Source": "mammalian foot pad", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "changeable stiffness", "Function2": "great propulsive efficiency", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/footpads-manage-increasing-body-mass/", "Strategy": "Footpads Manage Increasing Body Mass\n\nThe footpads of mammals maintain functional integrity as body mass increases through changes in geometry and material properties.\n\n“In most mammals, footpads are what first strike ground with each stride.\nTheir mechanical properties therefore inevitably\naffect functioning of the legs; yet interspecific\nstudies of the scaling of locomotor mechanics have all but neglected the\nfeet and their soft tissues. Here we determine how\ncontact area and stiffness of footpads in digitigrade carnivorans scale\nwith body mass in order to show how footpads’\nmechanical properties and size covary to maintain their functional\nintegrity.\nAs body mass increases across several orders of\nmagnitude, we find the following: (i) foot contact area does not keep\npace\nwith increasing body mass; therefore pressure\nincreases, placing footpad tissue of larger animals potentially at\ngreater risk\nof damage; (ii) but stiffness of the pads also\nincreases, so the tissues of larger animals must experience less strain;\nand\n(iii) total energy stored in hindpads increases\nslightly more than that in the forepads, allowing additional elastic\nenergy\nto be returned for greater propulsive efficiency.\nMoreover, pad stiffness appears to be tuned across the size range to\nmaintain\nloading regimes in the limbs that are favourable\nfor long-bone remodelling. Thus, the structural properties of footpads,\nunlike\nother biological support-structures, scale\ninterspecifically through changes in both geometry and material\nproperties, rather\nthan geometric proportions alone, and do so with\nconsequences for both maintenance and operation of other components of\nthe\nlocomotor system”"}, {"Source": "eukaryote cell's nuclear lamina", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protects genetic material", "Function2": "regulates gene expression", "Function3": "reduce crack propagation", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/nuclear-lamina-resists-extreme-strain/", "Strategy": "Nuclear Lamina Resists Extreme Strain\n\nNuclear lamina of eukaryote cells resist extreme mechanical strain by sacrifice of individual protein filaments rather than the entire meshwork.\n\n“The nuclear lamina [a dense (~30 to 100 nm thick) fibrillar network inside the nucleus of a eukariotic cell], composed of intermediate filaments, is a structural protein meshwork at the nuclear membrane that protects genetic material and regulates gene expression. Here we uncover the physical basis of the material design of nuclear lamina that enables it to withstand extreme mechanical deformation of >100% strain despite the presence of structural defects…we demonstrate that this is due to nanoscale mechanisms including protein unfolding, alpha-to-beta transition, and sliding, resulting in a characteristic nonlinear force-extension curve. At the larger microscale this leads to an extreme delocalization of mechanical energy dissipation, preventing catastrophic crack propagation. Yet, when catastrophic failure occurs under extreme loading, individual protein filaments are sacrificed rather than the entire meshwork. This mechanism is theoretically explained by a characteristic change of the tangent stress-strain hardening exponent under increasing strain.”"}, {"Source": "neotyphodium starrii", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "increase fire resistance", "Function2": "increase recovery", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/increasing-fire-resistance/", "Strategy": "Increasing Fire Resistance\n\nArizona fescue grasses may have increased resistance to fire thanks to the endophytic fungi Neotyphodium starrii.\n\n“Other explanations for the maintenance of N. starrii in Arizona fescue populations may be increased resistance to seasonal and yearly droughts (e.g., Bacon, 1993; Elmi and West, 1995) that are typically of semi-arid, ponderosa pine-bunchgrass communities in the southwestern U.S. These communities are also historically influenced by frequent (every 2-3 yr) but low intensity fires, and Neotyphodium may also increase resistance to and recovery from fire.” "}, {"Source": "asparagus beetle's egg", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "firm attachment", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/eggs-stick-to-waxy-surface/", "Strategy": "Eggs Stick to Waxy Surface\n\nEggs of the asparagus beetle attach firmly to waxy plant surfaces using proteinaceous secretions.\n“Plant surfaces covered with crystalline epicuticular waxes are known to be anti-adhesive, hardly wettable and preventing insect attachment. But there are insects that are capable of gluing their eggs to these surfaces by means of proteinaceous secretions.\n\nIn this study, we analysed the bonding region between the eggs of Crioceris asparagi and the plant surface of Asparagus officinalis…Mean pull-off force was 14.7 mN, which is about 8650 times higher than the egg weight…Our results support the hypothesis that the mechanism of insect egg adhesion on micro- and nanostructured hydrophobic plant surfaces is related to the proteinaceous nature of adhesive secretions of insect eggs. The secretion wets superhydrophobic surfaces and after solidifying builds up a composite, consisting of the solidified glue and wax crystals, at the interface between the egg and plant cuticle.”"}, {"Source": "fungi", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "reduce surface tension", "Function2": "make fruiting bodies grow better", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/proteins-reduce-surface-tension/", "Strategy": "Proteins Reduce Surface Tension\n\nHydrophobin proteins from fungi reduce surface tension to enable growth by having both hydrophilic and hydrophobic parts.\n\nFor fungi, which grow at the micro- and nano-scale, the forces that influence them the most are different to the forces humans are used to managing. For example, gravity barely impacts fungi at these small scales, but the surface tension of water can over-power their attempts to grow.\n\nFungi grow in moist surroundings, and when they put forward new hyphae–tubular filaments through which they grow, feed and reproduce–they must break through films of water. Because, for hyphae, these forces are so large, all fungi from the subkingdom Dikarya produce special proteins called hydrophobins that reduce the surface tension of water. Dikarya includes many familiar fungi, such as edible mushrooms and yeasts.\n\nHydrophobins are small proteins that can dissolve in water but that have one highly water-repellent face consisting of hydrophobic amino acids. Because hydrophobins have both hydrophilic and hydrophobic parts, they are called amphipathic. The hydrophobic face repels water and this means hydrophobins tend to line up in a way that keeps that face dry. Hydrophobins naturally form films on surfaces, rod-shaped assemblies, or arrange themselves at the air-water interface. By doing this, they can keep their hydrophobic side away from water. When they arrange themselves at the air-water interface, hydrophobins disrupt the attractive forces between water molecules that give water such a high surface tension. Compounds that reduce surface tension in this way are called surfactants.\n\nFungi produce fruiting bodies that project up into the air. By releasing hydrophobins into the surrounding water layer, fruiting bodies are better able to break through the water surface and grow.\n\n"}, {"Source": "aspergillus's hyphae", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "adopting a micro-spherical shape", "Function2": "adapt high pressure and low temperature", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/cellular-structure-allows-for-growth-under-extreme-pressure/", "Strategy": "Cellular Structure Allows for Growth Under Extreme Pressure\n\nThe hyphae of Aspergillus ustus mold can function and grow at more than 1000 m below sea level by adopting a micro-spherical shape.\n\n\nEven though they are at home on dry land, Aspergillus ustus mold is also capable of living, growing, and reproducing under more than 1000 meters of water. Man-made machines have to be specially and painstakingly designed to function at those crushing depths, but Aspergillus ustus does so by adopting a micro-spheroid shape. Production and release of enzymes for breaking down their food functions well at these depths and cold temperatures as well."}, {"Source": "vampire bat's teeth", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "painless cutting", "Function2": "little-pain bite", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/tissue-slices-go-undetected-2/", "Strategy": "Tissue Slices Go Undetected\n\nThe teeth of vampire bats cut into flesh painlessly because they are razor-sharp.\n\n“It sinks its razor-sharp teeth into the skin, scoops out a sliver of flesh, and inserts its tongue into the wound…The bite causes little pain, and the animal rarely awakens.”"}, {"Source": "ordeal tree's bark", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "quickly rebuild", "Function2": "resistant to fire", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/bark-resists-fire/", "Strategy": "Bark Resists Fire\n\nThe bark of the ordeal tree resists fire, in part due to its thickness, but also due to other complex factors.\n\n“Bark properties (mainly thickness) are usually presented as the main explanation for tree survival in intense fires. Savanna fires are mild, frequent, and supposed to affect tree recruitment rather than adult survival: trunk profile and growth rate of young trees between two successive fires can also affect survival. These factors and fire severity were measured on a sample of 20 trees near the recruitment stage of two savanna species chosen for their contrasted fire resistance strategies (Crossopteryx febrifuga and Piliostigma thonningii). Crossopteryx has a higher intrinsic resistance to fire (bark properties) than Piliostigma: a 20-mm-diameter stem of Crossopteryx survives exposure to 650°C, while Piliostigma needs a diameter of at least 40 mm to survive. Crossopteryx has a thicker trunk than Piliostigma: for two trees of the same height, the basal diameter of Crossopteryx will be 1.6 times greater. Piliostigma grows 2.26 times faster than Crossopteryx between two successive fires. The two species have different fire resistance strategies: one relies on resistance of aboveground structures to fire [Crossopteryx], while the other [Piliostigma] relies on its ability to quickly re-build aboveground structures.” "}, {"Source": "herbivorous insect's mandibles", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "enhance cutting ability", "Function2": "harden organ", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/crystals-of-metal-salts-improve-cutting-ability/", "Strategy": "Crystals of Metal Salts Improve Cutting Ability\n\nThe mandibles of many herbivorous insects have exceptional cutting abilities due to the presence of zinc or managese salts.\n“Many invertebrates use crystals of metal salts to harden their cutting, rasping, and grinding equipment…The mandibles of herbivorous insects contain zinc or manganese salts.”"}, {"Source": "aphids' feet", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "adhere to surfaces", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/feet-adhere-temporarily/", "Strategy": "Feet Adhere Temporarily\n\nThe feet of aphids appear to adhere to surfaces using capillary adhesion.\n\n\n\n\n \n \n\n"}, {"Source": "leaf's anthocyanins", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "camouflage against herbivory", "Function2": "inhibit the reflecting of green wavelength", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/red-leaves-hide-plants-from-insects/", "Strategy": "Red Leaves Hide Plants From Insects\n\nAnthocyanins in leaves camouflage the plant from insects and make insects more vulnerable to predators by inhibiting the reflecting of green wavelengths.\n\n“Hence, leaf anthocyanins by closing the green reflectance window left by chlorophyll make the leaf less discernible to insect consumers (plant camouflage hypothesis). Alternatively (or in addition), the usually green folivorous insects, if found on a red leaf, are more easily recognized by their predators (undermining of insect camouflage by the plant)…The neglected hypothesis of plant camouflage against herbivory and the recent opinion that leaf redness may undermine the green folivorous insect camouflage are theoretically more sound since they are compatible with folivorous insect vision physiology and also afford a reasonable explanation for the almost exclusive selection of red anthocyanins in leaves.“"}, {"Source": "aquatic organisms' flexible anchoring structure", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "deal with crashing waves and strong underwater flows in all directions", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/flexible-anchor-prevents-peeling/", "Strategy": "Flexible Anchor Prevents Peeling\n\nFlexible anchoring structures on many aquatic organisms avoid peeling by distributing forces over a larger area.\n\nLiving in or near the intertidal zone of a rocky seashore usually requires being good at holding on. Organisms that live in this habitat commonly deal with crashing waves and strong underwater flows that exert varying forces in all directions.\n\nTo withstand these forces, many intertidal organisms attach to rocks and other surfaces using parts that function as flexible anchors. These anchoring structures commonly consist of a roughly disc-shaped base that gradually tapers and becomes more flexible as it joins the main body. Examples include holdfasts on seaweeds and the feet of intertidal snails. When forces impact the anchor, the base is firmly attached while the rest of the structure can bend and deform slightly. This flexibility prevents forces from being concentrated at a small area on the anchor, a situation that increases the chances of peeling and detaching.\n\n"}, {"Source": "excavating behavior of red grouper", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "create and maintain habitats", "Function2": "clear away surficial sediment", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/excavating-behavior-increases-ecosystem-biodiversity/", "Strategy": "Excavating Behavior Increases\nEcosystem Biodiversity\n\nExcavating behavior of red groupers increases biodiversity in reef communities because they create and maintain habitats.\n\n“Red grouper (Epinephelus morio) is an economically important species in the reef fish community of the southeastern United States, and especially the Gulf of Mexico…Working both inshore in Florida Bay, Florida (U.S.A.), and offshore in the Gulf of Mexico shelf-edge fishery reserves…we characterized red-grouper habitat and the associated faunal assemblages and demonstrated through a series of experiments that red grouper expose rocky habitat by excavating with their mouths and fanning with their fins to clear away surficial sediment, thereby providing habitat for themselves as well as other reef-dwelling organisms. They also maintain this habitat by periodically clearing away sediment and debris. Such maintenance provides a clean rocky substrate for the attachment of sessile invertebrates, thereby modifying habitat features to provide refuge for many other species of fish and motile invertebrates. We demonstrated increased biodiversity and abundance associated with habitat structured by red grouper, and we speculate here as to its fishery importance as habitat for other economically important species such as spiny lobster (Panulirus argus) and vermilion snapper (Rhomboplites aurorubens).”"}, {"Source": "rockweed seaweed's reproductive tissues", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "sense calm water", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/reproductive-tissues-respond-to-favorable-conditions/", "Strategy": "Reproductive Tissues Respond\nto Favorable Conditions\n\nReproductive tissues of rockweed seaweed release eggs and sperm in favorable conditions by chemically sensing calm waters.\n\nThe rockweed, Fucus distichus, is a branching brown seaweed that lives on rocky shores in the Northern Hemisphere. It makes its home in pools of seawater formed among rocks high in the intertidal zone, which is the sloped shoreline exposed between high and low tides. When the tide is high and waves are crashing onto the rocks, water often flows in and out of these high tide pools. During low tide, however, these tide pools are often calm.\n\nCalm waters are important for reproduction, as the rockweed releases sperm and eggs into the surrounding water where external fertilization occurs. If a tide pool is being flushed with water, this can prevent successful fertilization by making it hard for the eggs and sperm to come into contact, or by carrying eggs and sperm away. How does the rockweed sense water motion that’s ideal for reproduction?\n\nIt appears that sperm and egg release is triggered by low amounts of carbon-containing compounds (like carbon dioxide) dissolved in the water, indicating little mixing with seawater outside the pool. The rockweed takes up and uses this carbon during photosynthesis. When high tide pools are cut off from the ocean during low tide, this carbon uptake depletes the available carbon in the pool. Furthermore, when the pool water is calm, a largely stagnant layer of water builds up around the surface of the rockweed. Carbon dissolved in the water diffuses very slowly across this stagnant layer, reducing the rate at which it’s absorbed through the rockweed’s surface.  This reduction in carbon uptake is sensed by tissues that perform photosynthesis in the seaweed. Through a mechanism that has yet to be fully understood, this signal is conveyed to the reproductive tissues at the tips of the rockweed’s branched blades. Internal compartments in these tissues contain sperm and eggs that are then released through holes in the seaweed’s surface into the calm tide pool water. In this system of relayed signals, the low level of usable carbon serves as a signal that the tide pool is calm and under favorable flow conditions for external fertilization."}, {"Source": "paper wasps' oral secretion", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "natural adhesives", "Function2": "water proofing", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/mixture-waterproofs-nests/", "Strategy": "Mixture Waterproofs Nests\n\nPaper wasps use an oral secretion combined with masticated plant matter to create waterproof paper nests.\n\nIn nest construction, many social wasps use an oral secretion to cement together nest material, e.g. plant fibers, primarily composed of cellulose. Nests are water-resistant  due to the saliva-cellulose matrix. The chitin-like saliva is primarily protein with high proline content. When mixed with the cellulose, it dries quickly and irreversibly to a water insoluble, water repellant surface. In general, wasps in rainy environments add more saliva to the mixture, because the saliva’s mucoproteins provide adhesive and hydrophobic properties . “P. [Polistes] chinensis, like most other polistine wasps depends for its secretory production on proteinaceous materials.” "}, {"Source": "pine tree's trunk", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "spiral growth", "Function2": "reduce drag forces", "Function3": "allow additional weight", "Function4": "equalize compression and tension forces", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/spiral-fibers-strengthen-tree-trunk/", "Strategy": "Spiral Fibers Strengthen Tree Trunk\n\nTrunk of pine tree withstands wind and snow via spiral growth.\n\nSome trees, including the Scots pine and Norway spruce, exhibit a spiral growth pattern in their trunks, branches, and stems. Some scientists suggest that because spiral-grained materials bend more than straight-grained materials, this spiral composition may help protect trees that grow in areas of high wind from breaking. A tree’s ability to bend and twist in strong winds may reduce drag forces on its limbs and also allow additional weight (such as that from snow) to slide off its branches when they twist in the wind.\nWhen tested for the ability to bend before breaking, spiral-grained sticks break under the same force as straight-grained sticks, but spiral-grained samples performed differently than straight ones before breaking. Spiral-grained materials deflect (or bend) more than straight-grained materials. During deflection of straight-grained materials, the side nearest the force is compressed while the opposite side is stretched, putting it under tension. In contrast, spiral-grained materials transfer the compression and tension forces along the spiral to the other side, thereby equalizing the stresses."}, {"Source": "mother‑of‑pearl moth caterpillar's body", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "move faster", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/rolling-locomotion-aids-escape/", "Strategy": "Rolling Locomotion Aids Escape\n\nThe body of the mother-of-pearl moth caterpillar escapes predators by anchoring its tail, recoiling, and rolling backwards.\n“The mother-of-pearl caterpillar, however, can step on the accelerator. If it meets a predator, it anchors its rear to the ground, recoils rapidly, and then rolls away backward like a bright-green tire. Mouth to tail, it completes around half a dozen revolutions during its escape. By turning into a wheel, the caterpillar moves some 40 times faster than its normal walking pace.”"}, {"Source": "tammar wallaby's milk", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "antimicrobial", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/milk-protects-against-microbes/", "Strategy": "Milk Protects Against Microbes\n\nThe milk of the tammar wallaby protects newborn wallabies from bacteria and fungi via the antimicrobial AGG01 molecule.\n\n“A newborn wallaby is a tiny, bean-shaped creature, barely more than a fetus. It lacks a developed immune system, relying on compounds in its mother’s milk to protect it against pathogens. Now a unique antimicrobial has been discovered in wallaby milk that could be used in hospitals to fight deadly antibiotic-resistant bacteria."}, {"Source": "tenebrionid beetle's wing", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "forewing-to-body locking mechanism", "Function2": "prevent shifting", "Function3": "prevent lateral movement", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/wings-lock-together/", "Strategy": "Wings Lock Together\n\nWings of darkling beetles lock to prevent lateral movement due to interlocking hairs on the forewing surface and the body.\n\nA team of researchers led by Stanislav Gorb studied the frictional surfaces of the forewing-to-body locking mechanism in tenebrionid beetles. They observed that, in beetles, the system responsible for fixing forewings (elytra) to the body consists of 1) several macrostructures located between thorax and body and between the right and left elytra, and 2) interlocking fields of cuticle protuberances known as microtrichia. The team focused on the latter, defining the microtrichia of 13 fields in terms of length, width, density, and directionality. The team found that microtrichia of different fields varied in length, width, and shape. Microtrichia of a single field were usually oriented in one direction; this appeared to prevent shifting while the locking mechanism was employed. Epidermal secretions were thought to aid microtrichia in sliding during locking and unlocking of the two surfaces. "}, {"Source": "sucker-footed bats‘ wrist and ankle pad", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "attach to smooth surface", "Function2": "wet adhesion", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/pads-attach-to-smooth-surfaces-2/", "Strategy": "Pads Attach to Smooth Surfaces\n\nPads on the wrists and ankles of sucker-footed bats attach to smooth surfaces via wet adhesion.\n\nMost species of bats roost upside-down, using their toenails to cling to rough surfaces. Sucker-footed bats are an exception, as they roost head-up inside furled leaves by clinging to the walls of the leaf with pads on their wrists and ankles. It was originally thought that these bats attached to leaves using suction, but recent evidence has shown that they actually use wet adhesion to attach to leaf surfaces.\n\nWet adhesion is caused by several properties of water. The first, called “surface tension”, is what allows paperclips to be carefully rested on the surface a container of water, even though they are denser than water and sink if dropped into the liquid. Water molecules are attracted to each other by lots of weak bonds called “hydrogen bonds”. Water surrounded by other water molecules on all sides, for example in the middle of a volume, will be pulled equally in every direction. However, water on the surface, or boundary, has only a few neighbors, and so it binds more strongly to them, making molecules here harder to separate. Because of this, the water surface acts like a stretched elastic membrane, allowing paperclips to sit on top. Because water molecules bind to each other (“cohesion”), they can also be used to pull each other, as in siphoning. Finally, the stickiness of water also makes is adhere to surfaces (“adhesion”), and you can see this in the way it creeps up the side of a glass. In “capillary action”, adhesion to surfaces combines with surface tension to enable water to creep up narrow tubes, even against gravity. Wet adhesion is a combination of all of these properties of water working together.\n\nSucker-footed bats attach to leaves by releasing fluid onto their wrist and ankle pads. These pads are studded with ridges, which act as capillaries and help retain the fluid as it is released. When the pad comes in contact with the leaf, capillary action pulls the liquid out of the ridges and into the gap between the pad and the leaf surface, known as the boundary layer. Capillary action causes the liquid to flow onto the leaf surface when the height (h) of the boundary layer (or the distance between the bat’s pad and the leaf surface) is smaller than the width (w) of the ridges of the pad. Adhesion ensures the liquid is attached to the leaf surface, while cohesion keeps all the liquid together and the bat attached. When the bat pulls its pad off the leaf surface, increasing the height of the boundary layer, capillary action causes the liquid in the boundary layer to flow back into the ridges to be used again.\n\nThrough wet adhesion, which takes advantage of the properties of water, sucker-footed bats are able to adhere to and climb along smooth surfaces without additional external support.\n\n"}, {"Source": "peptides", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "control the growth of mineral crystal", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/controlling-mineral-crystal-growth/", "Strategy": "Controlling Mineral Crystal Growth\n\nThe growth of mineral crystals is controlled by peptides through a system of molecular \"switches, throttles and brakes.\"\n\n\n\n(A) Peptide clusters covering the positive face of a growing crystal cause subsegments of the growing crystal layer to accelerate as it approaches a cluster, slow its growth as it encounters the peptides, then recover its growth rate once past the cluster. (B) A similar situation occurs on the negative crystal face, though fewer peptides clusters are present. \n\n"}, {"Source": "swordfish’s tail", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "fast, efficient swimming", "Function2": "change direction", "Function3": "long distance swimming", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/tails-aid-fast-swimming/", "Strategy": "Tails Aid Fast Swimming\n\nThe tails of swordfish help them swim fast over long distances due to their stiffness and crescent shape.\n“The fast marathon swimmers of the ocean, like the tunny or the swordfish, have very stiff crescent-shaped tails. This shape also makes it easier for the fish to change direction suddenly. The tunny is the speediest of the ocean fishes, able to attain 70 kmph.”"}, {"Source": "peptides", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "control the growth of mineral crystal", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/controlling-mineral-crystal-growth/", "Strategy": "Controlling Mineral Crystal Growth\n\nThe growth of mineral crystals is controlled by peptides through a system of molecular \"switches, throttles and brakes.\"\n\n\n\n(A) Peptide clusters covering the positive face of a growing crystal cause subsegments of the growing crystal layer to accelerate as it approaches a cluster, slow its growth as it encounters the peptides, then recover its growth rate once past the cluster. (B) A similar situation occurs on the negative crystal face, though fewer peptides clusters are present. \n\n"}, {"Source": "vertebrates's muscle", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "efficient force transmission", "Function2": "generate huge movement", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/proteins-transmit-force/", "Strategy": "Proteins Transmit Force\n\nMuscle proteins in vertebrates ensure efficient force transmission because they occur along the length of muscle fibers\n\nMuscles are how we, and almost all animals, move. As animals cannot get energy from the sun, movement is crucial for finding food, as well as for reproducing: without muscles, we cannot survive.\n\nMuscles are complex tissues. Muscle cells are packed full of tiny cylinders of specialized contractile proteins. These cylinders, called sarcomeres, are arranged end to end into myofibrils. Muscle cells, or myofibers, contain many myofibrils. Inside a single muscle, there are multiple hierarchical levels of bundling: myofibrils are bundled into myofibers, then multiple myofibers are bundled into fascicles and then several fascicles are bundled together to form whole muscles. At each hierarchical level, each bundle is covered with a layer of connective tissue that supports the fibers inside it by supplying energy and oxygen via blood vessels and control via nerves.\nMuscle contraction occurs at the level of the individual sarcomeres. Although each tiny cylinder only contracts by a minuscule amount, once that contraction is repeated down the entire length of the myofibril and across every fibril, myofiber and fascicle all at once, muscles are able to contract by large amounts and generate relatively huge movements.\n\nIn order to transmit large movements to the skeleton, muscles must be attached to bones. In vertebrates, this attachment is via tendons. Muscles are capable of generating very large forces. For example, in humans, the masseter, or jaw muscle, is capable of generating a force of over 170 lbs at the molars. Remarkably, this force is transmitted entirely via vast numbers of weak non-covalent bonds between proteins that connect the sarcomeres inside muscle cells to the connective tissue outside.\n\nThere are a large number of proteins that are crucial for force transmission in muscles. Two of the most important are laminins, which are found in the connective tissue that coats each hierarchical bundle, and integrins, which are membrane-spanning proteins that connect indirectly to the sarcomeres themselves and transmit the force through the cell membrane to the laminins outside. These proteins are found along the length of all the muscle fibers as well as at the junction between the muscle and the tendon (the myotendinous junction). The spread of these force-transmitting proteins along the length of the myofibers ensures that, when sarcomeres contract, the force is spread evenly. In this way, the force at the myotendinous junction is transferred extremely efficiently."}, {"Source": "mole rat's lips", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "avoid dirt", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/lips-keep-soil-out-of-mouth/", "Strategy": "Lips Keep Soil Out of Mouth\n\nLips of the mole rat keep dirt out of their mouth while excavating by puckering closed behind the protruding front teeth.\n\n“Gnawing one’s way through earth could clearly be a distasteful business, but the mole-rat avoids mouthfuls of soil with a technique used by many other gnawers. It puckers its lips behind those extravagantly protruding teeth and so keeps its mouth tight shut while its teeth busily excavate.” "}, {"Source": "leaves of groundsels", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "prevent inside water's freezing", "Function2": "nutrient recycling", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/antifreeze-prevents-frost-damage/", "Strategy": "Antifreeze Prevents Frost Damage\n\nThe leaves of groundsels on Mount Kenya are protected from frost damage by an internal antifreeze substance.\n\n“Groundsels also grow here [on Mount Kenya]. They are relatives of the dandelions and ragworts that flourish as small yelllow-flowered weeds in European gardens. On Mount Kenya, they have evolved into giants. One grows into a tree up to thirty feet tall. Each of its branches ends in a dense rosette of large robust leaves. As the branches grow, so each year the lower ring of leaves in the rosette turn yellow and die. But they are not shed. Instead, they remain attached and form a thick lagging around the trunk. This is of crucial importance to the groundsel. The living leaves in the rosette contain special substances that prevent frost damage to the tissues and even though they may become covered by hoar frost during the night, they thaw out rapidly in the powerful warmth of the morning sun. But then the water within them starts to evaporate through their pores. If the liquid in the supply pipes running up through the trunk were to have frozen during the night, then the leaves would now be unable to replace their water and they would be baked dry and killed. The lagging of the dead leaves, however, prevents the pipes within the trunk from freezing and that particular danger is averted…The solution, however, generates another problem — this time a nutritional one. Retaining the dead leaves on the trunk prevents the nutrients in them from being released into the soil where they could be reclaimed by the roots. The giant tree-groundsel overcomes that difficulty in the same way as the giant cushion plant of Tasmania. It sprouts rootlets from the side of the trunk which thrust their way into the lagging and extract what nutriment remains there.” "}, {"Source": "reef heron's head", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "correct light refraction", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/head-position-helps-correct-for-light-refraction/", "Strategy": "Head Position Helps Correct for Light Refraction\n\nThe head of the reef heron corrects for light refraction at the water's surface by adjusting position and keeping a constant relationship between real and apparent prey depth.\n\n“Storks are highly successful fishermen, and have been for at least 50 million years. Only now are their numbers seriously threatened as their wetland habitats are drained or polluted. The black stork is found across Europe and Asia from Spain to China, and is rather a shy bird, nesting on cliffs or in tall forest trees. The stork seeks its prey while standing in water, and seizes it with the long pointed beak. Its eyes are directed slightly forward, giving it a certain degree of binocular vision, and it seems well able to allow for the effect of light refraction at the water surface when lining up its beak on the fish. It is thought that the relative angle of its eyes and beak assist in this.”"}, {"Source": "water celery", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "tethered structure", "Function2": "forming a dimple on the water surface", "Function3": "draws in pollination", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/water-aids-pollination/", "Strategy": "Water Aids Pollination\n\nA tethered structure of the eelgrass flower draws in free-sailing male flowers for pollination by forming a dimple on the water surface.\n“Water celery has long narrow flat leaves that remain below the surface and absorb the oxygen and carbon dioxide they need from that dissolved in water around them. It also exploits water in its pollination techniques. Its flowers are either male or female. The female flower opens its three petals while it is still underwater and then rises up towards the surface on a rapidly lengthening stem. The male bud makes the journey even more swiftly. Before it even opens, and while it is still some distance below the surface, it breaks off its stem and floats upwards. Once on the surface it unfurls its petals and erects twin stamens. With the stamens serving as sails, this tiny vessel is then wafted across the surface of the water…The female flower is also blown by the wind but it is anchored by its stem. As the breeze tugs at it, so its stem pulls it lower in the water, creating a dimple in the surface. The male ship, moving freely, sails into the dimple, toboggans down its slope and collides so violently with the female flower that the pollen is knocked out of its anthers. The female flower, having achieved fertilisation, then closes. Its stem tightens into a corkscrew, pulling it back beneath the surface. And there, safely underwater, it develops its seeds.”"}, {"Source": "surinam toad's skin", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "form a membrane", "Function2": "embedd the eggs in membrane", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/skin-grows-over-fertilized-eggs/", "Strategy": "Skin Grows Over Fertilized Eggs\n\nThe skin of the Surinam toad protects its eggs by forming a membrane then embedding the eggs in the skin.\n“The Pipa toad is one of the most aquatic of the anurans, spending all its life in water. It is a grotesque creature with a flattened body and a squashed-looking head. When they mate, the male grasps the female with his arms as most water-breeding anurans do. But then follows the most extraordinary and graceful ballet. The female kicks with her legs so that the pair soar upwards in an elegant slow somersault. As they descend, the female extrudes a few eggs which are immediately fertilised by the male’s sperms that have been discharged into the water at the same time. Then, with delicate movements of his webbed hind feet, toes distended so that they form a fan, he gathers up the eggs and gently spreads them over the female’s back. And there they stick. Again and again this arching leap is performed until a hundred or so eggs are fixed in an even carpet on the female’s back. The skin beneath them begins to swell and soon the eggs appear to be embedded in it. A membrane rapidly grows over them and within thirty hours, the eggs have disappeared from sight and the skin on the female’s back is smooth and entire once more. Beneath the skin, the eggs develop. After a fortnight, the whole of the female’s back is rippling with the movements of the tadpoles beneath. Then after 24 days, the young break holes in the skin and swim swiftly away to seek safe hiding places.”"}, {"Source": "tortoise beetle's exoskeleton", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "alter color", "Function2": "change reflective", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/reflector-causes-color-and-surface-change/", "Strategy": "Reflector Causes Color and Surface Change\n\nThe exoskeleton of the tortoise beetle changes color and reflective properties due to a chirped multilayer reflector filled with grooves that fill and empty of fluid to cover and reveal, respectively, the bottommost layer.\n\nWhen gazing upon the golden tortoise beetle one may think they are observing a dew drop on the surface of a leaf, for its metallic sheen gives off a reflective glare. One glance away, however, and one may think the beetle has disappeared to be replaced by a red lady beetle. Not to be fooled, this insect is the same one as before! Under the hard, transparent armor of the beetle is an intricate multilayer filled with a pattern of grooves. The layers become thicker farther down the layered column (a structure referred to as a “chirped” multilayer).\n\nMoisture causes humidity to fill these grooves. When the beetle is disturbed, in virtually any manner, the fluid in these grooves is displaced in the top-most parts of the multilayer thus revealing a deep, less-reflective red-color in the bottommost layer. This layer manifests a wide-angle diffusion, lacking the metallic properties that the gold coloring displayed. This type of morphism is explained using the “switchable mirror theory” where random porous patches provide a scattered pattern of space in which moisture may be displaced. This contradicts many well known theories where a “hydraulic mechanism” is used to explain color change when liquid is injected into an area (as opposed to displaced out of an area). The remarkable thing about the golden tortoise beetle is that it is able to toggle between these two very different colors and shading. The full mechanism is not entirely understood, but it is certain that if it could be understood, applications in the textile and sensory areas of development could benefit greatly."}, {"Source": "birds' dvr brain region", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "perform advanced behaviors", "Function2": "high intelligence", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/bird-brains-use-unique-structure-to-support-high-intelligence/", "Strategy": "Bird Brains Use Unique Structure to Support High Intelligence\n\nThe DVR brain region of birds displays similar neuronal organization and connectivity to the mammalian neocortex. \n\nIf you have ever been called “bird brain,” you know that it is not meant as a compliment. However, birds show that they know how to use tools, mimic human speech, and even grieve their dead. Simply put, birds are intelligent. Yet, their brains are still used as a benchmark for stupidity. This mismatch is understandable because their brains look so different from our own.\n\nWhen people envision a mammal’s brain, they focus on the creased, gigantic structure known as the neocortex. It is the part of the brain that allows for creativity and flexible behavior and is even implicated in consciousness. Although birds do not have a neocortex, when scientists looked at the cellular organization of bird brains, they found a region called the dorsal ventricular ridge, or DVR, that shows neuronal connectivity similar to that in the neocortex of mammals.\n\nIn the mammalian structure, neurons are arranged into six layers of vertical columns which communicate with each other horizontally and vertically. This allows for more efficient and advanced mental processing. It was previously believed that the clumps of cells, called nuclei, that make up bird brains have less structure and organization than the layered mammalian cortex. However, it is now known that neurons within the DVR are arranged into layers and columns similar to mammalian brains. This suggests that the two regions may function similarly in both organisms.\n\nThe DVR boasts 0.5-2 billion neurons, which is significant when you compare it to the neocortices of other intelligent animals. Put simply, a greater number of neurons in the neocortex allows for better information processing. As a result, the number of neurons in the neocortex is the metric that humans use to claim their intellectual superiority over other animals. Humans have the most in the animal kingdom with approximately 16 billion neurons in their neocortices compared to 1-2 billion in advanced primates such as chimpanzees. The bird DVR, therefore, is on par with some of the most developed neocortices known.\n\nThis finding explains how birds can perform such advanced behaviors, proving that appearances can be misleading. The finding that the DVR has a similar structure to the mammalian neocortex, even while looking different to the naked eye, gives us a clearer view of the diversity of intelligence in the animal kingdom. And it presents an alternate model for the structuring of artificial networks as humans seek to improve the intelligence of built objects and systems."}, {"Source": "freshwater turtle's shell", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "balance the need to bear compressive loads", "Function2": "reduce drag through trade-offs.", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/shell-compromises-between-strength-and-decreased-drag/", "Strategy": "Shell Compromises Between Strength and Decreased Drag\n\nThe shell of a freshwater turtle balances the need to bear compressive loads and reduce drag through trade-offs.\n\n“Geometric morphometrics are used to quantify shell shape, and performance is estimated for two shell functions: shell strength and hydrodynamics. Aquatic turtle shells differ in shape from terrestrial turtle shells and are characterized by lower frontal areas and presumably lower drag. Terrestrial turtle shells are stronger than those of aquatic turtles; many-to-one mapping of morphology to function does not entirely mitigate a functional trade-off between mechanical strength and hydrodynamic performance.”\n\n“Aquatic species can experience different selective pressures on morphology in different flow regimes. Species inhabiting lotic regimes often adapt to these conditions by evolving low-drag (i.e., streamlined) morphologies that reduce the likelihood of dislodgment or displacement. However, hydrodynamic factors are not the only selective pressures influencing organismal morphology and shapes well suited to flow conditions may compromise performance in other roles. We investigated the possibility of morphological trade-offs in the turtle Pseudemys concinna. Individuals living in lotic environments have flatter, more streamlined shells than those living in lentic environments; however, this flatter shape may also make the shells less capable of resisting predator-induced loads.”"}, {"Source": "tenrec's metabolism", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "inactivity resembling hibernation", "Function2": "cold resistance", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/hibernator-survives-cold/", "Strategy": "Hibernator Survives Cold\n\nThe metabolism of tenrecs allows them to survive cold temperatures if necessary via hibernation.\n\n“Certain mammals are known to estivate. Perhaps the best-known examples are tenrecs – Madagascan insectivores related to hedgehogs. During the abnormally hot summer weather, they enter a state of inactivity resembling hibernation. Moreover, when outside temperatures plummet, they undergo true hibernation, becoming stiff and cold to the touch. This behavior has been noted on a number of occasions with captive zoo specimens of tenrecs maintained in countries with cooler average temperatures than that of their tropical Madagascan homeland.”\n\n“Prior to the start of the Austral winter (May to September) they eat more and lay down fat reserves within their bodies in order to hibernate, which they usually do in burrows with the entrance plugged with soil. The long-tailed or shrew tenrecs (Microgale) also store fat in their tails, and in Dobson’s shrew tenrec (Microgale dobsoni) the nomad weight of 1 1/2 ounces (46 g) is almost doubled by the fat stored for hibernation. Madagascan winters are quitter mild, and could be termed the cool, dry season rather than winter. In the highlands at 4,100 feet (1,250 m) the temperature averages 59° F (15° C) in the dry season, just a few degrees lower than summer levels, but the vegetation, and consequently the food supplies, suffer from lack of rain and the tenrecs become dormant in their burrows…Dormant tenrecs dug out of their burrows were cold to the touch, had a very low breathing rate, and had neither food in their stomach or feces in the intestine. Even when active the tenrecs have a variable body temperature that ranges from 75.2° F (24°C) to 95°F (35°C). This is considerable lower than other mammals, which average 98.6°F (37°C), and the tenrec shares with the sloths the title of the most cold-blooded mammal. The body temperature of hibernating tenrecs is usually just 1.8° F (1°C) above the ambient temperature.” "}, {"Source": "cold-blooded animals' rhythmic neural circuits", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "temperature independence", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/neural-circuits-compensate-for-temperature-variation/", "Strategy": "Neural Circuits Compensate for Temperature Variation\n\nThe rhythmic neural circuits in cold-blooded animals function in variable temperatures because although their frequency is temperature-dependent, phase is temperature-independent.\n\n“The neural circuits that produce behaviors such as walking, chewing, and swimming must be both robust and flexible to changing internal and environmental demands. How then do cold-blooded animals cope with\ntemperature fluctuations when the underlying processes that give rise to circuit performance are themselves temperature-dependent? We exploit\nthe crab stomatogastric ganglion to understand the extent to which circuit features are robust to temperature perturbations. We subjected\nthese circuits to temperature ranges they normally encounter in the wild. Interestingly, while the frequency of activity in the network increased 4-fold over these temperature ranges, the relative timing\nbetween neurons in the network—termed phase relationships—remained constant. To understand how temperature compensation of phase might occur, we characterized the temperature dependence (Q10‘s) of synapses and membrane currents. We used computational models to show that the experimentally measured Q10‘s can promote phase maintenance. We also showed that many model bursting neurons fail to burst over the entire temperature range and that phase\nmaintenance is promoted by closely restricting the model neurons’ Q10‘s. These results imply that although ion channel numbers can vary between\nindividuals, there may be strong evolutionary pressure that restricts the temperature dependence of the processes that contribute to temperature compensation of neuronal circuits.\n\n“…We speculate that the strong temperature dependence of frequency and temperature-independence of phase may not be unique to the pyloric circuit of the stomatogastric nervous system and may be a useful property to other animals, allowing them to cope with environmental challenges in their natural setting.” "}, {"Source": "tallaganda velvet worm's liquid slime", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "change from liquid to solid", "Function2": "water-resistant solid", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/dispersed-solid-transported-within-water/", "Strategy": "Dispersed Solid Transported Within Water\n\nThe liquid slime of the Tallaganda Velvet Worm carries a water-resistant solid because of dispersed hydrophobic protein regions that prevent the solid from forming until evaporation.\nThe slime projected by the Tallaganda velvet worm is at first a liquid because the proteins within the slime are separated and do not coagulate. The main reason for this is that the protein’s genetic codes have dispersed hydrophobic – or water-fearing – segments that prevent them from folding and taking shape in water. In addition, the proteins remain laregely separated from each other because the mixture is 90% water and only 3-5% protein.\n\nHowever, when the water from the liquid slime evaporates, usually from the energy released from the struggling prey, the slime becomes a rigid solid. With the water removed, the hydrophobic regions no longer interfere with the proteins ability to create a solid structure by binding with other proteins. The hydrophobic regions then insure that the remaining solid is water-resistant.\n\nThis strategy was contributed by Rachel Major"}, {"Source": "parrot's feather pigment", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "resist bacterial degradation", "Function2": "increasing the resistance of feather keratin", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/color-in-feathers-resists-bacterial-degradation/", "Strategy": "Color in Feathers Resists Bacterial Degradation\n\nFeathers of parrots resist bacterial degradation due to pigments synthesized internally.\n\n“The brilliant red, orange and yellow colours of parrot feathers are the product of psittacofulvins, which are synthetic pigments known only from parrots. Recent evidence suggests that some pigments in bird feathers function not just as colour generators, but also preserve plumage integrity by increasing the resistance of feather keratin to bacterial degradation.” "}, {"Source": "human's penis", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "avoid buckling", "Function2": "increase blood flow", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/hydraulic-action-creates-structural-rigidity/", "Strategy": "Hydraulic Action Creates Structural Rigidity\n\nThe penis of humans avoids buckling by hydraulic action of increased blood flow into the corpora cavernosa.\n\n“Two major branches of engineering mechanics are fluid mechanics and structural mechanics, with many practical problems involving the effect of the first on the second. An example is the design of an aircraft’s wings to bend within reasonable limits without breaking under the action of lift forces exerted by the air flowing over them; another is the maintenance of the structural\nintegrity of a dam designed to hold back a water reservoir which would exert very large forces on it. Similarly, fluid and structural mechanics are involved in the engineering analysis of erectile function: it is the hydraulic action of increased blood flow into the corpora cavernosa that creates the structural rigidity necessary to prevent collapse of the penile column.”\n"}, {"Source": "alternaria fungi's metabolism", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "sequestrate carbon dioxide", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/metabolism-induces-formation-of-calcium-carbonate/", "Strategy": "Metabolism Induces Formation\nof Calcium Carbonate\n\nMetabolism in Alternaria fungi sequestrate carbon dioxide by forming calcium carbonate through the assimilation of nitrate.\nFungi are the dominant microbes in soil. They are an essential part of many ecosystems because they help recycle nutrients from the atmosphere and ground alike (fungi are often associated with decomposition). Fungi from the genus \nAlternaria take up nitrate from moist soils and convert it to ammonium ion, increasing the pH of the soil in the process. As a result, the carbon dioxide “exhaled” from their respiration gets converted to solid calcium carbonate in the soil before it has a chance to escape into the air as carbon dioxide gas.\n\n"}, {"Source": "pocket gopher's front paw", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "large", "Function2": "powerful", "Function3": "curve claws", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/paws-excavate-burrows/", "Strategy": "Paws Excavate Burrows\n\nThe front paws of pocket gophers are used to excavate burrows because they are large and powerful, with curved claws.\n“A pocket gopher tunnels through the soil in search of roots and bulbs to eat. Note the huge front paws and powerful fingers ending in strong curved claws for digging. A small animal, it can excavate burrows hundreds of metres long.”"}, {"Source": "western hemlock‑sitka spruce forest", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "increase diversity", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/disturbances-help-maintain-diversity/", "Strategy": "Disturbances Help Maintain Diversity\n\nWestern hemlock-Sitka spruce forests maintain diversity partly thanks to wind disturbance patterns.\n\n\n“The dynamics of British planted forests are compared with disturbance dynamics of analogous natural forests with particular reference to disturbance by strong winds. Western hemlock-Sitka spruce (Tsuga heterophylla-Picea sitchensis) forests in the Pacific North-west of North America and particularly South-east Alaska provide the most promising comparison. There are few reports on disturbance in these forests, but the regime includes both gap-phase and stand replacement dynamics due to wind. However, the landscape proportion and pattern of resulting structural types are not well defined…Two stand types have been identified in the hemlock-spruce forest types in the Pacific North-west: (1) even-aged stands following catastrophic blowdown; and (2) multi-aged stands resulting from gradual but non-catastrophic attrition (Deal et al., 1991). Sitka spruce can maintain a presence in forest communities in both situations (Taylor, 1990). It is not known what the proportion of the two stand types (fine grain and even-aged) is for any one region.”"}, {"Source": "reindeer's underfur", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "prevents air movement", "Function2": "heat insulation", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/dense-underfur-insulates/", "Strategy": "Dense Underfur Insulates\n\nThe coat of a reindeer insulates against polar cold with the help of dense underfur that traps air.\n\n“Naturally, animals that live in polar regions have the warmest coats of all. The reindeer’s coat combines long, water-repelling guard hairs with an extremely dense underfur, deep-piled like a shag carpet.” (Foy and Oxford Scientific Films 1982:84)\n“The winter fur of adult reindeer consisted of thick guard hairs with air-filled cavities and an underfur of thin and woolen hairs…The density of guard hairs varied considerably and averaged 2000/cm2 and 12 mm on the legs, 1000/cm2 and 30 mm on the abdomen, and 1700/cm2 and 30 mm on the back. The corresponding count on the back of calves was 3200/cm2 and 10 mm…All hairs were wool-like and hollow…The thick underfur is very important, since it effectively prevents air movement within it and thus reduces heat dissipation…[T]he results suggest that the prime mechanism by which adult reindeer thermoregulate in a cold environment is insulation.” "}, {"Source": "house sparrow's parasite-free nest", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "use insect-repelling plant", "Function2": "stay clean", "Function3": "use anti-microbial plant", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/nests-are-parasite-free/", "Strategy": "Nests Are Parasite‑free\n\nThe nests of house sparrows are kept free of parasitic insects by a lining of leaves from the neem tree, containing insect-repelling compounds.\n\n“During an outbreak of malaria in Calcutta during 1998, Dr. Dushim Sengupta and fellow scientists at Calcutta’s Center for Nature Conservation and Human Survival were surprised to witness house sparrows lining their nests with (and also eating) leaves from the paradise flower tree (Caesalpina pulcherrima), a species whose leaves are rich in the anti-malarial drug quinine. Confirming that their choice of leaves was deliberate, the sparrows swiftly gathered fresh leaves of this same species when the scientists removed those already lining their nests. Moreover, before the malaria outbreak, these birds has been using leaves from the neem tree (Azadirachta indica) for nest lining. These contain high concentrations of insect-repellent compounds, which are of great benefit to birds rearing nestlings, who are vulnerable to diseases spread by insects and to nest-dwelling parasitic insects.” \n\n“Similarly, in 2000 Dr. Helga Gwinner and a team of researchers from the Ornithological Unit of Germany’s Max Planck Society revealed that starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) lined their nests with herbs that ward off or kill nest parasites, such as fleas, lice, and mites. Experiments in which some nestlings were reared in nests lacking these herbs (and in which parasites therefore thrived) showed that these nestlings were anemic; nestlings reared in herb-lined nests were heavier and had stronger immune systems, as confirmed by the presence of greater quantities of infection-fighting cells in their blood.” "}, {"Source": "jumbo squid's beak", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "stiff and strong material", "Function2": "remarkable toughness", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/crosslinks-toughen-beak/", "Strategy": "Crosslinks Toughen Beak\n\nBeak of squid is hard and stiff because of chemical cross linking\n\nBeaks of squid and other cephalopods are made primarily of chitin—chemically simple long repeating chains of sugars. Although soft when wet, under certain circumstances, chitin fibers can become the stiffest and strongest known non-mineralized material. The exceptionally tough chitinous beaks of squid enable them to bite through prey, immobilizing them and preventing them from swimming away.\n\nThe hardness in the tip of the beak is caused by crosslinking the chitin. Two mechanisms for creating cross-links are known in squid beak.\n\nFirst, chitin binding proteins exist in linked pairs. When each protein binds a different chitin fiber, they become locked together, making the chitin less flexible and harder.\n\nSecondly, another type of protein is produced that does not dissolve in water but binds strongly to itself, forming soap-bubble-like aggregates called coacervates. These diffuse into the spaces between the chitin fibers, gradually filling them up and linking together and solidifying to become larger spanning networks throughout the pores in the chitin. Softness in chitin is caused by the presence of water. At the same time as they physically fill all the gaps, coacervates also create chemical cross-links between chitin fibers and remove water. All three factors work together to give squid beak its remarkable toughness.\n\n"}, {"Source": "carpenter ants' scent of cuticular chemicals", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "identify intruders", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/chemicals-reveal-foes/", "Strategy": "Chemicals Reveal Foes\n\nCarpenter ants identify intruders based on the scent of cuticular chemicals not present on nest-mates.\n\nFor colony-based social insects, distinguishing nest-mates from non-nest-mates is important for maintaining the evolutionary fitness of the colony. Colony members must help only nest-mates and ensure non-nest-mates aren’t allowed to threaten the resources of the colony. Carpenter ants were long thought to distinguish nest-mates from non-nest-mates by comparing the chemical signature of suspect ants with their own. However, the biochemical mechanism is actually much simpler than that. Carpenter ants secrete a variety of hydrocarbons on their cuticles. The hydrocarbons include many complexly branched molecules that can form an almost limitless number of unique structures. The specific hydrocarbon structures and relative abundances thereof are unique to each colony (due to shared diet) and act as a shared chemical fingerprint for nest-mates. Ants detect the hydrocarbon signature of other ants using their antennae and use it to determine if they are friends or foes. Instead of both checking for the presence of friendly-type hydrocarbons and checking for the presence of foreign-type hydrocarbons, the ants simply respond to chemical signatures that contain new elements not previously habituated to. In other words, they do not identify nest-mates; they only identify non-nest-mates. Since nest-mates consume the same specific diet and share food with each other, they develop the same cuticular hydrocarbon fingerprint.\nIn a simple form of learning, the antennal lobes become desensitized by near-constant exposure to nest-mate fingerprints and response to it is reduced. However, the reception of a signature that contains additional compounds not previously habituated to (e.g., that of a non-nest-mate) initiates the olfactory receptor response fully and causes aggresive behavior. This mechanism explains why insects with practically no hydrocarbon fingerprint (i.e., certain colony parasites and young workers) do not elicit a response in guard ants. To put it simply, carpenter ants don’t distinguish nest-mates by comparing fingerprint similarity, they do so instead by determining whether or not a fingerprint fits within the pattern of the habituated signature. The neurological basis is perhaps best understood by human analogy. When constantly exposed to an odor, one becomes accustomed to it and may not be able to detect its presence. Nonetheless, even after being habituated to that specific odor, it is possible to notice the presence of a new one."}, {"Source": "coral's exoskeletons", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "strong uvr absorbance", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/exoskeleton-absorbs-uv-light/", "Strategy": "Exoskeleton Absorbs UV Light\n\nThe calcium carbonate exoskeletons of corals may help protect their photosynthetic symbionts by absorbing UV rays.\n\n“Many coral reef organisms are photosynthetic or have evolved in tight symbiosis with photosynthetic symbionts. As such, the tissues of reef organisms are often exposed to intense solar radiation in clear tropical waters and have adapted to trap and harness photosynthetically active radiation (PAR). High levels of ultraviolet radiation (UVR) associated with sunlight, however, represent a potential problem in terms of tissue damage…by measuring UVR and PAR reflectance from intact and ground bare coral skeletons we show that the property of calcium carbonate skeletons to absorb downwelling UVR to a significant extent, while reflecting PAR back to the overlying tissue, has biological advantages… our study presents a novel defensive role for coral skeletons and reveals that the strong UVR absorbance by the skeleton can contribute to the ability of corals, and potentially other calcifiers, to thrive under UVR levels that are detrimental to most marine life.”"}, {"Source": "anglerfish", "Application": "bioluminescent light", "Function1": "emit light", "Function2": "attract prey", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/anglerfish-harness-both-light-and-darkness/", "Strategy": "Anglerfish Harness Both Light and Darkness\n\nAnglerfish have light-absorbing skin to keep hidden while they attract prey with a glowing lure.\n\nIntroduction \n\nAnglerfish are the Harry Potters of the deep sea: They have both a luminous wand and an invisibility cloak. They wield these weapons to eat and not be eaten in the dark depths.\n\nThere are more than 200 species of anglerfish. Most are dark gray or brown and less than 1 foot (30 centimeters) long, though the largest can reach 40 inches (100 centimeters). They have huge heads and mammoth mouths filled with sharp, translucent fangs. They dwell far below the surface of the ocean, where sunlight no longer penetrates and the ocean fades to black. Here, female anglerfish have evolved body features to manipulate light—to lure prey with it and simultaneously to avoid illuminating themselves and becoming prey.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nIn the vast, dark, open spaces of the ocean, bacteria, tiny zooplankton, shrimp and other crustaceans, jellies and other gelatinous animals, and many fish produce and emit their own light. They use this bioluminescence to attract mates, communicate with kin, or blend in with light flowing down from the surface. But every time a creature lights up, it risks being seen by predators.\n\nA female anglerfish works both ends of this paradox, using two remarkable adaptations. Instead of expending energy to search for food, she coaxes food to unwittingly come to her.\\n\\nThe first adaptation is a long, movable spine sticking out of the top of her head. At the tip of the spine hangs a fleshy sac called an esca. Inside the esca, bioluminescent bacteria settle in to live. They emit light in blue wavelengths that aren’t absorbed by water. The bacteria gain a protected place to live. The anglerfish gets a glowing orb to attract prey. The spine is her fishing rod; the glowing esca is her bait.\n\nAn anglerfish dangles her spine just above her cavernous mouth to mimic the movements of smaller, glowing organisms. She keeps the rest of her body still and hovering. That’s when she makes use of the second key adaptation: her skin.\n\nThe Potential \n\nScientists have taken a lesson from anglerfish, exploring ways to harness bioluminescent light. Applications range from glowing biochemical “tags” used in medicine and scientific research to new bioinspired lamps and the development of bioluminescent trees that could replace streetlights.\n\nResearchers are also investigating the properties of ultra-black skins to explore new ways to make light-absorbing materials for solar panels, telescopes, and camouflaging textiles."}, {"Source": "bacillus bacteria's xylanase", "Application": "biological de-bleaching processes", "Function1": "break down plant cell walls", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/enzymes-help-break-down-plant-cell-walls/", "Strategy": "Enzymes Help Break Down Plant Cell Walls\n\nXylanase enzymes of Bacillus bacteria enable breakdown of plant cell walls without breaking down cellulose.\n\n“The term “alkaliphile” is used for microorganisms that grow optimally or very well at pH values above 9 but cannot grow or grow only slowly at the near-neutral pH value of 6.5…The cell surface may play a key role in keeping the intracellular pH value in the range between 7 and 8.5, allowing alkaliphiles to thrive in alkaline environments, although adaptation mechanisms have not yet been clarified. Alkaliphiles have made a great impact in industrial applications. Biological detergents contain alkaline enzymes, such as alkaline cellulases and/or alkaline proteases, that have been produced from alkaliphiles. The current proportion of total world enzyme production destined for the laundry detergent market exceeds 60%. Another important application is the industrial production of cyclodextrin by alkaline cyclomaltodextrin glucanotransferase. This enzyme has reduced the production cost and paved the way for cyclodextrin use in large quantities in foodstuffs, chemicals, and pharmaceuticals. It has also been reported that alkali-treated wood pulp could be biologically bleached by xylanases produced by alkaliphiles.” \n\n“…xylanases [from an alkaliphilic and thermophilic Bacillus strain, TAR-1] did not act on cellulose, indicating a possible application of the enzyme in biological debleaching processes.” "}, {"Source": "tyrosinase enzyme", "Application": "macromolecular processing", "Function1": "catalyze the oxidation of phenols", "Function2": "convert phenols to reactive quinones", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/tyrisonase-enzymes-aid-crosslinking/", "Strategy": "Tyrisonase Enzymes Aid Crosslinking\n\nTyrosinase enzymes serve a wide variety of crosslinking functions in organisms by catalyzing the oxidation of phenols and converting them into reactive quinones.\n“Biology is well known for its use of linear polymers to perform sophisticated functions. Nucleic acids store and process genetic information, while proteins perform recognition, transport, and catalytic functions. Biology also employs polymers (especially proteins and polysaccharides) to perform mechanical functions and there are several examples in which biology covalently crosslinks polymers to confer elasticity and strength. In some cases, the crosslinking enzymes have attracted attention as a simple and safe means for macromolecular processing in vitro. Here, we review recent research with two enzymes, tyrosinase and microbial transglutaminase, that are being examined for a variety of applications.” \n\n“Prof. [Herb] Waite’s work on mussel adhesion has demonstrated that biology offers many important lessons for materials scientists. Biology’s crosslinking enzymes may enable us to apply two such lessons. The first lesson is sustainability. Enzymes enable renewable, bio-based raw materials to be accessed to generate functional materials. We are using various natural phenols, proteins, and polysaccharides to create functional polymers and crosslinked networks. In addition to the renewable raw materials, the enzyme-catalyzed processes are expected to be inherently safe and the products environmentally-friendly (e.g., biodegradable). The second lesson is bottom-up precision assembly. A current challenge in nanotechnology is the hierarchical assembly of pre-formed nanoparticles into precise assemblies for either drug delivery or nanoelectronics. Nature is well known for its ability to employ non-covalent mechanisms (e.g., hydrogen bonds and hydrophobic interactions), molecular recognition, and self-assembly to precisely construct macromolecular assemblies from their component parts. Enzymes are capable of selectively adding covalent bonds which could stabilize macromolecular assemblies and, thus, complement self-assembly methods based on reversible physical mechanisms. As we learn these lessons, we expect a growth in the list of examples in which biology’s crosslinking enzymes are explored for technological applications.”"}, {"Source": "cyanobacteria's micro-compartment", "Application": "converting carbon dioxide", "Function1": "convert co2", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/micro-compartment-converts-carbon-dioxide/", "Strategy": "Micro‑compartment Converts Carbon Dioxide\n\nCarbonic anhydrases in cyanobacteria interconvert CO2 and bicarbonate by entrapping proteins in confined micro-compartment.\nWith global warming becoming such a prevalent issue in the world, research concerning the conversion of carbon dioxide is a hot topic. Researchers have recently studied the conversion of carbon dioxide to bicarbonate in cyanobacteria. In the cells of these bacteria there are micro-compartments (carboxysomes) that contain a large amount of proteins (i.e., enzymes). Two particular proteins, rubisco and carbonic anhydrase (CA), catalyze (or induce/speed up the process) the conversion of CO2 to bicarbonate. When carbon dioxide enters the cell, the enzyme rubisco fixes the molecule to a sugar (ribulose-1,5 bisphosphate) which causes the formation of two new molecules (please see illustration below for diagram of process). Without the presence of CAs, this fixation process is tedious and much slower. However, large amounts of CAs can increase the reaction rate 1000-fold, thus yielding a much greater amount of CO2 to be fixed by rubisco. Yu and his research team conclude that this fast catalyzation is due to the fact that the process takes place in such a small area with a large concentration of proteins. Their research involved creating a nano-environment capable of entrapping large amounts of protein to induce conversion of carbon dioxide. Their results provide insight to the possibility of biomimetically converting CO2 through confining a large amount of specific proteins to a small space.The chemical reaction for the catalyzation done by carbonic anhydrase is:H2CO3 —(carbonic anhydrase)–> H2O+CO2  The CO2produced by this reaction is what is then converted to bicarbonate through fixation by rubisco."}, {"Source": "galatheid crab's gut microbe", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "digest wood cellulose", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/gut-microbes-break-down-wood-cellulose/", "Strategy": "Gut Microbes Break Down Wood Cellulose\n\nMicrobes in the gut of the galatheid crab produce enzymes that digest wood cellulose, allowing the crab to subsist almost exclusively on a wood-based diet.\n\n“Wood falls in the deep sea have recently become the focus of studies showing their importance as nutrients on the deep-sea floor. In such environments, Crustaceans constitute numerically the second-largest group after Mollusks. Many questions have arisen regarding their trophic role therein. A careful examination of the feeding appendages, gut contents, and gut lining of Munidopsis andamanica caught with wood falls revealed this species as a truly original detritivorous species using wood and the biofilm covering it as two main food sources. Comparing individuals from other geographic areas from substrates not reported highlights the galatheid crab as specialist of refractory substrates, especially vegetal remains. M. andamanica also exhibits a resident gut microflora consisting of bacteria and fungi possibly involved in the digestion of wood fragments. The results suggest that Crustaceans could be full-fledged actors in the food chains of sunken-wood ecosystems and that feeding habits of some squat lobsters could be different than scavenging.”"}, {"Source": "tomato plant's leaves", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "ward off parasitic caterpillars", "Function2": "secrete an enzyme", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/plants-starve-caterpillars-2/", "Strategy": "Plants Starve Caterpillars\n\nLeaves of tomatoes ward off parasitic caterpillars by secreting an enzyme that breaks down a key nutrient in the caterpillar larvae's gut.\nWhile it would be business suicide for any restauranteur to go out of their way to sicken those who eat on its premises, tomato plants depend on such a strategy for their very survival. When the larvae of herbivorous butterflies or moths begin to chew on tomato plant leaves, threonine deaminase, an enzyme commonly found in tomato leaves, changes to a form that enables it to survive the harsh conditions of the lepidopteran gut. In fact, it’s the conditions of the gut that activate this Clark Kent of an enzyme into a superhero molecule that breaks the bonds of threonine, an amino acid essential for the lepidopteran larvae’s survival. It may also add nails to the lepidopteran larvae’s coffin by degrading another amino acid, L-serine, and by producing toxic ammonia."}, {"Source": "macropod's teeth", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "adapted for crushing", "Function2": "adapted for shearing", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/teeth-specialized-to-diet/", "Strategy": "Teeth Specialized to Diet\n\nThe teeth of different macropod species are adjusted to their diet through specializations that address their specific mechanical digestion needs, including crushing and shearing.\n\n“All wombat teeth are open-rooted. Macropod dentition varies with diet. Potoroos and bettongs consume invertebrates, fruit, and seeds. They have large premolars and a straight molar row with all teeth in occlusion. Molars are adapted for crushing. Browsing macropods- such as pademelons, tree kangaroos, quokkas (Setonix brachyurus), and swamp wallabies (Wallabia bicolor) – still have a straight molar row, but the premolars are smaller and the molars can both shear and crush. The grazing macropods have a vestigial premolar and curved molar row with only the first two molars being in occlusion at any one time. The molars are adapted for shearing. This group, along with elephants and manatees, exhibits the phenomenon of molar progression. As the anterior two molars are worn, they are shed with the posterior molars moving forward, for a total of four molars. The exception is the nabarlek (Peradorcas concinna), which has an unlimited supply of molars.”"}, {"Source": "patella limpet's radula", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "enhance cutting ability", "Function2": "enhanced erosive capability", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/mineral-crystals-enhance-cutting-ability/", "Strategy": "Mineral Crystals Enhance Cutting Ability\n\nThe radula of Patella limpets has cutting tips that incorporate magnetite crystals and silicon dioxide.\n“Another mollusk, the limpet Patella, backs the magnetite cutting tips of its radula with silicon dioxide (Runham et al. 1969). Incidentally, mollusks renew their radulas from the back as they wear near the front much the way elephants renew their teeth.”\n\n“Most classes in the phylum of the Mollusca possess a radula, a flexible ribbon, located in the mouth cavity, on which are implanted several tens of transverse rows of teeth. The radula is used as a rasp during feeding of organisms living on rocky substrates. Through the continuous growth of the radular ribbon new rows of teeth steadily enter into the wearing zone, while at the same rate teeth in the last row break loose from the ribbon. The enhanced erosive capability of the radula is due to the presence of teeth with an upright standing, hard, mineralized cusp.”"}, {"Source": "sara longwing butterfly's larvae", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "metabolize cyanogenic glycosides", "Function2": "prevent cyanide release", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/larvae-protect-from-cyanide/", "Strategy": "Larvae Protect From Cyanide\n\nLarvae of sara longwing butterflies avoid harm from cyanogenic leaves by metabolizing cyanogenic glycosides enzymatically, preventing cyanide release.\n“A neotropical butterfly, Heliconius sara, can avoid the harmful effects of the cyanogenic leaves of Passiflora auriculata (passion vine), on which its larvae feed exclusively. To our knowledge this is the first example of an insect that is able to metabolize cyanogens and thereby prevent the release of cyanide. The mechanistic details of this pathway might suggest new ways to make cyanogenic crops more useful as a food source…We conclude that a unique enzymatic mechanism exists in H. sara for dealing with cyanogenic glycosides.” "}, {"Source": "mammalian egg cell", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "prevent polyspermy", "Function2": "prevent more sperm from binding", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/egg-cell-coating-blocks-extra-sperm/", "Strategy": "Egg Cell Coating Blocks Extra Sperm\n\nCoat surrounding egg cell of mammals rapidly hardens to block extra sperm.\n\nIn mammals, fertilization of the ovum (egg cell) by sperm usually occurs within the fallopian tube (the duct connecting the ovary to the uterus) of the female. The ovum and the sperm each contain half the DNA required to produce a viable embryo. When a sperm and ovum fuse, the resulting cell contains two copies of each chromosome. Polyspermy is the fusion of more than one sperm with a single ovum. When this happens, there are extra copies of all the chromosomes in the cell and the fertilized egg is usually not viable. In order to prevent this, mammalian egg cells undergo a rapid surface change called a cortical reaction following fertilization. The cortical reaction prevents other sperm from fusing.\n\nMammalian ova are covered in a thick coating that sperm must burrow through to reach the cell membrane. This, together with other large-scale anatomical features, slow sperm down, meaning only the strongest reach the egg, and in relatively small numbers. The first sperm to reach the membrane of the egg cell fuses with it, releasing its DNA payload along with signalling factors. One factor, an enzyme called PLCζ, is thought to be important for triggering the cortical reaction.\n\nPLCζ triggers the release of calcium ions from stores within the egg cell. The calcium washes through the cell to the membrane, where it triggers the release of cortical vesicles. Cortical vesicles are membrane-bound sacs containing a cocktail of reactive chemicals and enzymes. Once released into the space between the membrane and the coating, they simultaneously clip the tips of sperm receptors on the cell surface, preventing more sperm from binding, and crosslink the thick coating of the egg, setting it like concrete and making it impossible for late arrivals to burrow through."}, {"Source": "alligator snapping turtle's jaws", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "tear flesh", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/jaws-shear-flesh/", "Strategy": "Jaws Shear Flesh\n\nThe powerful jaws of the alligator snapping turtle are effective at tearing flesh because they are covered in a sharp-edged horny beak.\n“An alligator snapping turtle lies in wait for a passing fish, well camouflaged against the muddy river bed. Like all turtles and tortoises, it has no teeth, but its jaws are covered in a sharp-edged horny beak suitable for shearing flesh. On the floor of its mouth is a fleshy pink worm-like lure, which the turtle waggles to attract fish. Eager to seize the ‘worm’, a fish may swim right in the turtle’s gaping mouth.”"}, {"Source": "bacterial cell", "Application": "polyester", "Function1": "produce polyester granules", "Function2": "self-assemble", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/cells-produce-polyester-2/", "Strategy": "Cells Produce Polyester\n\nBacterial cells produce polyester granuals in water at ambient temperature and pressure via enzymatic self-assembly.\n\nBacterial bioplastics are polyesters produced naturally by certain bacteria. These polyesters serve as carbon stores when carbon is plentiful but limited supplies of other nutrients make continued growth and reproduction impossible. \n\nBacteria perform this feat at ambient temperatures and pressures in water. By contrast, industrial polyester manufacturing processes may require some added heat, pressure changes, and/or organic solvents. Although polyesters are not soluble in water, bacteria are able to store small polyester granules in their watery cellular environment by coating each granule with water-soluble proteins.\n\nThe variety of polymers that these bacteria produce is quite broad. In addition, the enzymes responsible for polyester polymerization are so flexible that they can theoretically catalyze the polymerization of any simple organic molecule that contains the appropriate hydroxyl (OH) and carboxyl (COOH) groups needed to form an “ester” bond."}, {"Source": "sawfish's saw", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "sense and handle prey", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/saw-like-snout-is-a-multifunctional-hunting-tool/", "Strategy": "Saw‑like Snout Is a\nMultifunctional Hunting Tool\n\nThe saw-like snout of the sawfish is a multifunctional hunting tool that both senses and handles prey.\n\nSawfishes are active predators with a fearsome appearance to match. These relatives of sharks and rays are famous for their “saws,” long flattened snouts that bear spiky teeth-like projections on either side, giving the sawfish its name. \n\nThe saw functions mainly as a multifunctional hunting and feeding tool: it can both sense and handle prey in the water column or near the bottom. This makes the sawfish’s saw unique, as elongated snouts in other fishes are known to either sense or handle prey, but not both.\n\nLike sharks and rays, sawfishes use electrosensitive receptor cells in their skin to sense electric fields that are produced by all living organisms. This sensory ability can be especially helpful when hunting in murky or dimly lit waters. \n\nElectroreceptor cells are particularly numerous on the top and bottom of the sawfish’s saw. The sawfish can search for nearby live prey sitting atop or partially buried in sand by waving its saw above the substrate, much like a handheld metal detector. Once a prey item is found, the sawfish can use its saw to pin the prey down or reposition it before biting into it. The saw can also detect live prey in the water column. Once prey is encountered there, the sawfish thrashes its saw side to side, resulting in prey that’s knocked out, cut apart, or impaled.\n\nSawfishes live in freshwater and marine inshore waters, where they are critically endangered worldwide. For instance, numbers of smalltooth sawfish (Pristis pectinata) off the coast of Florida have dropped significantly due to declining estuary health and overfishing."}, {"Source": "ants", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "enhance mineral weathering", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/ants-may-increase-carbon-dioxide-drawdown/", "Strategy": "Soil Mixing Gives Carbon Dioxide\nMore Places to Bond to Minerals\n\nAnts may increase carbon dioxide drawdown by enhancing mineral weathering in the soil.\n\nAnts are ecosystem engineers that can have a large effect on the biological, chemical, and physical properties of the soil in which they live. As ants move around in the soil finding food or building underground nests, they disturb and mix up the soil around them. It’s thought that this disturbance can enhance the dissolving of minerals—known as weathering—in the soil. Studies have found that ants are one of the most effective biological enhancement weathering (BEW) agents when compared to other insects or plant roots.\n\nIn one of the most common processes of weathering, rocks rich with minerals containing calcium and magnesium come into contact with water, which breaks down the minerals. Carbon dioxide combines with these dissolved minerals to eventually form calcium or magnesium carbonate (limestone or dolomite) and clays. Because ants appear to enhance this rock dissolving process when they mix the soil, they may play a role in the drawdown of carbon dioxide  from the atmosphere.\n\nExperiments have shown that ants enhance mineral weathering 3 to 100 times more than other insect or plant agents. This increased rate of weathering due to normal ant activity may be beneficial to help keep global temperatures low by reducing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere."}, {"Source": "pleurotus ostreatus fungi", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "degrade fluoranthene", "Function2": "biodegradation", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/enzymes-degrade-fluoranthene/", "Strategy": "Enzymes Degrade Fluoranthene\n\nExtracellular enzymes and mycelial growth in Pleurotus ostreatus fungi remove fluoranthene from their environment through biodegradation.\n\nPleurotus ostreatus is a type of fungus known to aid in the degradation of wood. A study was done that found that this particular fungus was able to grow in the presence of fluoranthene, “a high molecular weight polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH)” . This is of great concern because PAHs have been shown to be potentially “genotoxic and carcinogenic” (368). PAH contamination occurs due to many human activities, primarily fossil fuel combustion and industrial processing but can also occur naturally (e.g., forest fires). The mechanism by which this fungi breaks down these compounds is not completely understood, however, scientists link most of the degradation to the processing of chemicals done by extracellular enzymes (particularly the MnP and laccase enzymes). Further research could prove revolutionary by aiding in the bioremediation of areas greatly affected by PAH contamination."}, {"Source": "starling's metabolism", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "metabolize alcohol", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/enzyme-quickly-metabolizes-alcohol/", "Strategy": "Enzyme Quickly Metabolizes Alcohol\n\nThe metabolism of starlings breaks down alcohol quickly via an alcohol-splitting enzyme.\n“Many birds that consume fermented fruit duly suffer from the after-effects of alcohol abuse. Starlings (Sturnis vulgaris), however, seem immune to them, remaining surprisingly sober. The secret behind this phenomenon was revealed during the late 1990s by researchers Dr. Ghassem Hakimi and Dr. Roland Prinzinger at Frankfurt University in Germany.”\n\n“They discovered that starlings were able to metabolize alcohol at an exceptional speed, due to the rate of activity of the alcohol-splitting enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase, which is 14 times greater in starlings than in humans. This means that the birds can indulge themselves on fermented fruit without getting drunk, since the alcohol is broken down quickly.”"}, {"Source": "chloroplasts of photosynthesizing plants", "Application": "efficient and cost-effective means to generate alternative forms of energy", "Function1": "split water", "Function2": "separate protons and electrons", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/catalyst-helps-split-water/", "Strategy": "Catalyst Helps Split Water\n\nCatalysts in the chloroplasts of photosynthesizing plants help split water by binding water molecules and separating protons and electrons.\n\nThe process of photosynthesis in plants involves a series of steps and reactions that use solar energy, water, and carbon dioxide to produce organic compounds and oxygen. Early in the process, molecules of chlorophyll pigment are excited by solar energy and donate their electrons to start a flow of energized electrons that play a key role in the photosynthetic process (see the related strategy).\n\nThe chlorophyll’s donated electrons need to be replaced, and these electrons come from the splitting of water. In a process called photolysis (‘light’ and ‘split’), light energy and catalysts interact to drive the splitting of water molecules into protons (H+), electrons, and oxygen gas. The electrons go to the chlorophyll, the protons contribute to a proton gradient that is used to power synthesis of the energy-carrying molecule, ATP, and the oxygen is a byproduct.\n\nThe enzyme complex that catalyzes the water-splitting reaction (known as the oxygen-evolving complex) contains manganese and calcium, and is located in photosystems embedded in thylakoid membranes within the chloroplast. Researchers are still uncovering details about the exact mechanism by which the enzyme works, but it appears that the enzyme binds water molecules in place while separating the protons and electrons and forming oxygen bonds.\n\nMany researchers are synthesizing various bio-inspired catalysts in the hopes of developing efficient and cost-effective means to generate alternative forms of energy (for example, hydrogen fuel) from the splitting of water."}, {"Source": "plant's photosynthesis", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "make useful organic compound", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/photosynthesis-makes-useful-organic-compounds-out-of-co2/", "Strategy": "Photosynthesis Makes Useful Organic Compounds Out of CO2\n\nPhotosynthesis in plants makes useful organic compounds out of carbon dioxide through carbon-fixation reactions.\n\nThe process of photosynthesis in plants involves a series of steps and reactions that use solar energy, water, and carbon dioxide to produce oxygen and organic compounds. Carbon dioxide serves as the source of carbon, and it enters the photosynthetic process in a series of reactions called the carbon-fixation reactions (also known as the dark reactions). These reactions follow the energy-transduction reactions (or light reactions) that convert solar energy into chemical energy in the form of ATP and NADPH molecules, which provide energy to drive the carbon-fixation reactions.\n\nCO2 enters most plants through pores (stomata) in the leaf or stem surface. In photosynthetic algae and cyanobacteria, CO2 is taken up from the surrounding water. Once in a photosynthetic cell, CO2 is “fixed” (covalently bonded) to an organic molecule with the help of the enzyme. In many plant species, this initial reaction is catalyzed by the enzyme Rubisco—the world’s most abundant enzyme.\n\nIn a cyclic series of reactions called the Calvin cycle or C3 pathway, the carbon-containing molecule resulting from this first fixation reaction is converted into various compounds using the energy from ATP and NADPH. The products of the Calvin cycle include a simple sugar that is subsequently converted into carbohydrates like glucose, sucrose, and starch, which serve as important energy sources for the plant. The cycle also regenerates molecules of the initial \nreactant that more CO2 will bond with in another turn of the cycle.\n\nInterest in learning from and applying how plants activate and convert CO2 into useful products is particularly high, as CO2 is abundant in the atmosphere but is chemically stable and requires a large amount of energy to convert into compounds that are useful in industrial processes."}, {"Source": "plant and microorganism's 2og oxygenase", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "catalyze a wide variety of organic chemical reactions", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/enzyme-catalyzes-many-reactions/", "Strategy": "Enzyme Catalyzes Many Reactions\n\nMany plants and microorganisms can catalyze a wide variety of organic chemical reactions via the 2OG oxygenase enzyme.\n“In plants and microorganisms…2OG oxygenases catalyze a plethora of oxidative reactions, which has led to the proposal that they may be the most versatile of all oxidizing biological catalysts. Some of these reactions are chemically remarkable and indeed presently cannot be achieved through synthetic—that is, non-biological—chemistry. Oxidative reactions catalyzed by 2OG oxygenases include cyclizations, ring fragmentation, C-C bond cleavage, epimerization, desaturation and the hydroxylation of aromatic rings. The discovery that 2OG oxygenases can catalyze chlorination reactions further extends the scope of the family.”"}, {"Source": "trumpet pitcher plant's liquid", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "digest insect", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/enzymatic-liquid-digests-insects/", "Strategy": "Enzymatic Liquid Digests Insects\n\nLiquid found in trumpet pitcherplants digests insects enzymatically.\n\n“In the southern part of the United States, another member of the same family, the trumpet pitcher, has elaborated this simple structure. The hood at the top is much bigger and so vividly coloured that it might be mistaken at first sight for a flower…Nectar glands cover these hoods so densely that they glisten. Additional glands are scattered rather more thinly all over the outer surface of the trumpet itself. And the liquid within is more potent than the Venezuelan marsh pitchers, for it is quite capable by itself of digesting insects without any help from bacteria.” "}, {"Source": "mushroom-forming fungus agrocybe aegerita", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "break down toxic organosulfur compounds", "Function2": "catalyze the oxidization", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/enzymes-sulfoxidize-toxic-organosulfur/", "Strategy": "Enzymes Sulfoxidize Toxic Organosulfur\n\nEnzymes produced by the mushroom-forming fungus Agrocybe aegerita break down toxic organosulfur compounds by catalyzing the oxidization of the sulfur-containing portion of the molecule.\nDibenzothiophene (DBT) is an organosulfur compound present in heavier fossil fuels like crude oil, coal tar, and coal. Petroleum spills and combustion of these fuels release the compound into the environment. Like many similar chemicals, DBT is toxic to life and some organisms have evolved methods for partially breaking it down into more degradable compounds. The fungus Agrocybe aegerita produces an enzyme called aromatic peroxygenase which it secretes into its external environment. This enzyme uses hydrogen peroxide to catalyze the oxidation of the sulfur-containing portion of DBY. Though the mechanism has yet to be thoroughly established, the active site on the enzyme seems to stimulate the formation of an epoxide adjacent to the sulfur which then rapidly and spontaneously hydrolyzes into hydroxy-DBTs. The products vary depending on the random way in which water reacts with the transient epoxide form but all are more easily broken down further by spontaneous or enzymatic reactions."}, {"Source": "marine fungus", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "degrade lignin", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/enzymes-bleach-wood-lignin/", "Strategy": "Enzymes Bleach Wood Lignin\n\nEnzymes produced by a marine fungus found on mangroves can \"bleach\" wood pulp by catalyzing the break down of lignin.\nA fungus that calls mangrove forests home produces enzymes that can degrade lignin, a complex compound that helps give plants their structural strength and resiliency. This tough chemical compound is also difficult to degrade which poses a problem for the paper industry since lignin is a major contributor to the brown color of unbleached pulp. Strong oxidizing agents, particularly chlorine bleach, have traditionally been used to break down lignin to produce white paper, but this process generates toxic chlorinated compounds as waste products. Fungal enzymes not only break down lignin without generating toxic byproducts, they do not attack cellulose fibers needed to produce strong paper products."}, {"Source": "plant's photosynthetic protein complex", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "rapidly disassemble and reform", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/photosynthetic-systems-rapidly-disassembles-and-reforms/", "Strategy": "Photosynthetic Systems Rapidly\nDisassembles and Reforms\n\nDamaged sections of photosynthetic protein complexes in plants and bacteria are repaired via an internal cellular system of recognition, removal, and repair.\nThe molecular components of nature’s photosynthetic machinery take a beating from high-energy photons, ultraviolet light, and highly oxidizing (i.e., degrading) byproducts. When damage occurs, cellular processes recognize and cut off the damaged part of photosynthetic protein complex, remove the intact section to the outer regions of the cell where it can be fully repaired, and then return to its original site and function."}, {"Source": "oregano and other plants", "Application": "food preservation", "Function1": "enhance rasping power", "Function2": "prevent fungal infection", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/mineral-crystals-enhance-rasping-power/", "Strategy": "Mineral Crystals Enhance Rasping Power\n\n\nIntroduction \n\nIf you’ve ever opened your refrigerator to find that your fresh produce has turned into a mushy, moldy mess, then you’re familiar with the destructive power of fungi. Without some sort of protection against such microorganisms, thousands of tons of fruits and vegetables would spoil and go to waste before they even made it to our grocery stores. Oregano has emerged as a source of potent plant-protection molecules, producing oils and vapors that prevent fungal infection and food spoilage.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nAs it turns out, oregano and a number of other plants (eucalyptus, rosemary, thyme) have built-in defense mechanisms to fight off fungal attacks. These are usually in the form of messenger molecules present in the plant’s fluids that easily evaporate into the surrounding air. If one plant is attacked by a fungus, it will release these “volatile organic compounds” to alert surrounding plants; the reception of the VOCs will then initiate the surrounding plants’ natural defense responses.\n\nThe Potential \n\nThere is keen interest in using VOCs from oregano commercially for food preservation. In previous decades, synthetic fungicides have been used to prevent food spoilage.  However, these synthetic compounds do not degrade easily in soil and groundwater, and can be toxic to a broad range of organisms.  Furthermore, fungi can develop resistance to synthetic fungicides, requiring even more of the chemicals to be applied to be effective, which in turn worsens environmental impacts.  Essential oils extracted from plants, on the other hand, are much less harmful, since they do not remain in soil or water for long, and very low amounts are needed to be effective.\n\nSeveral companies are now working on integrating plant-derived VOCs into food packaging, as an alternative to artificial preservatives. Such innovation could radically transform our food system, making it less wasteful and less harmful for both humans and the environment."}, {"Source": "great apes' teeth", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "handle fallback foods", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/teeth-enable-use-of-fallback-foods/", "Strategy": "Teeth Enable Use of Fallback Foods\n\nThe teeth of great apes help them survive times of food scarcity because they are diverse in type and material characteristics, allowing consumption of fallback foods.\n\nThe teeth of some apes are formed primarily to handle the most stressful times when food is scarce, according to new research performed at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The findings imply that if humanity is serious about protecting its close evolutionary cousins, the food apes eat during these tough periods—and where they find it—must be included in conservation efforts…\n\n…[N]atural selection in three ape species has favored individuals whose teeth can most easily handle the ‘fallback foods’ they choose when their preferred fare is less available. All of these apes—gorillas, orangutans and chimpanzees—favor a diet of fruit whenever possible. But when fruit disappears from their usual foraging grounds, each species responds in a different way—and has developed teeth formed to reflect the differences."}, {"Source": "human eye", "Application": "antiseptics and cleaners", "Function1": "protect organism from bacterial infections", "Function2": "inhibit bacterial mobility", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/protein-protects-eye-from-infection/", "Strategy": "Protein Protects Eye From Infection\n\nPeptides found in the protein cytokeratin 6A in humans protect from microbial infection by inhibiting bacterial mobility.\nKeratin is a protein that is renown for its help in managing the structural integrity of a cell; what was not previously known about keratin, however, is that it is also a plentiful source of peptides that have antimicrobial properties. \n\nResearchers began investigating keratin’s properties after pondering on the resilience of the human eye. How is it that this exposed surface is rarely the site of infection? What defense mechanisms has the cornea developed to protect itself against the ever-hungry microbial world? It is believed that the glycine-rich portions of the peptides in keratin immobilize bacterial cells through their permeability of the bacterial membrane. This discovery could provide insight into new, chemical-free antiseptics and cleaners."}, {"Source": "mixotricha protozoans", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "digest cellulose", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/cellulose-digested-for-fuel/", "Strategy": "Cellulose Digested for Fuel\n\nMixotricha protozoans digest cellulose for termite metabolism.\n\n“Termites harbor in their digestive system protozoa called mixotrichs that are critical to their ability to get energy by digesting cellulose.”"}, {"Source": "fungus gliocladium roseum", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "break down toxic quaternary ammonium compounds", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/enzymes-cleave-toxic-quaternary-ammonium-compounds/", "Strategy": "Enzymes Cleave Toxic Quaternary Ammonium Compounds\n\nEnzymes produced by the fungus Gliocladium roseum mediate the break down of a common industrial compound by initiating the biodegredation process.\n\nThe biologically-mediated breakdown of chemicals specifically designed to resist biologically-mediated breakdown is an obvious challenge. Quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs) have a number of common uses such as wood preservatives, antistatic agents, corrosion inhibitors, and textile softeners. Widespread use is leading to increasing contamination of water and soils. Gliocladium roseum is a fungus capable of secreting enzymes that cleave QACs resulting in by-products that are readily broken down by common enzymes. Laboratory tests have confirmed G. roseum’s ability to grow on QAC-treated wood blocks and decompose the toxic preservative."}, {"Source": "hookworm", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "digest blood", "Function2": "lyses erythrocytes", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/organism-digests-blood/", "Strategy": "Organism Digests Blood\n\nHookworms digest blood using a cascade of proteases.\n\n“Bloodsucking hookworms parasitize 700 million people worldwide, and are responsible for a daily blood loss equivalent to the total blood supply of more than a million people.”\n\n“Hookworms are blood-feeding nematodes that reside in the small intestine of infected mammalian hosts (12)…To obtain an unimpeded blood meal, hookworms secrete potent anticoagulants, the actions of which have been well characterized (15, 16). Once blood is ingested by adult hookworms, they lyse erythrocytes using a pore-forming, membrane-bound hemolysin (17), releasing the red cell contents into the intestinal lumen for proteolytic degradation. The pH of the hookworm intestine is not definitively known; however, it is presumed to be acidic in nature (18). All of the proteases identified from this anatomic site have acidic pH optima (19–21); Hb digestion by hookworm secretory extracts is optimal at pH 5–7 (22). Moreover, the intestinal contents from the related blood-feeding helminth, Schistosoma mansoni, are acidic pH (11)…Here we show that the canine hookworm digests Hb in a semi-ordered cascade that consists of at least aspartic, cysteine, and metalloproteases, which act in synergy at acidic pH. The classes of proteases involved and the order of their actions are strikingly similar to those used by P. falciparum to digest Hb in the food vacuole.”"}, {"Source": "plant's root", "Application": "reduce ground pollution", "Function1": "break down organic compounds", "Function2": "help plants grow", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/mutualism-enhances-pollutant-breakdown/", "Strategy": "Mutualism Enhances Pollutant Breakdown\n\nPlants and bacteria break down organic compounds in the soil through a mutualistic relationship.\n\nIntroduction \n\nPlants are made up of different parts. The stems, leaves, and any flowers sit above the soil where the leaves photosynthesize. Below the soil surface the plants’ roots and some important partners are also working hard. The roots help anchor the plants and take in water and nutrients from the soil. The roots also support a large variety of bacteria, including ones that live inside plants’ cells and others that live in the spaces in between the cells. Another group of bacteria called rhizobacteria live outside the plant nestled among the roots. This area is known as the rhizosphere.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nRhizobacteria and plants work together to help each other survive. This is called a mutualistic relationship. The plant gives the bacteria a place to live and provides them with nutrients through its roots. In return, bacteria take natural chemicals in the soil such as nitrogen and turn them into more useful kinds of chemicals such as ammonia, nitrates, and nitrites. Some chemicals the bacteria produce increase the size and surface area of roots so they have more contact with the soil. This increases nutrient and water uptake, making the plant stronger.\n \nThe Potential \n\nHydrocarbon waste can make people sick and decrease plant growth, so finding a way to remove or break down these pollutants is important. Using conventional methods such as digging or incineration to break down hydrocarbons is very expensive, so taking advantage of the mutual relationship that already exists between plants and rhizobacteria could help us develop more economical methods of reducing ground pollution."}, {"Source": "shewanella oneidensis bacteria", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "attach to particles of iron oxide", "Function2": "reduce iron oxide", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/bacteria-reduce-iron-oxide/", "Strategy": "Bacteria Reduce Iron Oxide\n\nShewanella oneidensis bacteria attach to and reduce iron oxide in anaerobic conditions via the work of two proteins.\n\nShewanella oneidensis “breathes” by attaching itself to particles of iron oxide found in solid minerals, and utilizing the oxygen molecules contained therein. It is thanks to two proteins that this can occur. When ambient oxygen is low, S. oneidensis expresses these proteins, and the proteins bind to and reduce iron oxide. (Courtesy of the Biomimicry Guild)"}, {"Source": "bacillus subtilis", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "minimize oxidative stress", "Function2": "protect against oxidative stress", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/nitric-oxide-synthesis-protects-against-oxidative-stress/", "Strategy": "Nitric Oxide Synthesis Protects\nAgainst Oxidative Stress\n\nBacillus subtilis defends itself against the damaging effects of oxidative free-radicals by synthesizing nitric oxide.\nImmune cells like macrophages release free radicals when they encounter foreign microbes. Free radicals can cause oxidative stress including damage to DNA and cellular materials leading to cell death. Some bacteria, like Bacillus subtilis utilize a nitric oxide (NO) mediated system to rapidly respond to oxidative stress and minimize its effects. When reactive oxygen species (ROS) like hydrogen peroxide are detected by a bacterium, NO is quickly synthesized enzymatically. The NO counteracts the effects of the ROSs by two means. It activates a class of enzymes called catalases that break down hydrogen peroxide, or it starves the cell of the reduced form of iron needed by hydrogen peroxide to cause cell damage. This process increases bacterial resistance to hydrogen peroxide 100 fold in only 5 seconds. Although other processes like the synthesis of specialized proteins are responsible for long term resistance to ROSs, NO represents a critical rapid response chemical that confers immediate protection to the cell."}, {"Source": "pilot whale's skin", "Application": "anti-fouling paint", "Function1": "resist microorganisms", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/skin-resists-microorganisms/", "Strategy": "Skin Resists Microorganisms\n\nThe skin of pilot whales resists microorganisms thanks to microscopic pores and nanoridges, surrounded by a secreted enzymatic gel which denatures proteins and carbohydrates.\n\n“Christoph Baum and a team from the Hanover School of Veterinary Medicine in Germany have discovered that a pilot whale’s skin has a specialised nano-structure that stops the build-up of microscopic organisms such as barnacle larvae. They plan to mimic the idea in an anti-fouling paint. Baum and his team examined freeze-dried samples of pilot whale skin under a cryo-scanning electron microscope. They discovered a surface made up of tiny pores 0.1 micrometres across surrounded by raised ‘nanoridges’. In between the ridges is a rubber-like gel containing enzymes that denature proteins and carbohydrates. The gel, which oozes out of the gaps between skin cells, is replenished as the whale sheds its skin. Baum thinks that organisms such as bacteria and diatoms have trouble sticking to the ridge edges, which provide little purchase. And if they try hanging onto the gel the enzymes will attack them. Without these pioneers, larger creatures such as crustacean or mollusc larvae have a hard time colonising the whale’s skin. The group intends to patent a version of the pilot whale’s skin as a more eco-friendly alternative to existing anti-fouling paints. To copy the skin, Baum plans on using a variety of biodegradable materials.”"}, {"Source": "bee's leg", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "dig nests", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/tibial-spurs-dig-nests/", "Strategy": "Tibial Spurs Dig Nests\n\nBees use small spikes on their legs to dig and create nests. \n\nOne way to help classify a bee taxonomically is to investigate the tibial spurs. The tibial spurs stick out from where the tibia meets the basitarsus and can be found on any of the legs, though are most commonly on the hind and midlegs. They’re movable and multiple spurs can be found on the same leg. Small, immovable spikes called tibial spines eject from the spurs.\n\nTibial spurs are used mainly to dig nests into substrate and they vary according to what material the bees use for nesting substrate. European honeybees (Apis mellifera) don’t have tibial spurs because they build wax combs and have no need to dig.\n\nThis information is also available from the University of Calgary Invertebrate collection, where it was curated as part of a study on design inspired by bees. "}, {"Source": "saw-whet owl's flattened feathers", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "aid prey detection", "Function2": "funnel sound", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/feathers-aid-prey-detection/", "Strategy": "Feathers Aid Prey Detection\n\nThe flattened feathers around the eyes of a saw-whet owl aid the detection of prey because they funnel sound.\n“The eyes of a hunter: a saw whet owl. Placed right at the front of the head for accurate stereoscopic vision, these eyes are not the owl’s means of locating prey. It relies also on its very sensitive hearing, and the rings of flattened feathers which accenuate its eyes are actually designed to funnel sound.”"}, {"Source": "pelotomaculum thermopropionicum bacteria", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "form communities", "Function2": "survive on compounds that no single organism could", "Function3": "feed off each other's waste products", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/bacteria-cooperate-to-survive/", "Strategy": "Bacteria Cooperate to Survive\n\nPelotomaculum thermopropionicum bacteria gets its energy from alchohols in a reaction that normally requires an input of energy by forming communities with Methanothermobacter thermautotrophicus.\nSyntrophic communities contain two or more species (usually single-celled organisms) that are able to degrade and survive on compounds that no single organism could, and feed off each other’s waste products in a relatively efficient cycle. Only a small external energy input is required to maintain the cycle continuously, though cellular reproduction is severely hindered. These communities exist where food and energy sources are extremely limited so some of the species involved have evolved unique biochemical pathways and relationships for their survival. Pelotomaculum thermopropionicum is capable of consuming and deriving energy by digesting propionate and many alchohols that ordinarily require an energy input to break down. The waste products from the break down of these alcohols are acetate and hydrogen gas. If the hydrogen gas waste was allowed to build up in its environment, P. thermopropionicum’s metabolism would be disrupted and it would not be able to survive. However, P. thermopropionicum lives in syntrophic harmony with Methanothermobacter thermautotrophicus which rapidly consumes hydrogen to produce methane."}, {"Source": "parrotfish's teeth", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "scrape and grind", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/teeth-scrape-and-grind-to-break-down-coral/", "Strategy": "Teeth Scrape and Grind to Break Down Coral\n\nTwo types of teeth in parrotfish allow ingestion of coral and algae by scraping and grinding to break down the coral.\n\n“The parrot fish feeds on algae and coral from coral reefs, and is one of the main causes of sand production from coral reefs. Its teeth are fused together to form a beak-like edge to the jaws for scraping at the coral, and it also has large flat-topped grinding teeth at the back of its throat for crushing the coral and algal mixture. The indigestible sand is excreted.”"}, {"Source": "bacteria pseudomonas putida", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "produce energy", "Function2": "break down hydrocarbon-based substrates", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/enyzme-complexes-burn-hydrocarbons-for-energy/", "Strategy": "Enyzme Complexes Use Hydrocarbons for Energy\n\nMembrane-bound enzymes produced by the bacteria Pseudomonas putida produce energy from trapped hydrocarbon-based substrates by producing oxygen free radicals that break down the substrates.\n\nHydrocarbon-based substances like gasoline and parrafin wax do not spontaneously combust with air under normal circumstances. An intense, focused energy input (e.g., a spark) is required to overcome the activation energy for the overall energy-releasing reaction. In some organisms, the oxygen-mediated break down of hydrocarbons and the accompanying release of energy is not activated by intense, focused heat; instead it is activated by enzymes and oxygen free-radicals.\n\nThe bacterium Pseudomonas putida oxidizes various alkanes primarily with a membrane-bound enzyme called AlkB that forms a hydrophobic pocket attractive to hydrocarbon-based substrates. The enzyme converts oxygen to free radicals to break down the trapped substrates. This process is capable of providing net energy input for the bacteria. Potential substrates include propane, n-butane, and other alkanes with carbon lengths between 5 and 13. That includes many hydrocarbon components of crude oil."}, {"Source": "insect's exoskeleton", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "detect strain and load", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/sensilla-detect-strain-and-load-changes/", "Strategy": "Sensilla Detect Strain and Load Changes\n\nThe exoskeleton of insects detects strain and load via sensilla organs.\n\n“In their rigid state exoskeletons are stiff laminated composite structures made of chitin fibres embedded in a highly crossed matrix. The exoskeleton acts as a detector of displacement, strain or load via special organs called sensilla, which are partly intergraded into local sections of exoskeleton. These organs amplify the information for the main detector organ, which is connected to the nerve stem. The local information obtained is used to modify the exoskeleton by changing thickness, stiffness and fibre orientation depending on the situation.”"}, {"Source": "extremophile archaeabacteria's enzymes", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "break down cellulose", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/enzymes-catalyze-cellulose-breakdown-at-high-temperatures/", "Strategy": "Enzymes Catalyze Cellulose Breakdown at High Temperatures\n\nEnzymes produced by extremophile archaeabacteria can catalyze the breakdown of cellulose to glucose because they continue to function even under extremely hot, salty conditions.\n\nResearchers have recently isolated the same cellulase enzyme from a number of strains of archaeabacteria found in a hot spring in Nevada. The enzyme is able to catalyze the breakdown of cellulose to glucose at high temperatures (above 100 degrees C), and function under a wide range of harsh conditions including the presence of detergents, high salinity, and high ionic content."}, {"Source": "bacteria pseudomonas putida", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "break down caffeine", "Function2": "digest caffeine", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/biochemical-pathways-enable-the-use-of-caffeine-as-a-feedstock/", "Strategy": "Biochemical Pathways Enable the\nUse of Caffeine As a Feedstock\n\nThe digestive process used by Pseudomonas putida bacteria break down caffeine and similar organic compounds using enzymes that cleave methyl groups.\nCaffeine is so common as a natural or added ingredient in beverages, food, and pharmaceuticals that its presence alone has been suggested as a valid marker for the presence of untreated human sewage in water sources and soils. Caffeine itself, as well as similar compounds called methylxanthines, can cause soil sterilization at high concentrations. Organisms like Pseudomonas putida produce enzymes capable of digesting caffeine and other methylxanthines. Their waste product, uric acid, enters natural cycles that break uric acid down to carbon dioxide and ammonium salts."}, {"Source": "human cell's lysosome", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "break down malfunctioning proteins", "Function2": "prevent accumulation of malfunctioning proteins", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/lysosomes-recycle-protein-building-blocks/", "Strategy": "Lysosomes Recycle Protein Building Blocks\n\nLysosomes in human cells recycle amino acid building blocks by capturing and breaking down malfunctioning proteins.\n\nLysosomes are organelles within the cell that prevent the accumulation of malfunctioning proteins by continuously breaking them down into their constituent amino acids which are, in turn, used to build new proteins. This process involves enzymes and increases the efficiency of cells in two ways: (1) by eliminating the need for complex waste management systems and (2) by providing the cells with new building blocks that don’t need to be “purchased” externally."}, {"Source": "flesh fly's eye", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "sense polarized light", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/eyes-detect-polarized-light/", "Strategy": "Eyes Detect Polarized Light\n\nEyes of the flesh fly detect polarized light via dorsal ommatidia and dorsal ocelli.\n\nThe flesh fly uses both dorsal ommatidia and dorsal ocelli to sense polarized light."}, {"Source": "bacteria pyrococcus furiosus", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "catalyze important chemical reactions", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/metalloproteins-catalyze-a-wide-range-of-biochemical-reactions/", "Strategy": "Metalloproteins Catalyze a Wide\nRange of Biochemical Reactions\n\nProteins produced by the bacteria Pyrococcus furiosus contain metal atoms that enable the proteins to catalyze important chemical reactions.\nProteins with embedded metal atoms catalyze some of the more amazing feats of living chemistry including photosynthesis and metabolism. Metals are able to fill roles, most notably those that facilitate the movement of electrons, that cannot be filled by other types of atoms, somewhat analagous to how metal wires allow humans to control the flow of electricity. Researchers are only just begining to document the vast array of metalloproteins that exist in nature. Even in organisms like Pyrococcus furiosus, a marine hyperthermophile, with relatively well-described set of metal-containing proteins (i.e., its metalloproteome), only about half of these compounds are actually documented. Perhaps most surprisingly, there is recent evidence that these bacteria incorporate metal elements previously thought to have no place in the chemistry of life, such as lead, uranium, and vanadium."}, {"Source": "harlequin beetle's mandible", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "large, strong mandibles", "Function2": "chew through wood", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/chewing-through-wood/", "Strategy": "Chewing Through Wood\n\nNewly developed harlequin beetles escape the trees where they are born by chewing through the wood with large, strong mandibles.\n“This massive pair of mandibles belongs to a South American harlequin beetle, and is probably used only once in its life. The harlequin beetle larva lives inside a tree, where it feeds on the wood. Here it pupates, and when the beetle emerges, it has to chew its way to freedom.” "}, {"Source": "mammals' carbonic anhydrases", "Application": "carbonic anhydrases", "Function1": "interconvert co2 and bicarbonate", "Function2": "enhanced catalytic activity", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/carbonic-anhydrases-catalyze-conversion-of-carbon-dioxide/", "Strategy": "Carbonic Anhydrases Catalyze\nConversion of Carbon Dioxide\n\nCarbonic anhydrases in mammals interconvert CO2 and bicarbonate by binding with negatively charged regions of cell compartments.\nResearchers have found that proteins in bulk solutions lack folding forces that may otherwise be found in enclosed spaces (something known as the Confinement theory). Researchers from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory focused on a set of proteins, known as carbonic anhydrases (CAs), to better understand the binding interactions of proteins in confined spaces. CAs contribute to the rapid conversion of carbon dioxide to bicarbonate which in turn maintains the acid-base balance within the cells of mammals and helps to transport carbon dioxide out of tissues.\n\nProteins are folded structures containing both positively charged and negatively charged regions. Each charged region is capable of interacting with other electrostatic regions of a cell. Their research unveiled that the positively charged regions of CAs oriented to bind with negatively charged regions of functionalized mesoporous silica (FMS). FMS is a substance with a large porous surface area and is often used for testing protein-substrate interactions. The pores provide many small, confined spaces for CAs to attach and thus an environment conducive to enzymatic activity (Confinement theory). When an enzyme binds with a substrate it often undergoes a change in its physical shape (i.e., conformational change). When enough proteins are placed on a molecule, however, it is possible that the conformational changes normally experienced may be less impeding. For example, the research team noticed that the more proteins that were “loaded” (i.e., placed) onto the substrate, the less conformational changes there were overall and thus there was more induced catalytic activity. With more catalytic activity, more carbon dioxide can be fixed within a cell. Understanding the binding interactions of CAs to substrate may provide insight into how CO2 by-products may be reduced in cells through enhanced catalytic activity."}, {"Source": "mycobacterium gilvum's metabolism", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "break down hydrocarbons", "Function2": "degrade polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/enzyme-breaks-down-hydrocarbons/", "Strategy": "Enzyme Breaks Down Hydrocarbons\n\nThe metabolism of Mycobacterium gilvum can break down polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, including pyrene, via the dioxygenase NidAB enzyme.\n“Mycobacterium gilvum (previously referred to as Mycobacterium flavescens strain PYR-GCK) has been isolated in the sediment from the Grand Calumet River in Indiana as a strain capable of using pyrene as a sole source of carbon and energy. This strain was also capable of metabolizing such polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) as phenanthrene and fluoranthene, but not naphthalene, chrysene, anthracene, fluorene, or benzo[a]pyrene (Dean-Ross and Cerniglia, 1996). The first step of pyrene degradation is catalysed by the same two-subunit aromatic ring-hydroxylating dioxygenase NidAB as the one found in Mycobacterium vanbaalenii and other PAH-degrading mycobacteria (Brezna et al., 2003). Thus, M. gilvum probably differs from them in the downstream steps of PAH degradation, which now could be deduced through genome comparisons.”"}, {"Source": "mouth of puss moth larvae", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "softens hard casing", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/special-liquid-softens-hard-cocoon/", "Strategy": "Special Liquid Softens Hard Cocoon\n\nThe mouth of puss moth larvae helps them escape their hard cocoon casing by exuding a softening liquid.\n“Many adecticous pupae are enclosed in cocoons of varying shape and consistency. That of the puss moth (Cerura vinula) is constructed on the boles of willow and sallow and is of extreme toughness, being fashioned from a mixture of labial silk and bark fragments which hardens into an oval whole, rough and bark-like on the outside but glossily smooth inside. Having no biting jaws, pupae of this type need other means to free themselves from their cocoons. The puss moth exudes a special liquid which softens the casing, allowing the moth to push its way out through a relatively small hole; others have special cocoon-rupturing structures on head or thorax which may be lost on emergence.”"}, {"Source": "gland of burying beetle", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "kill bacteria", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/secretion-kills-bacteria/", "Strategy": "Secretion Kills Bacteria\n\nGlands of burying beetles produce a secretion that kills bacteria by chopping microbial cell walls.\n\n“Burying beetles lay their eggs on the carcasses of small animals, such as birds and rodents…But a buried carcass is not going to stay fresh for very long, and the bacterial communities that colonise it are likely to threaten the beetle’s developing larvae…So burying beetles use secretions from their anal glands to coat the fur or feathers with substances that guarantee the carcass stays germ-free and fresh for longer…The researchers [from the University of Manchester] extracted secretions from the anal glands of a species of burying beetle called Nicrophorus vespilloides, and showed that when this substance was added to bacterial cells, they were destroyed…[They suspected] they were dealing with a[n] enzyme that ‘chops up microbial cell walls’, investigated and confirmed that the secretions were rich in lysozymes.These are anti-microbial enzymes, and a common component of animals’ immune systems.” \n\n “Offspring of many animals develop in environments in which they are exposed to high densities ofpotentially harmful bacteria. For example, larvae of the carrion beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides face significant challenges from the bacteria they encounter during their development on decomposing vertebrate carcasses. We tested the idea that larvae secrete antimicrobial compounds during development to defend themselves against microbial exposure. We first showed that larval secretion of active antimicrobials peaked during the early stages of development. As has been found previously for parental secretions, larval secretions were active against Gram-positive but not Gram-negative bacteria, indicating that they might be based on lysozyme-like compounds. Finally, consistent with this antibacterial activity, we showed that larval survival declined significantly when challenged with lysozyme-resistant Staphylococcus aureus but not when challenged with a lysozyme-susceptible strain of the same species. These results demonstrate that Nicrophorus larvae are not simply passive recipients of social immunity derivedfrom their parents, but that they are active participants in its production.”"}, {"Source": "aerobic bacteria's enzymatic system", "Application": "genetically modify plants to sequester hgch3+", "Function1": "detoxify mercury compounds", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/enzymes-detoxify-mercury-compounds/", "Strategy": "Enzymes Detoxify Mercury Compounds\n\nThe enzymatic system of aerobic bacteria detoxifies mercury compounds such as methyl-mercury via the enzymes organomercurial lyase (MerB) and mercuric ion reductase.\n“Mercury is well known for its toxicity to living organisms. Inorganic mercuric compounds (HgX2) and organomercurials (R-Hg-X), in which the Hg is formally in the +2 oxidation state, are primarily responsible for the toxicity…Elemental mercury itself (Hg0) has little affinity for cellular ligands and is toxic only if it becomes oxidized to the +2 state in the cell…aerobic bacteria have evolved the ingenious strategy of eliminating mercuric and organomercurial compounds from their environment through reduction of Hg2+ to Hg0. To accomplish this, they couple the activity of two enzymes: organomercurial lyase (MerB) and mercuric ion reductase.” \n\n“Accumulation of extremely toxic methylmercury in the environment—particularly in fish—has triggered an effort by scientists to unravel the process by which a set of bacterial enzymes capture and then detoxify the compound. In a new development, Jonathan G. Melnick and Gerard Parkin of Columbia University report a synthetic mercury complex that provides insight into how one of these enzymes catalyzes cleavage of the Hg-C bond.\n\nThe finding is expected to boost efforts to genetically modify plants to sequester HgCH3+ for environmental cleanup. In nature, microbes synthesize HgCH3+ from naturally occurring Hg2+, as well as from mercury released in the emissions of coal-fired power plants. Organomercury compounds are toxic because the metal has a high affinity for sulfur, in particular the sulfur of thiol (-SH) groups in cysteine units of proteins. Once the mercury binds, the normal function of the proteins is disrupted. Bacteria resistant to HgCH3+ toxicity produce an enzyme named MerB, which has three cysteine residues in its active site that are known to be crucial for cleaving the Hg-C bond. But the exact way in which MerB coordinates to HgCH3+ and the ‘intimate details of the reaction mechanism’ have been a mystery, Parkin says. (A second enzyme, MerA, reduces the resulting Hg2+ to less toxic elemental mercury.) Melnick and Parkin thus set out to decipher the mechanism of action of MerB. Melnick and Parkin ‘provide an elegant atomic-level description for the facile cleavage of a carbon-mercury bond,’ notes James G. Omichinski of the University of Montreal in a Science commentary. Their observations provide valuable insight into the basic mechanism of MerB’s activity, he adds. Considerable work remains to be done, but understanding this mechanism ‘is essential to efforts to reengineer MerB to improve its catalytic efficiency for the bioremediation of methylmercury,’ Omichinski writes.” "}, {"Source": "multicolor gill polypores and other brown rot fungi", "Application": "digestive enzymes", "Function1": "break down cellulose", "Function2": "break down toxins and complex chemicals", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/enzymes-break-down-cellulose-toxins/", "Strategy": "Enzymes Break Down Cellulose, Toxins\n\nMulticolor gill polypores and other brown rot fungi break down cellulose and some toxins using digestive enzymes.\n\n“The powerful enzymes secreted by certain fungi digest lignin and cellulose, the primary structural components of wood. These digestive enzymes can also break down a surprisingly wide range of toxins that have chemical bonds like those in wood. Such mushrooms can be classified into 2 subgroups: brown rotters and white rotters. Only about 7 percent of mushrooms are brown rot fungi; of those, about 70 percent are polypores (Gilbertson and Ryvarden 1986-87). Brown rot fungi’s extracellular enzymes break down the white, pulpy cellulose, leaving behind the brownish lignin (hence the name).”"}, {"Source": "red algae dinoflagellate karenia brevis", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "synthesize ladder polyethers", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/cascade-reactions-synthesize-ladder-polyethers/", "Strategy": "Cascade Reactions Synthesize Ladder Polyethers\n\nThe red algae dinoflagellate, Karenia brevis, converts a chain of epoxide rings into compounds with a repeating ladder-like design using water as a promoter.\n\nLadder polyethers are organic chemicals with repeating units joined together by bonds that form a ladder-like configuration. They are difficult to artificially synthesize in quantity because the epoxide opening reactions that theoretically produce them tend to favor the formation of small, five-membered rings rather than the desired six-membered rings. To overcome this problem, chemists bond “directing-groups” to each and every epoxide unit which then must be removed by later reactions in many cases. This process creates low yields of ladder polyethers, generates relatively large amounts of chemical waste, and requires toxic solvents and chemicals. The dinoflagellate Karenia brevis produce large quantities of ladder polyethers called brevetoxins which produce the notorius marine die-offs associated with red tide blooms. It does so using water-based cascade reactions. It is likely that K. brevisfirst synthesizes template epoxy alchohols which then direct the formation of the desired six-member ring constituents of the ladder. An epoxide opening cascade reaction results, in which more six-member rings are added to the nascent ladder; the rate of the reaction is not affected by the number of rings already bound in the ladder. Moreover, these reactions proceed most favorably in water at a near-netural pH."}, {"Source": "reef coral's digestive solution", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "extract nutrients", "Function2": "secrete digestive solution", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/secretions-break-down-algal-walls/", "Strategy": "Secretions Break Down Algal Walls\n\nReef corals extract nutrients from the algae they host by secreting a digestive solution that causes the algal walls to leak.\n“Why, then, do reef corals grow into such plant-like shapes? Because, although the polyps are not themselves plants, they have plants within them. The cells in the inner layers of the polyp’s tissues contain tiny cells of an alga, complete with their grains of photosynthesising chlorophyll. And the polyp looks after its captives very well indeed, building its stony cup in a shape that ensures that they can get all the light they need.\n\n“Algae very similar to those in the corals float free in the open ocean. But very few can live in the seas around coral reefs for these waters, though rich in dissolved oxygen, are very poor in nutrients. Algae, like any other plants, need nitrates and phosphates, and that is exactly what the coral polyps, like any other animal, excrete in their waste-products. So those algae that are tucked away in the polyp’s tissues, are provided with all the raw materials they need in order to flourish, yet are safe from the raids of hungry vegetarian grazers.\n\n“But the polyps extract a high rent from their lodgers. They secrete a digestive solution within their cells that weakens the skins of the algae and causes them to leak. Some 80% of all the food photosynthesised by the algae passes out of them and into the polyp’s cells. The polyps are, as a consequence, so well-nourished that they have sufficient energy to spend on building their protective limestone skeletons. And the algae perform a further service. They manufacture a chemical that acts like a high-factor sun-cream shielding both themselves and their polyp hosts from the injurious ultra-violet rays, which in these tropical waters are very strong indeed.” "}, {"Source": "platypus's mouth", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "grind food", "Function2": "sort food", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/mouth-sorts-and-grinds-food/", "Strategy": "Mouth Sorts and Grinds Food\n\nThe mouth of a platypus stores food in cheek pouches, and grinds and sorts insect and crustacean prey between keratinized pads that replace teeth.\n“Adult monotremes do not have teeth. In early life Ornithorhynchus anatinus possess one premolar and two molars in each maxilla and two or three molars in each mandible. These small teeth are resorbed and replaced by horny pads soon after the young platypuses emerge from the nesting burrow. Despite lack of true teeth, mastication is a significant component of monotreme digestion. In the platypus, insect and crustacean prey are collected into the cheek pouches and throughly ground and sifted to remove much of the exoskeletons.”"}, {"Source": "kangaroo's digestive system", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "produce acetate", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/bacteria-produce-acetate-not-methane/", "Strategy": "Bacteria Produce Acetate, Not Methane\n\nDigestive system of kangaroos have bacteria that produce acetate instead of methane.\n“Like cows and sheep, kangaroos produce hydrogen when they digest grass. But instead of converting it into methane, bacteria in the stomachs of kangaroos produce a substance called acetate which the roos can use as a further energy source.”"}, {"Source": "archaeoglobus and other anaerobic microorganisms", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "break down hydrocarbons", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/breaking-down-crude-oil-3/", "Strategy": "Breaking Down Crude Oil\n\nThe metabolism of Archaeoglobus and other anaerobic microorganisms is capable of breaking down hydrocarbons in crude oil.\n“Both aerobic and anaerobic microorganisms tend to colonise oil pipelines and oil and fuel storage installations. Complex microbial communities consisting of both hydrocarbon oxidizing microorganisms and bacteria using the metabolites of the former form an ecological niche where they thrive.” "}, {"Source": "candida and other yeasts", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "break down hydrocarbons", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/breaking-down-crude-oil-4/", "Strategy": "Breaking Down Crude Oil\n\nThe metabolism of Candida and other yeasts is capable of breaking down hydrocarbons in crude oil.\n“Both aerobic and anaerobic microorganisms tend to colonise oil pipelines and oil and fuel storage installations. Complex microbial communities consisting of both hydrocarbon oxidizing microorganisms and bacteria using the metabolites of the former form an ecological niche where they thrive.” "}, {"Source": "organism's proteins", "Application": "macromolecular processing in vitro", "Function1": "cross-linking of proteins", "Function2": "form strong compounds", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/transglutaminase-enzymes-crosslink-proteins/", "Strategy": "Transglutaminase Enzymes Crosslink Proteins\n\nTransglutaminase enzymes couple or crosslink proteins in organisms by catalyzing transamidation of glutamine and lysine residues.\n“Biology is well known for its use of linear polymers to perform sophisticated functions. Nucleic acids store and process genetic information, while proteins perform recognition, transport, and catalytic functions. Biology also employs polymers (especially proteins and polysaccharides) to perform mechanical functions and there are several examples in which biology covalently crosslinks polymers to confer elasticity and strength. In some cases, the crosslinking enzymes have attracted attention as a simple and safe means for macromolecular processing in vitro. Here, we review recent research with two enzymes, tyrosinase and microbial transglutaminase, that are being examined for a variety of applications.”\n\nEnzymes catalyze the cross-linking of natural polymers. Monomers (1) join together to form chains of polymers (2) that cross-link to form strong, large compounds (3). Artist: Emily Harrington. Copyright: All rights reserved. See gallery for details."}, {"Source": "trogon bird's beak", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "cut food", "Function2": "secure food", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/beak-cuts-up-food/", "Strategy": "Beak Cuts Up Food\n\nThe beak of trogon birds is used in part for securing food and cutting it up thanks to serrated cutting edges.\n“Trogon is Greek for ‘to gnaw or eat’ and refers to the structure and function of the beak. The cutting edges of the maxilla and/or mandible are variably serrated among most New World species and probably aid in securing live prey or large fruit. These serrations, along with the decurved tip of the bill (present in all species), are also useful in cutting food items into smaller pieces.”"}, {"Source": "orchid bee", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "tolerate high concentration of ddt", "Function2": "collect ddt", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/bees-collect-ddt/", "Strategy": "Bees Collect DDT\n\nSome orchid bees are able to tolerate high concentrations of DDT, strategy unknown.\n\n“While studying the ecology of the malaria vector Anopheles\n(Nyssorhynchus) darlingi Root along the Ituxi River, Amazonas, Brazil,\nwe observed aggregates of bees on the walls of houses that were\nroutinely sprayed with DDT. Several bees collected from DDT-treated\nhouse walls in August 1978 were identified as male specimens of\nEufriesia purpurata (Moscary) of the tribe Euglossini (Hymenoptera:\nApoidae)…These bees were well known to the local residents as the insects that eat DDT and\nwe present here the first documentation that they (1) are attracted to\nDDT, (2) actively collect large quantities of DDT from treated house\nwalls and (3) suffer no apparent insecticidal effects. We also found\nthat the frequency of house visiting is most intense during July to\nSeptember. Most bees arrive at houses before 12.00 h, remain 2−3 h and\nreturn on subsequent days to collect more DDT.” “Brazilian bees of the species Eufriesea purpurata are known to\ntolerate very high concentrations of DDT. As reported in the literature,\nthese bees have suffered no harm from as much as 2 mg/bee, which is in\nthe per-cent range of the body weight. In 1979, individuals of E.\npurpurata were captured as they collected DDT from walls of\nremote, rural houses in Brazil. Reported herein are quantities and\nidentities of DDT, DDT metabolites, and other organohalogen compounds in\nfour samples of bees stored since 1979. The concentrations of DDT (sum\nof p,p′-DDT, -DDE, and -DDD) ranged from 23 to 314 μg/bee\nwhich is up to twelve fold higher than the LD50 value of DDT\nin the honey bee (Apis mellifera) but significantly lower than\nthe no-effect concentration in E. purpurata.\n\nEnantioselective determination confirmed the presence of racemic o,p���-DDT\nin the four individual samples. GC/ECNI-MS investigation resulted in\nthe detection of low amounts (< 1 μg/bee) of PCA, lindane, and\nchlordane. At higher retention times four unknown compounds were\ndetected with a proposed molecular ion at m/z 498, a\nnon-aromatic hydrocarbon backbone along with the presence of eight\nchlorine substituents. Neither the structure nor the origin of these\ncompounds could be determined. Considering where and when the bees were\ncollected and considering the biology and ecology of the euglossine bees\nthemselves, we propose that the four unknowns are natural products and,\nas such, are the most highly chlorinated natural compounds yet\ndiscovered.” "}, {"Source": "symbiotic bacteria", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "digest cellulose", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/enzymes-allow-cellulose-digestion/", "Strategy": "Enzymes Allow Cellulose Digestion\n\nSymbiotic bacteria digest cellulose with the help of enzymes.\n“Those that have become specialist leaf-feeders can only extract nourishment from it by enlisting the aid of a very different kind of living organism–bacteria. They, unlike any animal, can digest cellulose.”"}, {"Source": "bacteria", "Application": "polyester", "Function1": "produce biodegradable polyester", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/microbes-make-natural-polyester/", "Strategy": "Microbes Make Natural Polyester\n\nBacteria manufacture biogedradable polyester by stringing together soluble monomers.\n“Bacteria make PHB [polyhydroxybutyrate] and other polyesters the same way nature makes starch: by stringing together soluble monomers and storing the finished polymer product in water-insoluble granules. When needed, the polymer in these granules–which, in the case of PHB, can take up to a whopping 85% of the cell’s dry weight–can be broken down quickly and the building blocks reused for energetic or synthetic purposes.”"}, {"Source": "trametes fungi's laccase", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "catalyze the oxidation of lignin", "Function2": "direct electron transfer", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/enzyme-degrades-lignin/", "Strategy": "Enzyme Degrades Lignin\n\nLaccase enzymes of Trametes fungi catalyze the oxidation of organic and inorganic substrates including lignin through direct electron transfer.\n“First of all, high-redox-potential laccases are able to oxidize both high- and low-redox-potential substrates, which significantly broadens the degradation ability of the fungi at the beginning of their growth. Secondly, for all high-redox-potential laccases, bioelectroreduction of oxygen on the carbon electrode based on direct electron transfer reactions between the electrode (solid substrate) and the enzymes has been shown, including the two laccases studied in the present work. Indeed, not only laccase, but also all ligninolytic enzymes from white rot fungi (lignin and manganese peroxidases, laccase, and cellobiose dehydrogenase) display the phenomenon of direct electron transfer.” "}, {"Source": "lamprey's tongue", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "cut through fish scales", "Function2": "clinging to the host", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/tongue-cuts-through-fish-scales/", "Strategy": "Tongue Cuts Through Fish Scales\n\nThe tongue of a lamprey can cut through fish scales and skin due to its abrasiveness.\n“The lamprey uses a sucker-like jawless mouth to cling to the trout, and has a vicious abrasive tongue with which to gorge a hole in its host’s body. There it laps up the body fluids oozing from the wound.”\n\n“In some respects, the mechanics of feeding have not been adequately explained, although the part played by the tongue is better understood. This structure is supported by a lingual cartilage, which can be moved slightly in a forward direction by paired basilariglossus muscles, originating in the basilaris and inserted on to the cartilage. The cutting lobes of the tongue are supported by an apical cartilage to which they are attached by tendons. Both Dawson (1905) and Lanzing (1959) agree that a rasping effect is largely responsible for the initial destruction of host tissue, through a rocking motion of the apical part of the tongue, produced by the protractor and retractor systems. In addition to this rasping effect, Lanzing considered that the retraction of the tongue brings together the longitudinal laminae in a scissors-like action which would be effective in cutting the host tissues.” "}, {"Source": "shipworm's head", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "bore through wood", "Function2": "turn head one way then the other", "Function3": "produce chalk-like substance", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/head-bores-through-wood/", "Strategy": "Head Bores Through Wood\n\nThe head of a shipworm bores circular burrows in wood thanks to raspy, rotating shells.\nWorm-like molluscs of the genus Teredo have been known to people for thousands of years because of their habit of wrecking wooden ships and piers. “There are many different types of shipworms, the largest of which is up to 2 metres long. The worm has a head with two shells (they do the damage), and a wormlike body that follows behind…They invade wood while in the tiny larval stage…The shipworm uses the shell on its head to burrow. Their ridged and rough surfaces rub the wood away as the worm first turns its head one way then the other. This cuts away a perfectly circular tube that is just a bit larger than the shell itself. The worm then eats the wood it has cut away, turning the cellulose in the wood into glucose that it uses for energy. The wormlike body follows behind the shell, producing a substance like chalk to line the burrow…The worm gets its oxygen from water. It draws the water in then passes it out again through through two tubes on its tail called siphons. These stick out from the opening of the burrow but can be pulled in and the burrow closed by special small plates called pallets. These seal the tube so tightly that shipworms can survive when the timber is temporarily out of water.” "}, {"Source": "parasitic wasp's ovipositor", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "detect the presence of horntails", "Function2": "drill through wood", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/ovipositor-drills-through-wood/", "Strategy": "Ovipositor Drills Through Wood\n\nThe 10 cm long ovipositor of the parasitic wasp, Megarhyssa ichneumon, drills several centimeters through solid wood using reciprocating rather than rotatory motion.\n“In some wasps, the egg-laying organ, or ovipositor, has been adapted to bore through wood. I have watched Megarhyssa ichneumon wasps drill through several centimetres of solid elm in order to parasitize the woodboring larvae of horntail wasps that feed deep inside dead trees. The parasite appears to detect the presence of horntails by smelling with its antennae and perhaps by feeling the larvae’s vibrations in the wood. The ovipositor of Megarhyssa is longer than the wasp itself–it measures almost 10 centimetres–and is highly flexible. The wasp not only is able to insert the ovipositor through several centimetres of wood but also uses it to inject eggs into its horntail host.” "}, {"Source": "european eel", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "navigating", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/senses-help-navigate-during-migration/", "Strategy": "Senses Help Navigate During Migration\n\nEuropean eels navigate during long migrations by being sensitive to many different types of stimuli.\n“Those specimens that do complete their life cycle use many environmental cues to navigate during their migration. Not only are eels highly sensitive to olfactory stimuli, they also respond readily to small fluctuations in water movements, seismic activity, and even to the minute electrical fields generated by water currents.” "}, {"Source": "extremophile bacteria", "Application": "biohydrogen production", "Function1": "convert fatty acid into energy", "Function2": "break down fatty acid", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/extremophile-converts-fatty-acids-into-energy/", "Strategy": "Extremophile Converts Fatty Acids Into Energy\n\nMetabolic process of extremophile bacteria converts fatty acids into a variety of secondary compounds, including hydrogen, by running normal metabolism backwards.\n“It survives on a food so unrewarding it needs help disposing of its waste. Eking out an existence only by turning the normal chemistry of life back to front, the bacterium Syntrophus aciditrophicus is one of the most extreme-living organisms known. Now its genome has been sequenced and is yielding clues as to how it survives. It might even help us make hydrogen from waste. Robert Gunsalus of the University of California, Los Angeles, and colleagues identified 3169 genes in Syntrophus. The bacterium performs a key part of the carbon cycle by breaking down fatty acids–used by almost no other organisms as an energy source. To do this, its genes stand normal energy-generation reactions on their head. In normal respiration, organic compounds are oxidised, and the electrons this liberates are used to drive the production of the energy-storage molecule ATP. In Syntrophus the electrons go the opposite way as the bacterium turns fatty acids into a variety of breakdown products that it feeds on, plus hydrogen and the chemical formate. It survives only with the ‘help’ of other bacteria that hoover up the hydrogen and formate–otherwise it could not feed. Understanding the bacterium’s metabolism will ‘hopefully make biohydrogen production a reality’, says Gunsalus.”"}, {"Source": "fungal species", "Application": "biofilter", "Function1": "gain energy", "Function2": "gain carbon", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/vocs-used-as-carbon-and-energy-source/", "Strategy": "VOCs Used as Carbon and Energy Source\n\nThe metabolism of fungal species can gain energy and carbon from two different volatile organic compounds.\n\n“Five fungal species, Cladosporium resinae [Hormoconis resinae] (ATCC 34066), Cladosporium sphaerospermum (ATCC 200384), Exophiala lecanii-corni (CBS 102400), Mucor rouxii (ATCC 44260), and Phanerochaete chrysosporium (ATCC 24725), were tested for their ability to degrade nine compounds commonly found in industrial off-gas emissions. Fungal cultures inoculated on ceramic support media were provided with volatile organic compounds (VOCs) via the vapor phase as their sole carbon and energy sources. Compounds tested included aromatic hydrocarbons (benzene, ethylbenzene, toluene, and styrene), ketones (methyl ethyl ketone, methyl isobutyl ketone, and methyl propyl ketone), and organic acids (n-butyl acetate, ethyl 3-ethoxypropionate). Experiments were conducted using three pH values ranging from 3.5 to 6.5. Fungal ability to degrade each VOC was determined by observing the presence or absence of visible growth on the ceramic support medium during a 30-day test period. Results indicate that E. lecanii-corni and C. sphaerospermum can readily utilize each of the nine VOCs as a sole carbon and energy source. P. chrysosporium was able to degrade all VOCs tested except for styrene under the conditions imposed. C. resinae was able to degrade both organic acids, all of the ketones, and some of the aromatic compounds (ethylbenzene and toluene); however, it was not able to grow utilizing benzene or styrene under the conditions tested. With the VOCs tested, M. rouxii produced visible growth only when supplied with n-butyl acetate or ethyl 3-ethoxypropionate. Maximum growth for most fungi was observed at a pH of approximately 5.0. The experimental protocol utilized in these studies is a useful tool for assessing the ability of different fungal species to degrade gas-phase VOCs under conditions expected in a biofilter application.”"}, {"Source": "grazing mammal's teeth", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "wear down but not smooth", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/specialized-teeth-wear-down-but-remain-effective/", "Strategy": "Specialized Teeth Wear\nDown but Remain Effective\n\nThe teeth of grazing mammals wear down but not smooth because of a side-by-side layered arrangement of enamel, dentine, and cementum.\n“Grazing has perhaps elicited the most dramatic dental specializations in mammals. About twenty million years ago, grasses and grasslands appeared on earth. Grass (and, incidentally, wood) provides poor fodder. It yields little energy relative to its mass, so a grazer has to process huge volumes. Much of that energy comes as chemically inert cellulose, which mammals hydrolyze only by enlisting symbiotic microorganisms in rumen or intestine. It’s full of abrasive stuff like silicon dioxide and has lengthwise fibers that demand cross-wise chewing rather than rapid tearing. Long-lived grazers, concomitantly, have especially special teeth, with their components typically layered side by side, as in figure 16.5b. This odd-looking arrangement ensures that, while teeth may wear down…they won’t wear smooth. The harder material (enamel, most particularly) will continue to protrude as the softer materials (cementum and dentine) wear down between them.”"}, {"Source": "elastin fiber", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "come out of solution", "Function2": "form fibres", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/hydrophobicity-enhances-solubility/", "Strategy": "Fiber Formation Induced by Hydrophobicity\n\nElastin fibers in arteries form when tropoelastin molecules come out of solution thanks to solubility-enhancing hydrophobicity.\n\n“Soluble tropoelastin molecules are exported to the extracellular matrix, where they come out of solution and form fibres in all vertebrates. Fibrillogenesis therefore requires that tropoelastin be first soluble and then insoluble. If a tropoelastin molecule is naturally soluble, fibre formation could be initiated by aggregation of large hydrophobic patches, but it may be difficult to collapse the entire molecule. The opposite strategy would be to make tropoelastin itself insoluble, making fibre formation easy, and use chaperone proteins to keep it from coming out of solution, or coacervating, prematurely. Since all elastins are hydrophobic, all should have the potential to coacervate, but the coacervation temperature in some is probably too high for it to occur naturally. The coacervation temperature can be lowered by increasing the hydrophobicity.”\n\nMicrofibril and elastic fibre formation. Fibrillin is assembled pericellularly into microfibrillar arrays that appear to undergo time-dependent maturation into beaded transglutaminase-crosslinked microfibrils. Mature microfibrils form parallel bundles that may be stabilised at inter-microfibrillar crosslinked regions. In elastic tissues, tropoelastin is deposited on microfibril bundles, and lysyl oxidase-derived crosslinks then stabilise the elastin core."}, {"Source": "animal's metabolism", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "oxidize fat-soluble organic chemicals", "Function2": "convert fat-soluble organic chemicals into excretable water-soluble substances", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/enzyme-oxidizes-fat-soluble-organic-chemicals/", "Strategy": "Enzyme Oxidizes Fat‑soluble\nOrganic Chemicals\n\nThe metabolism of animals oxidizes fat-soluble organic chemicals into excretable water-soluble substances, via P450 enzymes.\n“The number of P450 genes cloned from various organisms such as animals, plants, yeasts, fungi, bacteria and sequenced is presently over 2000 and still increasing…P450s are major enzymes in drug metabolism in animal tissues and organs because they convert the pharmaceutics to more hydrophilic metabolites which are easily excreted into urine.” "}, {"Source": "skin", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "self-repair through cellular activities", "Function2": "induce clotting factors", "Function3": "rid the area of foreign materials", "Function4": "lay down new collagen", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/skin-self-repairs/", "Strategy": "Skin Self‑repairs\n\nSkin of humans self-repairs through an over-lapping sequence of cellular activities.\n\n“When the skin is scraped deeply enough to penetrate the epidermis, the blood vessels in the dermis can be damaged and start bleeding. Platelets in the blood come into contact with collagen and other components of the skin that have been exposed by the injury. This contact induces the platelets to release clotting factors and other substances in order to stop the bleeding. As the bleeding stops, the healing has already started. Special white blood cells called neutrophils than arrive at the site to begin the process of ridding the area of foreign materials, unwanted microorganisms, and damaged tissues. This process is aided by the development of local inflammation, fueled by cytokines, molecules that coordinate subsequent healing.\n\n“Once the wound site has been cleaned out, fibroblasts migrate to the area to start laying down new collagen on the scaffolding of the original clot. The chemical activity occurring at this time is intense, as the fibroblasts at the wound site mature and produce new proteins to speed healing. In order to restore the dermis, different types of collagen are produced at the wound for the next several days. The collagen undergoes continuous remodeling to physically fill in the injured region. Simultaneously, new blood vessels become established in the area. While all this is going on, the epidermis is preparing to repave its surface by moving new keratinocytes to the location of the injury.”"}, {"Source": "giant clam's digestive system", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "thinning out algae", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/digestive-solution-removes-excess-algae/", "Strategy": "Digestive Solution Removes Excess Algae\n\nGiant clams can digest some of the algae they host, if they become too abundant, by manipulating the makeup of their internal fluid.\n“The giant clam also keeps algae within its body. They are not imprisoned within its cells but held in a space directly beneath the outer skin of its mantle which is exposed to light whenever the two outer halves of the clam shell gape open. In some the mantle is purple, in others a vivid green, but always there are lines of bright spots along it. These are specially transparent patches that act like lenses, focusing light on the colonies of algae directly beneath. If the algae become too abundant, the clam thins them out by changing the constitutents of its internal fluids and digesting some of them.” "}, {"Source": "mollusc's mantle", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "serve as a major matrix component", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/protein-plays-role-in-crystal-formation/", "Strategy": "Protein Plays Role in Crystal Formation\n\nThe conchiolin protein of many molluscs plays a role in shell formation by serving as a major matrix component for crystal formation.\n\n“The shell is secreted by the mantle, the tissue layer under the shell, of the mollusc, and consists of two or three layers. The outermost is the periostracum, made of a tough protein called conchiolin. The periostracum is often brown in colour although it may be so thin that it is virtually transparent: sometimes it is quite furry…Inside the periostracum are one or two layers of argonite or calcite, different crystalline forms of calcium carbonate, more commonly known as chalk. The main central layer is called the prismatic layer: the inner layer is known as the lamellate or nacreous layer. Here the crystals are laid in an overlapping zigzag formation that scatters light and produces the iridescent effect known as ‘mother of pearl.'”"}, {"Source": "salamander's tail", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "escape predator", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/tail-shedding-protects-from-predators-2/", "Strategy": "Tail Shedding Protects From Predators\n\nThe tail of a salamander can help it escape a predator by breaking off at one of the horizontal fracture planes located between the vertebrae.\n\n“Salamanders can also shed their tails, but, unlike lizards, the horizontal fracture planes in the tails of these amphibians occur in between the vertebrae, rather than through the vertebrae.” "}, {"Source": "velvet mite's mouthpart", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "cut through grasshopper's cuticle", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/mouth-cuts-through-chitin/", "Strategy": "Mouth Cuts Through Chitin\n\nThe mouthparts of a velvet mite can cut through a grasshopper's cuticle due to its knife-like design.\n“The red lumps on the feet and legs of this southern lubber grasshopper are not part of its colouring, but are the nymphal stages of the velvet mite. The nymphs hatch from eggs buried in the ground, then attach themselves to a grasshopper, driving their knife-like mouthparts through its cuticle to suck blood.”"}, {"Source": "bacteria's biofilm", "Application": "antibiotics", "Function1": "protect bacterial community", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/biofilms-protect-bacterial-communities/", "Strategy": "Biofilms Protect Bacterial Communities\n\nBacteria rely on social cooperation to produce a biofilm that protects the community\n\nBacteria are tiny cells that can enter the human body and cause infections that make humans sick. In order to get better, the body needs to kill or stop the growth of these bacteria. Doctors give medicines called antibiotics to help the body get rid of an infection. Penicillin is a common antibiotic often used to stop bacteria from growing. It does this by preventing the bacteria from building a cell wall, which makes it difficult for it to grow and reproduce. However, bacteria can build resistance, or develop a defense against antibiotics. Random changes can happen to the bacteria’s genetic material, or DNA. DNA provides instructions that tells the cell how to operate. Certain changes in DNA can result in changes to a bacteria that make it resistant to an antibiotic, and this makes the antibiotic less effective at killing the bacteria.\n\nAnother way bacteria can protect themselves from antibiotics is to form a ‘biofilm’. A biofilm is a substance produced by bacteria that covers them and protects them from harm. Biofilms are the source of more than 60% of bacteria-causing diseases. For example, slimy films in swamps are biofilms. Forming biofilms is a social strategy that helps to protect bacteria. It can physically prevent antibiotics and disinfectants from coming close to the cell. It also protects the cell from removal by physical means, such as wiping or washing away on surfaces.\n\nAlthough biofilms are very useful, bacteria need to use energy and resources to grow them. Bacteria expel different substances to build and maintain the biofilm. A group of bacteria working together is called a colony. The colony needs all the cells to work together to grow and maintain the biofilm. Creating biofilms can benefit any cell underneath the film, even if some bacteria don’t produce the necessary substances. To visualize this, imagine a community of 50 people holding up a blanket to protect themselves. The blanket needs to be held up to be useful. Of the 50, 10 people may not be holding up the blanket but they will still be protected. However, if only 1 person is holding up the blanket then it will fail to protect everyone.\n\nThis strategy helps to strengthen the bacterial community as a whole. For it to work, a majority of the colony is expected to take part. Because there is a cost in energy and resources to produce the biofilm, if certain bacteria are not making the substances they can grow faster than those that are. Eventually, these bacteria will outnumber those putting energy into making the biofilm. Over time, there will be less bacteria contributing to making the biofilm and it won’t be as good at protecting all the bacteria. This makes them more vulnerable to antibiotics or being removed from surfaces.\n\nScientists are studying how bacteria make biofilms to help develop more effective antibiotics. They have developed a chemical (5-aryl-2-aminoimidazole-based inhibitor) that can stop bacteria from making biofilms. This makes it easier to kill the bacteria with antibiotics and makes it easier to remove them from surfaces."}, {"Source": "obligate hydrocarbonoclastic bacteria (ohcb)", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "degrade petroleum hydrocarbons", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/bacteria-degrade-petroleum-hydrocarbons/", "Strategy": "Bacteria Degrade Petroleum Hydrocarbons\n\nBlooms of obligate hydrocarbonoclastic bacteria (OHCB) result in the rapid degradation of many oil constituents.\n“Despite these qualifications about experimental approaches, it is clear that oil hydrocarbon degradation in marine systems is carried out by microorganisms belonging to a relatively small group of genera.” "}, {"Source": "bamboo stem's fiber", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "use material efficiently", "Function2": "optimize material use", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/fiber-arrangement-is-highly-efficient/", "Strategy": "Fiber Arrangement Is Highly Efficient\n\nFibers in stems of bamboo use materials efficiently because of their arrangement\n\nBamboo is a strong and flexible composite. Like wood, it gets much of its strength from cellulose fiber-wrapped vascular bundles arranged vertically and embedded in an amorphous matrix. The bundles serve dual functions as transport vessels and reinforcement for the stem. Trees and other woody plants are solid cylinders with the strong vascular bundles evenly arranged throughout. Bamboo, however, forms hollow tubes. Cross-sections through the tube walls show that the vascular bundles are arranged in a density gradient. At the inner surface of the tube wall, the bamboo tissue is predominantly matrix, while the proportion of strong vascular bundles increases towards the outer edge. The outside edge is where the stresses are strongest and so the plant optimizes material use by placing the toughest materials where they are most needed."}, {"Source": "pseudomonas and other aerobic microorganisms", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "break down hydrocarbons", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/breaking-down-crude-oil-2/", "Strategy": "Breaking Down Crude Oil\n\nThe metabolism of Pseudomonas and other aerobic microorganisms is capable of breaking down hydrocarbons in crude oil.\n“Both aerobic and anaerobic microorganisms tend to colonise oil pipelines and oil and fuel storage installations. Complex microbial communities consisting of both hydrocarbon oxidizing microorganisms and bacteria using the metabolites of the former form an ecological niche where they thrive.”"}, {"Source": "earthworm", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "degrade cellulose", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/organisms-work-together-to-decompose-cellulose/", "Strategy": "Organisms Work Together to Decompose Cellulose\n\nEarthworm activity, fungi, and microbes in the guts of earthworms efficiently decompose cellulose through microbial succession.\n\nEarthworms assist in degrading cellulose through cellulose enzymes in their guts, by dispersal of fungal spores, and by changing the structure of the substrate which stimulates fungal growth. Fungi make important contributions in the initial stage of decomposition; then bacteria become principal decomposers."}, {"Source": "railroad worm", "Application": "bioimaging", "Function1": "emit red light", "Function2": "control light-emitting powers", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/enzyme-produces-red-bioluminescence/", "Strategy": "Railroad Worms Glow in Multiple Colors\n\nThe sizes of the active sites on railroad worms’ luciferase enzymes controls the energy level, and hence color, of the light they produce.\nIntroduction \n\nA moonlit forest filled with flitting balls of light may seem like a scene from a fairy tale, but it’s a real-world phenomenon thanks to some insects’ internal chemical reactions. While most bioluminescent beetles have a yellow or green glow, one, known as the railroad worm, also produces a red light.\n \n\nThe Strategy \n\nA close relative of fireflies and native to the Americas, railroad worms (Phrixotrix hirtus) have several yellow-green dots of light along their backs, bringing to mind the brightly lit windows of a train passing in the night. A red light is emitted from their heads, which helps them both to navigate in the dark and to intimidate predators. As adults, males morph into beetles, while the females remain in a glowing, worm-like state. This helps males locate females for reproduction.\n\nInterestingly, they have been found to have control over their light-emitting powers, glowing more intensely when disturbed and alternating between colored glows.\n\nThe Potential \n\nMedical treatments seek to locate and target specific tissues within the body in minimally invasive ways, and one method that allows for this is known as bioimaging. Using light and fluorescence, among other tools, it can be used to visualize biological processes as they occur, or to allow improved 3D imaging.\n\nBeetle enzymes that produce bioluminescence are commonly used for bioimaging, and the red enzymes are highly useful for targeting tissues that typically absorb and neutralize lights in the blue-green spectrum. In mammalian cells, hemoglobin and myoglobin-rich tissues, like muscles and blood, are particularly difficult to image, but utilizing enzymes which produce red light could help target these tissues in biotechnological applications."}, {"Source": "eucalyptus kochii plenissima's lignotuber", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "regrow the damaged plant", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/underground-storage-swelling-enables-regeneration/", "Strategy": "Underground Storage Swelling\nEnables Regeneration\n\nThe lignotuber of Eucalyptus kochii plenissima allows it to regenerate after being destroyed by storing energy reserves and potential bud-forming sites.\n\nWhen a tree or shrub is cut down or destroyed by either another organism or a destructive natural force, such as fire, the plant itself is usually killed. For Eucalyptus kochii plenissima, however, this is not the case. Due to a special root adaption called a lignotuber, absent in most other plants, this species can regenerate after the aboveground part is destroyed.\n\nA lignotuber is a special swelling at the top of the plant’s root system (which sits mostly submerged below ground). It contains starch, sugars, nutrients, and “meristematic foci” (read on for more about this). These contents enable the plant to regrow its shoots. The key to the process, however, lies in the meristematic foci. Resembling little pimples, meristematic foci are similar to stem cells, with undifferentiated cells and tissue that ultimately grow and change into new shoots.\n\nThe meristematic foci, however, cannot act alone, and this is where the starch, sugars, and nutrients within the lignotuber come into play. The nutrients and sugars are broken down and used by the plant to grow and regenerate. The starch is used for respiration, just as it was used by the plant before the leaves were destroyed. Respiration brings in carbon dioxide, which is necessary for the plant to function, just as humans need oxygen.\n\nTo increase the energy available to the plant for shoot regeneration, Eucalyptus kochii plenissima sheds most of its root system. By shedding unnecessary roots and leaving only the structural roots needed to anchor the plant, the energy previously used to maintain the extensive root system is made available to regenerate the parts above ground. Thus, the lignotuber of Eucalyptus kochii plenissima acts almost like a plant seed, containing all of the necessary cells, tissue, and energy reserves needed to regrow the damaged plant."}, {"Source": "fungi's mycelium", "Application": "lightweight containers", "Function1": "create a physical network", "Function2": "remarkable mechanical properties", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/the-subterranean-web-with-surprising-superpowers/", "Strategy": "The Subterranean Web With\nSurprising Superpowers\n\nFungi create a strong but lightweight material by producing a random network of tiny threads.\nIntroduction \n\nPick up a handful of soil. At first glance, it might seem simply like a lot of brown stuff. Look closer and you’ll see every particle tells a story. Dig a little deeper and you’ll see that woven through just a single shovel-full are literally miles of fibers created when fungi break down plant material to make tissue for themselves. The fibers, collectively known as mycelium, reach far and wide to harvest food for the fungi.\n\nIn the process, they create a physical network with remarkable mechanical properties. Organic, lightweight, durable, and moldable, mycelium not only offers inspiration for the design of manufactured materials, but also can be used directly to make a wide range of objects with desirable traits.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nFungi grow from spores just as plants grow from seeds. When a spore sprouts, it puts out a microscopic rootlike structure called a hypha. As it grows, the hypha branches, eventually creating a network of tube-shaped threads called mycelium that can stretch for miles underground, fusing with other hyphae to create a dense web.\n\nEach thread consists of several types of chemicals. On the inside are proteins and chitin fibers held together with sugars that provide mechanical rigidity and strength. On the outside, beta-glucans form a gel-like material that give flexibility and expandability. In which direction the fibers grow and how dense the network becomes depends on the physical and chemical traits of the environment as well as the food available within it.\n\nThe combination of the materials that make up individual hyphae and the structure of the mycelium as a whole, composed of both fibers and the spaces between them, give the overall material some highly desirable traits. It is at the same time strong and flexible. It can be compressed and bounce back. It slows the spread of heat and sound. And because the shape of the space and amount of food available influence the degree and direction the hyphae grow, a mycelium mat can take a variety of shapes and density characteristics.\n\nThe Potential \n\nMycelium provides inspiration for making lightweight containers, construction panels, furniture, clothing, and other objects with a wide range of beneficial traits such as padding, durability, thermal insulation, soundproofing, and the ability to wick moisture.\n\nIn addition to serving as a source of inspiration, mycelium can be produced and used as a raw material itself. Because it is organic, mycelium made by fungi offers additional benefits. It can be produced from waste materials. It is biodegradable. And when it burns it doesn’t produce harmful gases as do plastics and other manmade materials.\n\n"}, {"Source": "paper wasp's nest", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "create paper-like material", "Function2": "hardening saliva", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/nests-made-of-paper/", "Strategy": "Nests Made of Paper\n\nNests of paper wasps are made of paper-like material, created from wood and hardening saliva.\n\n“Three animals, for instance, have independently invented the making of paper. Paper wasps use small particles of wood gnawed off from trees and wood posts as their raw material, and they mix these fibres with their hardening saliva.”\n \n“Three animals, for instance, have independently invented the making of paper…Some termites also make paper from wood particles, but they use their saliva or excreta as a cement to make a substance that resembles carton.”\n\n“Nest architecture of the arboreal Neotropical termites Nasutitermes acajutlae (Holmgren) and N. nigriceps (Haldeman) is described, with special reference to carton inclusions or nodules found within the normal gallery matrix of some nests. Nutrient analyses of these nodules show that they have high cellulose and low cutin concentrations in comparison to normal nest carton. These data support the hypothesis that the nodule inclusions serve as a form of facultative food storage in some nests of these termite species. These cases appear to represent a rare situation in which food is not stockpiled or cultured by termites, but rather some partially processed, masticated food is incorporated into the nest matrix for future consumption…Unlike most termites, many species of Nasutitermes build arboreal carton nests composed of wood and salivary and fecal fluids (Light 1933), and occasionally other materials such as sand (Thorne & Haverty, pers. obs.). Most other nest-building termites build mounds on the ground (e.g., Emerson 1938), but nesting in trees has enabled species of Nasutitermes and several other genera to colonize and exploit a new habitat.” "}, {"Source": "giant larvacean's mucus “house”", "Application": "human-made filtration systems", "Function1": "filter large quantities of water", "Function2": "filter food", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/a-mucus-house-filters-food/", "Strategy": "Mucus Filters Water for Food\n\nThe giant larvacean rapidly and regularly builds a house out of mucus capable of filtering large quantities of water.\nIntroduction \n\nThe giant larvacean is one of many creatures inhabiting the mid-ocean layer that have the ability to create a home made out of their own mucus. Both the larvacean and its home are delicate and transparent––the larvacean shaped like a tadpole and its mucus house a beautiful, jellyfish-like floating structure surrounding the larvacean’s body. In addition to protecting the larvacean, its house serves to collect and filter its food. Houses can outsize their larvaceans by quite a bit, with some measuring more than 39 inches (1 meter) across. As elegant and complex as they are, the mucus houses are discarded and remade around once a day. Just how the giant larvaceans are able to build their houses so quickly remains a mystery.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nThe food filter, built using transparent structural proteins combined with cellulose, is located within the interior section of the house. Water flows from the outer section of the house into this section through two entry points––filtered as it enters––and then reaches the chamber where the larvacean lives. The larvacean beats its tail to direct the water towards either another filter that concentrates food of the right size or into a garbage chute that dumps food that’s not the right size into the outer section of the house. From the second filter, the food that is just right makes its way directly into the larvacean’s mouth. While the giant larvacean may seem like a picky eater, its diet actually consists of food particles that range widely in size, from bacteria you’d need a microscope to see to microzooplankton you could potentially see with the naked eye.\n\nThe Potential \n\n​The diversity in its diet makes the giant larvacean an important link in ocean food webs, and its water pumping capabilities are critical for the movement of particles through the water column. Giant larvaceans are able to filter water at a faster rate than any other zooplankton filter feeder. When their feces and discarded houses sink to the bottom of the ocean, they bring both food and plastic particles with them.\nIt is astonishing how such a structure can be made from the mucus produced by the larvacean’s own body. How could human-made filtration systems be improved by mimicking or harnessing this organic, sustainable, naturally-produced process?"}, {"Source": "plant stem", "Application": "composite material", "Function1": "increase toughness", "Function2": "absorb energy", "Function3": "resist fractures", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/helical-wound-fibres-increase-toughness/", "Strategy": "Helical Wound Fibres Increase Toughness\n\nCellulose fibers in plant stems increase toughness by winding around tubes at an angle\n\nMaterials that are strong and stiff while not being brittle are very useful. However, resistance to fracture is linked to flexibility, meaning these two properties are in conflict with each other: stiff and hard materials are prone to cracking, while those that don’t crack tend to be weaker and prone to bending. Composite materials achieve improved performance, usually by embedding a strong and stiff material in a matrix of a softer and more flexible one to combine the best properties of both.\n\nWood is a trusted composite that humans have used for building for millennia. Wood is a composite of cellulose fibers embedded in a matrix, but its performance is better than models suggest it should be based on its composition alone: the arrangement of the fibers matters. In trees, hollow tubes (which double as transport vessels) are reinforced with spiral-wrapped bundles of cellulose fibers. Wood is hierarchical and bundles of vessels form concentric layers that contribute to strength and stiffness. Because the fibers are helically wound, they do not easily snap or pull out of the matrix—the two main ways in which fiber composites commonly fail. Instead, fibers must unwind as they are pulled out and broken, increasing the energy required to fracture wood.\n\nBamboo is a woody grass with material properties comparable with steel, which it is often used in place of. Like wood, bamboo is a cellulose composite with helically-wound fibers wrapped around hollow vessel bundles. However, the structure of vessels in bamboo is more complex. In bamboo, vessels are wrapped in a series of concentric layers of cellulose fibers that alternate between thick layers of fibers wound in one direction (at an angle of about 45° to the vertical) and thin layers wound in the opposite direction (at an angle of around 5° to the vertical). When a plant bends, one side of the stem, and of each vascular bundle, is compressed, while the opposite side stretches. When the cellulose fibers are compressed they can bulge and buckle, leading to failure of the material. The inclusion of thin, oppositely-coiled cellulose layers restrain the main load-bearing thick layers, preventing them from bulging and giving bamboo its impressive performance.\n\nWhen they do break, both wood and bamboo absorb a lot of the energy and broken stems often remain attached, meaning failure is safer than in other materials."}, {"Source": "greta oto caterpillar's silk pad and cremaster", "Application": "super hook-and-loop fastener", "Function1": "form strong attachment", "Function2": "prevent sliding off", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/larval-hooks-hold-on-tight/", "Strategy": "Larval Hooks Hold on Tight\n\nHooks and silk of butterfly larvae form a strong attachment under leaves\n\nMost insects go through complete metamorphosis, where their body pattern alters from one form to a new one. The change occurs inside a hard casing, called a pupa, and is a complete remodeling of their entire bodies. During metamorphosis, the body of the lava breaks down completely into a sort of cellular soup that then reforms into an entirely new shape. During this process, the insect is unable to defend itself and is very vulnerable. Butterflies and moths have a number of ways of hiding their pupae, including mimicking leaves and other plant parts so as to be less obvious to predators. One species, the Greta oto, or glass-winged butterfly adds to the protection from camouflage by suspending itself from the underside of leaves when pupating.\n\nGreta oto caterpillars weave a silken pad that is glued to the underside of the leaf. The silk fibers in the pad are deliberately tangled as they are spun to create large numbers of tiny loops. Once the pad has been spun, the animal inserts a specialized array of hooks, called a cremaster, into the silk pad. The cremaster is made of tough chitin that will not snap and it becomes a permanent part of the case of the pupa as the insect inside metamorphoses into the adult butterfly.\n\nThe hooks of the cremaster are highly specialized for hanging securely from the silk pad. The hooks are arrayed over the surface of the cremaster in a ball shape, which makes it easier for the hooks to penetrate the center of the pad without squashing it, whilst also increasing the available hooked surface area.\n\nThe hooks themselves are also highly specialized. Each hook ends with a backward facing barb that ensures that, while the threads of the silk can slip easily over the end of the hook, it cannot so easily slide off. Each barb is split into segments, forming mini barbs with a groove in between. Silk fibers can also sit in these grooves, forming a further barrier that prevents the hooked loops from sliding off.\n\nThe silk pad and cremaster of the Greta oto creates a sort of super hook-and-loop fastener that is at least 50 times stronger than is necessary to support the weight of the chrysalis. It is likely the extra strength is to protect the animal from the extra stresses caused by swaying caused by the strong winds that are common in its native habitat."}, {"Source": "orb weaving spider web", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "stretch and rebound", "Function2": "reform hydrogen bonds", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/spider-web-is-strong-and-elastic/", "Strategy": "Spider Web Is Strong and Elastic\n\nWebs of orb spiders are elastic and strong because of sacrificial bonds that break and then reform\n\nSpider capture silk is the silk used to form the spiral in webs built by orb weaver spiders. It is a remarkable material, as strong as Kevlar yet elastic at the same time. Orb weaver capture silk has a tensile strength of 1 GPa but can stretch to 500-1000% its original length before rebounding perfectly to regain its original properties. This is very important in spiral webs, which must be able to survive insects flying into them at speed without breaking and must also not become baggy and loose after being stretched.\n\nSpider silk is made up of long protein molecules called fibroin. Parts of the molecule are disordered, however in others it folds neatly into pleated sheets called beta-sheets. The sheets are held in place by networks of very weak bonds between hydrogen and oxygen atoms. The physical shape of the protein means that it is most likely to adopt the configuration that forms the greatest number of these weak bonds, however, because they are so weak, they are easily broken.\n\nEven paper can be made elastic by folding it into a concertina shape. In the same way, the pleated sheets of the silk protein pull apart, for instance because of impact by a flying insect. This causes the weak hydrogen bonds to break and allows the silk fiber to stretch. However, it most easily adopts the folded conformation and so once the energy of the impact has dissipated, it goes back to its original shape, allowing the hydrogen bonds to reform."}, {"Source": "bee's dufour’s gland", "Application": "reservoir for raw materials", "Function1": "create waterproof lining", "Function2": "protect larvae", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/dufours-gland-creates-waterproof-nest-linings/", "Strategy": "Dufour’s Gland Creates Waterproof Nest Linings\n\nThe Dufour’s Gland of bees secretes a multitude of organic compounds like polyesters for nest building, triglycerides for food and hormones for communication.\n\nDufour’s Gland is a small gland near the stinger of a bee. It’s an exocrine gland, secreting chemicals, but the purpose of the chemicals and their structure differs from family to family. The secretions can be used for anything from nest building, to reproduction, to pheromones, to the production of larval food. Dufour’s Gland is not unique to bees, being found in many different insects.\n\nDufour’s Gland can produce a variety of organic compounds, including both saturated and unsaturated hydrocarbons, with long chain hydrocarbons being the most common secretion across bee taxa. More volatile and non-volatile compounds are produced by certain bees, including alcohols, esters, aromatics and fatty acids.\n\nThe most common Dufour’s Gland secretion among bees is used to create a waterproof lining for their brood cells, protecting the stashes of food they leave for their larvae, as well as the larvae themselves, from microbes or environmental conditions. The polyester brood cell lining has qualities much like those of cellophane. In the bee genus Colletes, the lining is made up of 18-hydroxyoctadecanoic acid and 20-hydroxy-eicosanoic acid, both stored as lactones in the gland before they are secreted and undergo a chemical reaction to become the lining.\n\nThe larvae may also ingest secretions from Dufour’s Gland with their food. In Anthophora abrupta, the secretions are made up of a mixture of liquid triglycerides, one long-chain fatty acid and two short-chain fatty acids before they’re added to the food.\n\nDufour’s Gland secretions are also often applied to the entrance of the nest, being unique enough to each individual that they serve as a marker for which nest is their own.\n\nIn the Andrena genus the compounds produced by the gland vary based on genetics, implying they may play a role in recognizing kin. In some bees, such as the stingless Meliponini bees, the secretions of a virgin female and a non-virgin female differed by the inclusion of an ester compound, implying they could be used for sexual signalling.\n\nIn bumblebees (genus Bombus), Dufour’s Gland increases in size with age and reproductive activity of the Queen, while in workers Dufour’s Gland advertises their sterile status using esters. When an individual develops ovaries, the esters are no longer secreted.\n\nThis information is also available from the University of Calgary Invertebrate collection, where it was curated as part of a study on design inspired by bees."}, {"Source": "eukaryotic cell's microtubule", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "move and change shape", "Function2": "transport chromosomes", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/microtubules-dynamically-change-length/", "Strategy": "Molecular Caps Keep Internal\nCell Structures Intact—Or Not\n\nMicrotubules fray when protective molecules degrade, then grow again when they reform.\n\nEukaryotic cells are packed full of microtubules. Far from being a loose sac of water and chemicals, as they are often envisaged, cells are actually densely packed with structures and organelles, all constantly carrying out crucial functions. While a lot of these functions are regulated by the passive diffusion of signaling molecules, many of them require active transport. Microtubules make up the physical skeleton of cells, enabling them to move and change shape, and they also form part of the infrastructure along which cellular components are transported. Microtubules also transport chromosomes, and so are critical for cell division and replication.\n\nMicrotubules are formed from numerous copies of the protein tubulin. Loose tubulin in the cytoplasm binds to molecules of GTP and becomes activated. In its active form, individual tubulin proteins will attach to one end of a growing microtubule. However, tubulin breaks down (hydrolyzes) GTP to GDP and GDP-bound tubulin is much more likely to dissociate from a microtubule. This reaction does not occur immediately, and there is a delay between tubulin becoming bound to GTP and its hydrolyzation to GDP. Because GDP-bound tubulin cannot pop out of the side of a microtubule in which it is already incorporated and only dissociates from one end, as long as new tubulin is being added to the end of a microtubule at a faster rate than hydrolyzation is occurring, there will be a cap of GTP-bound tubulin that will prevent the microtubule falling apart. However, if the rate of new tubulin addition slows and the protein at the tip hydrolyzes its GTP to GDP, this protective cap is lost and the microtubule will begin to fray. This sudden switch from growing to shrinking is called a microtubule “catastrophe” and is an important part of regulating tube length. Once a cap of GTP-bound tubulin reforms, the microtubule begins to grow again, termed “rescue”.\n\nThe precise mechanisms regulating microtubule catastrophe are not yet known, although it is understood to be regulated by multiple different factors. Catastrophe occurs at a higher rate in longer microtubules, indicating there must be a multi-step process that protects shorter microtubules from undergoing frequent catastrophe and enables them to grow.\n\nTo see how microtubule catastrophe works, check out this video.\n\n"}, {"Source": "apostle bird's mud nest", "Application": "vibration firms mud nest", "Function1": "vibrate mud", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/vibration-firms-mud-nest-2/", "Strategy": "Vibration Firms Mud Nest\n\nThe mud nest of the apostle bird is a sturdy home high in the trees, built using a jiggled-mud construction technique.\n\nApostlebirds, which are native to the woodlands of Australia, build large nests that can have walls up to 2.54 cm (1 in.) thick, weigh up to 2.3 kg (5 lb.), and be located as high as 15 m (50 ft.) above the ground. These nests are communally assembled out of mud and strengthened by grass, small sticks, fur, and feathers. A nest must be able to resist sudden and intense movements caused by wind or other forces, so the birds enhance its security with a vibration-construction technique. Apostlebirds vibrate the supportive materials as they assemble a nest, which liquefies the mud so that it can forge a close bond between the materials. These birds also create a solid base for the nest by wrapping the mud around a supporting branch.\n\nThis strategy was co-contributed by EcoRise Youth Innovations"}, {"Source": "honey bee's hive", "Application": "passive construction", "Function1": "shape wax into hexagons", "Function2": "generate heat", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/body-heat-melts-wax-to-form-hexagons/", "Strategy": "Body Heat Melts Wax to Form Hexagons\n\nHoneybees generate heat to mold cylindrical wax cells, then surface tension pulls the cooling wax into hexagons.\n\nIntroduction \n\nScientists have long believed that honey bees forge their hives into stacked hexagonal cells in order to store the most honey with the least building material (wax). But given that bees have brains the size of grains of sand, how do they make hexagonal hives with such geometric precision?\n\nThe Strategy \n\nTo begin with, bees excrete wax through four pairs of glands underneath their abdomens. They chew and knead the wax to shape it, but they also use heat. In 2004, Dr. Christian Pirk, entomologist at the University of Pretoria, found that inside a hive where bees were building, wax measured 15 °F (8 °C) warmer than areas with no active construction.\n\nTo create this rise in temperature, bees decouple their flying muscles from their wings and vibrate the muscles to generate heat. They heat the wax to temperatures over 100 °F (38 °C), lowering its viscosity, and making it easier to mold.\n\nHowever, bees don’t sculpt six neatly-shaped walls. Pirk found this out when he interrupted the building bees by smoking them out of the hive. He took resin casts of the tubes and discovered that the warmer, fresher cells were actually round cylinders while older, cooler cells formed the expected hexagonal prisms. Somehow, as the cylinders cool, they transform into hexagons.\n\nTo understand this, consider an analogous phenomenon associated with soap bubbles. When two spherical bubbles meet, they join at a flat wall. When a third bubble is added, two additional walls form so that one wall separates each pair of bubbles. The three walls quickly rearrange themselves into a kind of Y-shape with three equal 120-degree angles. According to Joseph Plateau, the Belgian physicist who discovered surface tension, bubble walls seek 120 degrees because, at this angle, the wall surface tensions are all in balance. Now a series of 120-degree angles eventually closes on itself, forming a perfect hexagon. So as more bubbles are added, and more walls balance into 120-degree angles, the array of separate bubbles becomes a tightly packed grid of hexagons.\n\nThe Potential \n\nThe hexagonal shape arises without any constructive action from the bees. Instead, the cooling wax follows a universal tendency of physical forces to seek equilibrium. As humans seek to build more efficiently and sustainably, what can we learn from this method of passive construction?"}, {"Source": "cyanobacteria synechococcus elongatus", "Application": "fuel production", "Function1": "synthesize hydrocarbons", "Function2": "leave cell", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/bacterial-enzymes-produce-hydrocarbons/", "Strategy": "Bacterial Enzymes Produce Hydrocarbons\n\nCertain strains of the cyanobacteria Synechococcus elongatus produce enzymes that catalyze the synthesis of hydrocarbons from fatty acids.\n\nAlkane chain hydrocarbons comprise the bulk of useful petroleum constituents. They include propane, gasoline, diesel oil, jet fuel, and many other fuels, lubricants, and reaction precursors. Industrial scale techniques for producing these compounds (rather than refining them from pre-existing petroleum) depend on large energy input and capital investment and the use of toxic compounds. In contrast, certain strains of cyanobacteria, like Synechococcus elongatus, can produce long-chain alkanes and related alkenes from simple fatty acid precursors using a pair of enzymes. Remarkably, more than 80% of the hydrocarbon product leaves the cell after synthesis, which suggests a possible carbon-sink role for the process."}, {"Source": "chiton's tooth", "Application": "hard materials", "Function1": "resist cracks", "Function2": "impart teeth with wear resistance", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/teeth-are-strong-and-resilient/", "Strategy": "Teeth Are Strong and Resilient\n\nThe teeth of chitons resist cracking because of the highly ordered, submicroscopic architecture that features a partnership between hard mineral crystals and fibers.\nA remarkable characteristic of nature’s hard materials is their ability to resist cracking under stresses and strains. Generally speaking, the secret is their highly ordered, submicroscopic architecture that features a partnership between hard mineral crystals and flexible protein molecules.\n\nThe chiton tooth’s wear and crack resistance is interesting because it’s derived from an interactive foursome of carbohydrate, protein, metal ions, and mineral crystal. Magnetite mineral crystals impart the tooth with wear resistance while the carbohydrate, protein, and metal ions organize together to form long, thin fibers imbedded in the mineral crystal; the fibers impart the tooth with crack resistance. The interior of these fibers is an ordered carbohydrate (chitin) scaffold to which flexible proteins are tethered by amorphous chitin strings. The protein molecules, decorating the exterior of the chitin framework, are themselves adorned with metal ions (including sodium and magnesium), which are thought to foster a healthy connection between the fibers and the surrounding magnetite crystals."}, {"Source": "saguaro cactus", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "sequestrate carbon dioxide", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/calcium-oxalate-formation-sequesters-carbon-dioxide/", "Strategy": "Calcium Oxalate Formation\nSequesters Carbon Dioxide\n\nCacti sequester atmospheric carbon dioxide by converting it to oxalate and combining it with soil-derived calcium ions which ultimately lead to the formation of solid calcium carbonate.\n\nThrough the process of photosynthesis, plants remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and use it to build all the carbon-based compounds it needs for structure and function. When most plants die, these carbon-based compounds break down into their constituent components with a re-release of carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere. Saguaro cactus uses some of the carbon dioxide it removes from the atmosphere to make compounds called oxalates which combine with calcium ions taken up from the soil by the plants roots. The resulting calcium oxalate takes a different path following the death of the cactus. Rather than degrade to its constituent components, calcium oxalate slowly transforms into solid calcium carbonate (calcite), thus essentially sequestering atmospheric carbon dioxide into the soil.\n\n"}, {"Source": "zebra finch's nest", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "faster nest building", "Function2": "building a nest is key to the ability of reproduction", "Function3": "rapid nest-making links to breeding success", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/interaction-with-adults-leads-to-faster-nest-building/", "Strategy": "Interaction With Adults\nLeads to Faster Nest Building\n\nExposure to adults as juveniles prompts zebra finches to build their first nests faster.\n\nIntroduction \n\nIn 1867, the famous naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace wrote, “Birds, we are told, build their nests by instinct, while man constructs his dwelling by the exercise of reason.” His own observations of nature led him to completely disagree. His essay, “The Philosophy of Birds’ Nests,” kicked off a 150-year-long debate about whether or not birds build nests due purely to instinct—or as Wallace put it, “without teaching or experience.”\n\nIn April of 2020, Dr. Alexis Breen, a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, authored a study that she says provides “another big support for knocking down the myth that nest-building is all in the genes.” Many incorrectly assume that birds model their first nests after those they hatched into. Breen’s research indicates that if juveniles interact socially with adult zebra finches, it influences the way the young finches construct their first nests when they reach sexual maturity—both in terms of the materials they choose and how quickly they build.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nWhy do speed and construction materials matter so much? Building a nest is key to their ability to reproduce. “For many birds, they really get one shot, maybe two, at building a nest,” Breen said. She added that evidence in other bird species links rapid nest-making to breeding success and prosperity later in life. In other words, building a good nest quickly might just be a matter of life and death for the next generation.\n\nThe Potential \n\nBreen said that understanding the learning and cultural processes that zebra finches use to build nests may help us understand how other animals come to use tools and technology and may even provide clues into our own evolution.\nWhile Wallace may have been right that instinct doesn’t dictate how birds build nests, it appears he was mistaken about what he thought mattered most—imitation. Breen’s results demonstrate that the mere presence of an adult was more important than the experience gained either through handling material themselves or from watching adults use it. She said that result went against the assumption that birds need a lot of demonstration to use tools. “It looks like if they need some, they don’t need much.”"}, {"Source": "false vampire bat's nose leaf", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "aid echolocation", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/nose-structure-aids-echolocation/", "Strategy": "Nose Structure Aids Echolocation\n\nThe nose leaf of false vampire bats may be used in echolocation, though its role is not well understood.\n“[The false vampire bat’s] prominent nose leaf, a fold of skin standing up over its nose, is also involved in direction-finding, but its role is not understood.” "}, {"Source": "biofilm colony of bacillus subtilis", "Application": "air and water repellant surface", "Function1": "water and gas repellant", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/air-and-water-repellant-surface-prevents-entry-of-fluids/", "Strategy": "Air and Water Repellant Surface\nPrevents Entry of Fluids\n\nBiofilm colonies of Bacillus subtilis are highly water and gas repellant due to a combination of chemical composition and nano-scale topography.\nBiofilms are colonies of bacteria that form on virtually any surface. They form on teeth, causing plaque and its related dental problems; they form on metal pipes, causing corrosion; and they form on medical implants causing infection and inflammation. They are very difficult to treat with liquid and gaseous biocides because the composition and structure of biofilms make them difficult to penetrate, keeping the subsurface bacteria safe. In fact, their surfaces repel certain liquids even better than anti-stick Teflon surfaces or lotus leaves. The surface of Teflon will appear wet when a 20% solution of ethyl alcohol in water is applied, while the surface of a Bacillus subtilis biofilm repels even an 80% alcohol solution. Even 50% solutions of other low surface tension biocides, such as acetone, methyl alcohol, and isopropyl alcohol, do not wet the surface of a B. subtilis biofilm. Bacterial biofilms achieve this function through the combined effects of chemical composition (biodegradeable polysachharides and proteins) and nano-scale roughness/topography of its surface."}, {"Source": "mollusk's shell", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "provide protection", "Function2": "support", "Function3": "accomodating growth", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/shell-protects-supports-and-allows-for-growth/", "Strategy": "Shell Protects, Supports, and Allows for Growth\n\nThe shells of many mollusks provide protection and support while accomodating growth due to their conical structure.\n\n“Consider shapes that satisfy the following set of conditions. To provide both support and protection for the organism, the shape must be a hollow one, but an opening must exist somewhere. Growth can occur only by addition to the inner surface or the free edge. And the shape should change only minimally as it grows. A cubic shell with an open face won’t work: addition to walls will give more shell relative to its contained volume, and addition to cylinder doesn’t meet the conditions–addition to the edge will move it from short and fat to long and (relatively) thin. What will work are cones, whether circular or elliptical. Add to the edge and thicken the walls and one gets a bigger cone, isometric with the original.\n\nWith only slight variations of the condition of isometry, all sorts of wild derivatives of cones are possible–and these latter are the shapes in which shelled mollusks occur.” "}, {"Source": "vespa hornet's nest", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "chew through wood", "Function2": "convert wood pulp into paper substance", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/paper-produced-for-nest-building/", "Strategy": "Paper Produced for Nest‑building\n\nThe nests of Vespa hornets are made out of a paper substance produced from the mixture of saliva with wood pulp.\n\n“The powerful mandibles of the hornet are…used to cut and chew wood to make its nest. Wood pulp is mixed with saliva and converted by the hornet into a paper substance from which an elaborate tiered nest is made which may house thousands of individuals.” "}, {"Source": "south american grass-cutting ants' colonies", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "maintain temperature", "Function2": "maintain humidity", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/colonies-maintain-temperature-and-humidity/", "Strategy": "Colonies Maintain Temperature and Humidity\n\nColonies of South American grass-cutting ants maintain temperature and humidity via a thatched nest and systematic arrangement of nest material.\n\nAnts are social insects with colonies that control their environment through collective building activities. Unlike underground species, the South American grass-cutting ant builds a thatched nest on the surface of the ground. A thatched nest is a mound structure formed from plant fragments and debris. This structure has a single central chamber where the ants cultivate fungi to feed their young (the brood). The ants must effectively regulate temperature and humidity within the thatched nest to provide ideal conditions for the fungus and brood. This is possible with the help of a thatched nest structure and the ants’ building behavior.\n\nIn the long term, the thatched nest provides a good amount of insulation. This is because the thatch material, compared to soil and the environment, reacts less quickly to changes in temperature. This limits the amount of heat that flows through the structure. Limited heat flow prevents the nest from overheating during the day and prevents major heat loss at night. The ants even place a five to ten centimeter layer of regurgitated grass fragments (called mulch) on the ground to limit the heat exchange between the fungus and the underlying soil. The nest’s insulation effectively entraps the internal heat generated by the ants and the fungi, enabling the fungus garden to remain five degrees Celsius above the average soil temperatures in all seasons. This is essential for favorable growth of the fungus and the brood, which prefer an optimal temperature of 24.1 degrees Celsius and high humidity.\n\nIn the short term, the South American grass-cutting ants display building behaviors to maintain the internal nest climate. As the nest reaches a temperature that might be harmful to the fungus or the brood, the ants create numerous openings in the thatched structure to allow the cooler air in from the outside to reduce the heat. However, the ants also show a response to any humid air leaving the nest by depositing material to close and seal openings. The colony constantly makes trade-offs between these two actions to locally control temperature and humidity shifts. Furthermore, these ants were found to deconstruct clusters or piles of material and relocate the items to allow for thatch turnover. This constant shifting of the thatch improves the insulation by moving the humid organic material (which has less insulation) from the inside of the nest to the outside, where it can dry more quickly. It also loosens the structure to provide better nest ventilation.\n\nThe nest of the South American grass-cutting ant is able to thrive due to the temperature and humidity control provided by its thatched structure and the active participation of the ants. The adaptations of this species have ultimately enabled it to extend its distribution range more in southern temperate regions compared to other subterranean species.\n\nThis summary was contributed by Leon Wang and Jack Mevorah."}, {"Source": "pollen grains", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "generate geometric patterns", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/patterns-in-pollen-grains-form-without-using-energy/", "Strategy": "Patterns in Pollen Grains Form Without Using Energy\n\nPatterns on the surface of pollen grains form without using energy\n\nBeautifully crafted architecture isn’t limited to human-made structures. Nature is rife with ornate structures, from the spiraling fractal patterns of seashells to the intricately woven array of neurons in the brain.\n\nThe microscopic world contains its fair share of intricate patterns and designs, such as the geometric patterns on individual grains of pollen. Scientists have been fascinated by these intricate structures, which are smaller than the width of a human hair, but have yet to determine how these patterns form and why they look the way they do.\n\nIt was originally thought that pollen spheres are formed by a ‘buckling’ mechanism. Buckling occurs when materials are strong on the outside but pliable on the inside, causing the structure to shrink inwards and form divots, or “buckles,” on the surface.\n\nHowever, it is now believed that pollen patterns occur by a process known as phase separation, which physicists have found can also generate geometric patterns in other systems. An everyday example of phase separation is the separation of cream from milk; when milk sits at room temperature, cream rises to the top naturally without any additional energy, like mixing or shaking.\n\nThis “default” tendency of developing pollen spores to undergo a phase separation then leads to detailed and concave patterns. However, if plants pause this natural pattern-formation process by secreting a stiff polymer that prevents phase separation, for example, they can control the shapes that form. These plants tend to have pollen spores that are smoother and more spherical. Surprisingly, the smooth pollen grains, which require additional energy, occur more frequently than ornate grains, suggesting that smooth grains may provide an evolutionary advantage.\n\nThis biophysical framework will now enable researchers to study a much larger class of biological materials, and see if the same rules can explain much more intricate architectures in biology, like the bristles of insects or the cell walls of plants.\n"}, {"Source": "glass sponge's cells", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "release silica", "Function2": "produce silica rod", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/silica-structure-self-assembles/", "Strategy": "Silica Structure Self‑assembles\n\nCell clusters associated with the surface of the giant basal growing spicule of the glass sponge release silica for controlled circumferential growth.\n\nMonorhaphis chuni sponges have evolved the genes to synthesize giant basal spicule that are nearly 3 meters long. The sponge’s cells absorb minute traces of silicic acid from sea water and use it to produce a monolithic amorphous silica rod by concentric deposition. Sclerocytes (a type of cell) form rings around a nascent spicule and produce a protein called silicatein to convert silicic acid to amorphous silica. Each ring is only 10 microns wide but repeated cycles result in the macroscopic structure that supports the sponge above the sea floor."}, {"Source": "orb-weaver spider's leg", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "prevent from sticking", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/leg-hairs-prevent-spider-from-sticking-to-its-own-web/", "Strategy": "Leg Hairs Prevent Spider From Sticking to Its Own Web\n\nLeg hairs of orb-weaver spiders allow it to build its web without getting stuck.\n\nSome spiders capture their prey with the help of a sticky web. Strands of web silk are coated in droplets of glue that stop insects that fly into the web from escaping. Once the web has been made, spiders walk slowly and carefully across it ensuring they only touch structural strands, which are not coated with glue. While they are building their webs, however, they have to touch the sticky strands to attach them to the scaffold. The glue is non-specific and strong, so how are spiders able to construct their webs without getting stuck?\n\nOrb weaver spiders’ legs are coated with hair-like structures called “setae”, which all point down towards the end of the leg. When a spider pushes down on a sticky strand, it doesn’t push down directly onto the strand, but past it, so the web strand slides along the surface of the leg. As it does this, the web line becomes snagged on the hairs, enabling the spider to direct the glue-coated silk down and force it to adhere to the structural strands. The hairs are branched, which stops strands from sliding all the way to the base of the hair, where they might contact the spider’s leg and become stuck.\n\nWhen the spider removes its leg, it pulls it up past the newly attached strand. Droplets of glue slide down the setae to the tips where, because the tips are so narrow and sharply pointed, they easily disengage.\n\nMany small adhesive forces combined create a strong adhesive force. Because the spiders’ leg hairs are randomly distributed, the sticky droplets slide off the ends one at a time, which prevents the forces combining to become too strong. In this way, the spider can manipulate sticky silk strands and position them while building its web, and then safely and easily pull its leg away afterwards.\n\n"}, {"Source": "oriental hornet's cuticle", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "harvest solar energy", "Function2": "absorb sunlight", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/pigments-absorb-solar-energy/", "Strategy": "Pigments Absorb Solar Energy\n\nPigments in the oriental hornet’s cuticle absorb solar energy that is turned into electrical energy.\n\nTypically, wasps and hornets are more active during the early morning as they begin their daily activities. In contrast, the oriental hornet is most active during the middle of the day. It is a social insect that nests underground and correlates its digging activity with the intensity of the sunlight.\n\nAs it turns out, there is a good reason why these hornets tend to work in direct sunlight. These hornets have an outer layer (cuticle) that actually allows them to absorb sunlight. The brown and yellow colors of the oriental hornet not only serve to warn potential predators, but also contain pigments that harvest solar energy. The banded sections have multiple layers that get successively thinner and sandwich the pigments. The brown cuticle has about 30 layers while the yellow cuticle has roughly 15. Scientists have found that the outer brown layer is covered in grooves that act almost like gratings that help trap light, allowing the rays to funnel inward for better absorption. The outer yellow layer is covered in oval-shaped bumps that increase effective surface area for absorption. Both of these areas exhibit antireflection and light-trapping properties, enhancing the absorption of light in the cuticle. The role of the layers getting successively thinner is still under investigation.\n\nThe sunlight that these hornets capture is likely converted into electrical energy. There exists a voltage between the inner and outer layers of the yellow stripe that increases in response to illumination. The harvested energy may be used in physical activity (digging or flight) and temperature regulation. It even seems to provide enough energy to carry out metabolic functions similar to the liver (producing or filtering enzymes and sugars). The enzymatic activity in these regions has been shown to decrease when the hornet is exposed to light, allowing it to conserve its energy.\n\nThis summary was contributed by Leon Wang."}, {"Source": "black coral's exterior shell", "Application": "composites", "Function1": "strong and hard structure", "Function2": "adjust the strength, density, and flexibility", "Function3": "prevent structural failure", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/biopolymer-composites-prevent-structural-failure/", "Strategy": "Biopolymer Composites Prevent Structural Failure\n\nBiopolymer composites in the exterior shell of the black coral are strong and hard due to weakly bonded chitin strands with strongly crosslinked proteins.\n\nBlack corals produce the hard structural framework of their colonies by making strands of chitin – a carbohydrate polymer. Each strand is attached to adjacent strands via numerous weak bonds (hydrogen bonds) producing a strong foundation onto which proteins attach. These proteins crosslink with each other via very strong (covalent) bonds which hardens the composite material. Different species of black coral are able to tailor the strength, density, and flexibility of this chitin-protein composite material to their own specific needs by varying the degree of inter-strand hydrogen bonding and (presumably) the protein crosslinking compounds.\n\n"}, {"Source": "nacre plate", "Application": "composite material", "Function1": "interlock plates", "Function2": "reduce crack propagation", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/interlocking-increases-materials-toughness/", "Strategy": "Interlocking Increases Material’s Toughness\n\nPlates in nacre increase toughness by interlocking\n\nNacre, or mother of pearl, is the iridescent material that forms the inner layer of the shells of some molluscs. It is a natural composite of plates of aragonite (a form of calcium carbonate) and organic layers that go around and through the plates, giving them some flexibility and holding them together. Nacre is 3000 times tougher than aragonite alone.\n\nIn nacre, aragonite is formed into stacked hexagonal plates. The plates are twisted relative to each other by 5% and sunk. That is, each plate overlaps its top and bottom neighbors by 20% of its depth, leaving the twisted offset corners as overhangs. These overhangs create lips that prevent the aragonite plates sliding past each other.\n\nWhen nacre is subjected to force, the overhanging lips interlock, making the material tough. Subjected to more force the overhangs begin to break off. Although the force required to fracture a single overhang is small, summed throughout the material, the energy required to create large fractures in nacre becomes relatively large.\n\nBrittle materials like aragonite are brittle in part because, when they start to fail, cracks can propagate easily throughout the bulk material. Because the aragonite in nacre is arranged in a staggered brick-like arrangement, and because the interlocks are the sites of first fracture, when cracks start, there is nowhere for them to spread to. To see another way the organic material between aragonite plates makes nacre tougher by stopping cracks from propagating, check out the related strategy here."}, {"Source": "tunisian desert ant's compound eye", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "perceive polarized light", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/eyes-perceive-uv-polarized-light/", "Strategy": "Eyes Perceive UV Polarized Light\n\nThe compound eyes of the Tunisian desert ant perceive polarized light in the UV spectrum via specialized ommatidia.\n\n“Experiments conducted by Zurich University biologist Dr Rüdiger Wehner with the Tunisian desert ant (Cataglyphis bicolor) showed that out of the 1,000 ommatidia in each compound eye, 80 per eye are dedicated to receiving polarized light within the ultraviolet wavelength band, and each receives it from a different point in the sky. That is, one ommatidium receives it from 270°, another from 180°, and so on. Within the compound eye, one region, the retinula, is directly sensitive to polarized light.” "}, {"Source": "pine spittlebug nymph's excrement", "Application": "insecticides", "Function1": "repel predatory ants", "Function2": "non-irritating", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/a-non-toxic-foam-secretion-prevents-predation/", "Strategy": "A Non‑toxic Foam Secretion\nPrevents Predation\n\nExcrement from pine spittlebug nymphs repels predatory ants when the nymphs engulf themselves in a foam derived from their feces.\n\nSpittlebug nymphs probably don’t have much of a social life – they cover themselves in a froth made of their excrement. But it’s a life-saving strategy that would otherwise leave them susceptible to the nymph-chewing jaws of predatory ants. After consuming sap from their favorite plant, the eastern white pine, spittlebug nymphs completely engulf themselves in foam containing at least five ant-repellant chemicals. As the predatory ants approach, taste buds in their probing antennae apparently find spittlebug fecal foam far from flavorful and proceed to wipe off the offending substances rather than make a meal of the nymph. The ant-repellant compounds also appear to be non-irritating to living tissue which would make them particularly interesting models for new pesticides.\n\n"}, {"Source": "malaria parasite's action", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "detoxify heme", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/crystalization-detoxifies-heme/", "Strategy": "Crystalization Detoxifies Heme\n\nThe malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, detoxifies heme generated from digestion of its host's blood by coalescing the toxin into a harmless crystal.\n\nMosquitoes are responsible for spreading malaria, a protozoan disease that kills nearly one million people annually. But the risk actually runs both ways. That is, every time the mosquito bites its victim, it puts itself at risk from exposure to the iron-containing part of red blood cells, called heme, which is generated as a byproduct of blood digestion and toxic to the mosquito. The parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, sidesteps toxic exposure by binding free hemes together into an insoluble crystal structure. It does so by forming microscopic drops of oil into which free heme self assembles into crystal pairs (dimers) which then coalesce into non-toxic hemozoin crystals.\n\n"}, {"Source": "orb weaving spider web", "Application": "smart fishnets", "Function1": "warn birds against flying into spider webs", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/web-decorations-warn-birds/", "Strategy": "Web Decorations Warn Birds\n\nDecorations contrast with natural backgrounds to warn birds against flying into spider webs.\n\nIntroduction \n\nOrange marker balls on power lines and blinking lights on tall structures forewarn pilots of difficult-to-see objects. Certain spiders do something similar.\n\nAt the center of their webs, orb-weaver spiders spin bright, white zig-zag decorations called stabilimenta that come in several designs: discs, lines, criss-crossing, or “irregular.” Though the silk used to weave the decorations doesn’t capture prey, producing them has evolved nine times in three different spider families, indicating there must be an evolutionary benefit. But scientists debate why some spiders spend the extra energy on such embellishments.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nA 2005 study shows that birds can see orb-weaver ornamentation, suggesting one purpose may be to warn birds against flying into and destroying the webs. To prove that birds could see these adornments, Macquarie University scientists relied on the knowledge that birds’ eyes have four types of photoreceptors that detect ultraviolet, blue, green, and red wavelengths of light. Also, birds use the contrast between specific colors to see nearby objects. To sense faraway objects, birds use the contrast between the brightness of objects (similar to how you see objects in a dark room without being able to distinguish colors).\n\nThe scientists checked the light reflected off the web decorations of five spider species and compared it to the light reflected off a background of plants typical of the spiders’ habitats. They determined that the distinction between both color and brightness were enough for birds to detect easily.This means that birds see stabilimenta from near as well as from afar.\n\nThe Potential \n\nOne thing is certain. Humans can learn from these silk signals. Glass patterned with an ultraviolet coating makes windows visible to birds, preventing strikes that injure or kill them. Such signaling could be incorporated into other materials as well, helping unmanned aircraft avoid obstacles or perhaps even creating smart fishnets that prevent non-target species from being captured."}, {"Source": "tree's leaf", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "resist gravitational loading", "Function2": "resist compression", "Function3": "resist tension", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/leaves-resist-gravitational-loading/", "Strategy": "Leaves Resist Gravitational Loading\n\nThe broad leaf of a tree resists gravitational loading through its internal anisotropic structure: liquid-filled cells along the bottom resist compression, and, along the top, long cells with lengthwise fibers resist tension.\n\n“Consider a broad leaf on a tree. The greatest forces on its petiole (‘stem’) and midrib probably occur as it’s pulled by the drag of the blade in a wind storm, but these forces are tensile and thus easy to resist. Without wind, it’s a beam faced with the task of keeping its blade in a position to intercept sunlight, which, on the average, comes from above. So its design, as in figure 18.8, ought to reflect gravitational loading. Which it does, but more by using internal material anisotropy than externally obvious cross-sectional specialization. It uses thick-walled, liquid-filled cells along its bottom, which resist compression well, and long cells with lengthwise fibers along the top, which act as ropy tension resistors. The petiole and midrib are as truly cantilevers as any protruding I-beam, but internal structure–anisotropy at various levels–matters at least as much as overall cross section in efficiently dealing with gravity. And the rest of the leaf blade, an extension of the cantilever, faces much the same mechanical situation. Veins protrude downward to get some height to the beam and to continue the compression-resisting material of petiole and midrib. The blade is always at the top–a flat sheet can take tension, but it’s almost as bad in compression as a rope.”"}, {"Source": "viral dna container", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "self-assemble", "Function2": "stable", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/capsid-proteins-self-assemble-to-form-stable-shell/", "Strategy": "Capsid Proteins Self‑assemble\nto Form Stable Shell\n\nCapsids, the containers housing viral DNA, are stable, self-assembling structures because they rely on the net strength afforded by a combination of weak attractive or repulsive forces arising from the relative position of proteins making up the container\n\nViruses are essentially mobile DNA containers that implicate themselves into living cells by usurping the cell’s reproductive machinery to reproduce their own DNA. Viral DNA is housed in protective nano-scale containers, called capsids, that self-assemble within the host cell. These resilient proteinaceous packets self-assemble in response to a variety of weak forces that, in concert, provide the capsid with a great deal of stability. The weak forces at work include attraction or repulsion between electrostatic charges, water solubility, and constituent amino acid structures in various parts of the capsid.\n"}, {"Source": "ovenbird's nest", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protective home", "Function2": "repel attack", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/dome-shape-protects-nest/", "Strategy": "Dome‑shape Protects Nest\n\nThe nest of the ovenbird is a protective home because it is a dome made of mud pellets.\n\n“In about two weeks these diminutive birds manage to work two thousand pellets of mud, weighing about ten pounds in all, into an impressive dome…The oven’s construction involves building a rather ordinary but oversized adobe cup on the branch. This is then built up to make a sphere with a circular opening on one side, close to but not directly over the branch. Adding the mud pellets and smoothing them out without risking a collapse of the domed roof as it curves inward must require considerable care; the procedure employs behavior highly modified from that used for the cup…The birds construct a curved internal wall about three-quarters of the way toward the roof, creating an entrance chamber between the door and the nest cavity. The indirect entryway becomes a severe obstacle for predators, and the smooth concrete-like dried mud itself repels attacks.”"}, {"Source": "woody vine's stem", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "provide flexibility", "Function2": "cope with twists and turns", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/structure-and-shape-provide-flexibility/", "Strategy": "Structure and Shape Provide Flexibility\n\nArchitecture of vines increases flexibility via soft tissue components and ribbon-like shape.\n\n“There is another way in which the stem anatomy of woody vines differs from that of trees. In trees, the wood or xylem, of which only the newest and outermost annual ring actually conducts water, is in the form of a solid cylinder whose rigidity is able to support large crowns of leaves and branches. Vines need to be more flexible to cope with the twists and turns of climbing or the stresses that result when they partly or completely slip away from their supports. Woody vines achieve flexibility by having a considerable amount of soft tissue as well as wood in their stems. In some, the cylinder of wood is divided into segments that alternate with soft tissue; in others, there are alternating cylinders of wood and soft tissue. Some woody vines also have flattened, ribbon-like stems to achieve greater flexibility.”"}, {"Source": "king cobra's tracheal pocket", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "produce hissing sounds", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/pocket-like-structures-produce-hissing-sounds/", "Strategy": "Pocket‑like Structures Produce Hissing Sounds\n\nPocket-like structures extending from the trachea of a king cobra help produce the snake's growl-like hisses by serving as low-frequency resonance chambers.\n“In 1991, studies conducted by Dr. Bruce Young of Hollins College, Virginia, with king cobras (Ophiophagus hannah) suggest that although they have only vestigial ears, they are able to hear their characteristic, unusually deep, growl-like hisses. These are believed to be produced via pocket-like structures called diverticula extending from the trachea that seem to function as low-frequency resonance chambers. Clearly, there is still a lot to learn about the mechanisms and limits of snake vocalization, especially in view of the controversial claims that have been made for the abilities of certain species.”"}, {"Source": "sea snail's egg capsule", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "resist cracks", "Function2": "reduce crack propagation", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/magnesium-substitution-prevents-cracks/", "Strategy": "Magnesium Substitution Prevents Cracks\n\nThe egg capsule of a sea snail resists cracks due to substituting calcium with magnesium.\n\nThe sea snail Odontocymbiola magellanica has evolved to substitute magnesium for calcium in the calcite of its eggshells in order to make them more durable and resistant to cracks. The precise chemical mechanism is unknown but crack propagation seems to be reduced with the addition of the magnesium content. The eggshells of O. magellanica contain ~21% of their Ca substituted for Mg."}, {"Source": "foam-nesting frog's bubble nest", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "form a biocompatible incubation medium", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/constructing-bubble-nests/", "Strategy": "Constructing Bubble Nests\n\nBubble nests of foam-nesting frogs are constructed with precision using a three phase process.\n\n“Frogs that build foam nests floating on water face the problems of over-dispersion of the secretions used and eggs being dangerously exposed at the foam : air interface. Nest construction behaviour of túngara frogs, Engystomops pustulosus [formerly Physalaemus pustulosus], has features that may circumvent these problems. Pairs build nests in periodic bursts of foam production and egg deposition, three discrete phases being discernible. The first is characterized by a bubble raft without egg deposition and an approximately linear increase in duration of mixing events with time. This phase may reduce initial over-dispersion of foam precursor materials until a critical concentration is achieved. The main building phase is marked by mixing events and start-to-start intervals being nearly constant in duration. During the final phase, mixing events do not change in duration but intervals between them increase in an exponential-like fashion. Pairs joining a colonial nesting abbreviate their initial phase, presumably by exploiting a pioneer pair’s bubble raft, thereby reducing energy and material expenditure, and time exposed to predators. Finally, eggs are deposited only in the centre of nests with a continuously produced, approximately 1 cm deep egg-free cortex that protectively encloses hatched larvae in stranded nests.” \n\n“Several tropical frogs, known as foam-nesters, also build a nest of bubbles. The mother exudes a fluid and beats it into microscopic bubbles with her hind legs. She then lays her eggs inside, and her mate, who has clung to her back throughout, fertilizes them. As the parents leave, the outer bubbles harden to form a protective case that encloses a foamy core of several thousand eggs. This foam nursery provides shelter from predators, bacteria, and sunlight, as well as preventing dehydration. Because the foam is mostly air it supplies all the embryos’ oxygen needs until well after hatching. The nest then disintegrates, and the young emerge from the crowded apartment and, all being well, drop into the water below.”\n\n“The foam nests of the túngara frog (Engystomops pustulosus) [formerly Physalaemus pustulosus] form a biocompatible incubation medium for eggs and sperm while resisting considerable environmental and microbiological assault. We have shown that much of this behaviour can be attributed to a cocktail of six proteins, designated ranaspumins (Rsn-1 to Rsn-6), which predominate in the foam. These fall into two discernable classes based on sequence analysis and biophysical properties. Rsn-2, with an amphiphilic amino acid sequence unlike any hitherto reported, exhibits substantial detergent-like surfactant activity necessary for production of foam, yet is harmless to the membranes of eggs and spermatozoa. A further four (Rsn-3 to Rsn-6) are lectins, three of which are similar to fucolectins found in teleosts but not previously identified in a land vertebrate, though with a carbohydrate binding specificity different from previously described fucolectins. The sixth, Rsn-1, is structurally similar to proteinase inhibitors of the cystatin class, but does not itself appear to exhibit any such activity. The nest foam itself, however, does exhibit potent cystatin activity. Rsn-encoding genes are transcribed in many tissues of the adult frogs, but the full cocktail is present only in oviduct glands. Combinations of lectins and cystatins have known roles in plants and animals for defence against microbial colonization and insect attack. Túngara nest foam displays a novel synergy of selected elements of innate defence plus a specialized surfactant protein, comprising a previously unreported strategy for protection of unattended reproductive stages of animals.” "}, {"Source": "pearl oyster's protein", "Application": "hard materials", "Function1": "guide mineral crystal growth", "Function2": "contribute to strength and shape", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/protein-complex-guides-nacre-formation/", "Strategy": "Protein Complex Guides Nacre Formation\n\nThe protein, Pif, secreted by pearl oysters contributes to the strength and shape of the shell due to key amino acids that guide mineral crystal growth.\nBehind every hard, mineral crystalline material in nature, there’s a bevy of soft proteins guiding its formation and contributing to its strength and resilience. The hard calcium carbonate shells of oysters rely on a set of proteins that perform several key functions. They trigger dissolved calcium carbonate to crystallize out of solution, direct crystal growth into an ordered arrangement, and attach themselves to the crystals and each other to form a strongly bonded, properly shaped material. Although these proteins are made up of hundreds of amino acid building blocks, several amino acids appear to play major roles. Acidic amino acids, particularly aspartate, play a major role in crystal formation and binding protein and crystals together. Sulfur-containing amino acids, particularly cysteine, play a major role in binding proteins to each other to add strength and hold its shape.\n\n"}, {"Source": "amoeba's cytoskeleton", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "change properties quickly", "Function2": "form structural materials with different shapes and properties", "Function3": "break down and reform actin fiber networks", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/microcopic-skeletons-support-cellular-structure-and-movement/", "Strategy": "Microscopic “Skeletons” Support\nCellular Structure and Movement\n\nCytoskeletons of an amoeba change properties quickly by varying cross-links of actin polymer filaments in response to changing environmental cues.\nImagine if our skeletal structure could change in response to immediate circumstance–bones thicken and solidify when supporting heavy loads or become lighter, more airy and springy when jogging. While we can’t do that, single-celled organisms such as amoeba can. Actin polymer filaments, the basis of cellular skeletons (cytoskeleton), cross-link to each other in different ways to form a variety of network archictectures. Key players in this system are “actin binding proteins” (ABP) that cross-link actin filaments together. The amoeba, Dictyostelium discoideum, uses actin filament and ABPs to form structural materials with different shapes and properties for diverse functions such as locomotion, internal transport of nutrients, and reproduction. To play these various functional roles, actin fiber networks need to be quickly and repeatedly broken down and reformed. One way to control these changes is by varying pH levels. D. discoideum‘s ABPs contain a high content of the amino acid, histidine, which makes the actin fiber networks susceptible to structural regulation by pH adjustment. The adjustment conditions that effect ABP positioning and concentration allow for the cell to change its cytoskeletal shape and properties in relatively short order.\n\n"}, {"Source": "larval jewel beetle's mandible", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "strong beak", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/metal-free-beaks-are-strong/", "Strategy": "Metal‑free Beaks Are Strong\n\nThe mandibles of the larval jewel beetle are as hard as some stainless steels by sheathing chitin fibers in protein and cross-linking.\nLarval jewel beetles spend up to five years boring through hardwood before metamorphosizing into adult beetles and emerging. The mandibles they produce must be strong enough to chew through the tough acacia wood. Most arthropods and invertebrates incorporate minerals and transition metals into such structures that demand extreme strength and hardness (e.g., beaks, jaws, shells) and this addition has been long considered crucial to their physical properties. However, the larval jewel beetle’s mandible is stronger than most metal-laden biomaterials yet contains only carbon-based, organic materials. Amazingly, this material is composed of fibers of crystalline chitin sheathed in proteins that cross-link and harden.\n\n"}, {"Source": "bagworm moth's larvae", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "resist crushing", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/spiral-patterned-cases-prevent-crushing/", "Strategy": "Spiral‑patterned Cases Prevent Crushing\n\nLarvae of bagworm moths protect themselves from being crushed by building spiral-patterned cases out of environmental materials such as twigs, leaves, and silk.\n\n“The bagworm constructs a case around itself soon after hatching from its egg. The bagworm finds twigs or leaves in the tree or shrub where it feeds, and weaves these together in a silken case. As the bagworm grows, it adds to this ‘armor.’ The animal carries the protective case along with it as it moves around, poking out its head to feed. \n\n“When the bagworm is full-grown, it uses silk to anchor the case to a branch or leaf. Sealing the opening with silk, it spins a silk inner case, or cocoon. There the caterpillar pupates. The adult male develops wings and leaves his cocoon to mate. The adult female never leaves her cocoon and lays her eggs in it. When the eggs hatch, the larvae crawl out of the case and move away, each to make its own tiny new case. \n\n“The remarkable thing about the design of the bagworm twig casing is that it is designed to resist failure by crushing. The bagworm does this by placing the twigs in an ingenious pattern that, in section, forms a spiral configuration. Differing species apply this principle in various effective ways.” "}, {"Source": "prince's plume mustard's leaf cell", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "detoxify and sequester selenium", "Function2": "generate cysteine compound", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/plant-cells-transform-and-sequester-selenium-compounds/", "Strategy": "Plant Cells Transform and\nSequester Selenium Compounds\n\nCells in the leaves of the prince's plume mustard protect it from toxic organic selenium by detoxifying and sequestering it at the edges of its leaves where it performs a pest control function.\nSelenium is a necessary nutrient in low quantities for plants and animals, but it rapidly becomes highly toxic with increased doses. In animals, it is associated with numerous neurological, physiological, and congenital diseases. In plants, it causes reduced growth, necrosis, inefficient photosynthesis, and the accumulation of harmful free radicals. Some plants, however, like the prince’s plume mustard, hyperaccumulate and sequester selenium compounds by modifying its chemical state and physical location. These organisms can tolerate levels of selenium that kill most other plants. When the mustard’s cells detect higher concentration of the reactive oxygen species (ROS) selenium produces, they begin producing more ROS scavengers and enzymes that generate cysteine compounds. These enzymes incorporate sulfur into useful cysteine, but selenium competes for their activity and results in the erroneous generation of toxic selenocysteine (SeCys). But other enzymes produced by the plant tack on a methyl group to SeCys rendering it nontoxic. Transporter proteins then shuttle and sequester the methylated selenium compound at the edges of leaves where it not only poses no threat to the rest of the plant, it actually serves to repel would-be predators.\n\n"}, {"Source": "diatom's membrane-bound vesicle", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "template the design", "Function2": "trigger silica deposition", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/protein-directs-silica-growth/", "Strategy": "Protein Directs Silica Growth\n\nMembrane-bound vesicles in diatoms build the organism's mineral shell by secreting proteins that template the design and trigger silica deposition.\nThe diatom’s silica shell, or frustule, has a top half (epitheca) and bottom half (hypotheca) that fit together like a micro-sized 18th century snuff box. One or more overlapping silica girdle bands surround the rims of each theca like tamper-proof seals on the outside of food containers. While humans have mastered the art of glass-making (silica is the major component of glass), we depend on high temperatures to manifest our design ideas in this medium. Diatoms, on the other hand, have mastered the intricate art of “glass-making” without heating their surroundings. Instead, information contained in the specific 3-dimensional shape of proteins associated with still mysterious membrane-bound silica deposition vesicle, facilitates the formation of silica nanospheres that make up the diatom’s silica shell. Researchers have recently discovered a set of proteins they’ve named “cingulins” because they appear to self-assemble into micro-scale rings that conform to the shape and pattern of the silica girdle band, a region of the diatom called the “cingulum.” Cingulins are thought to mediate formation of the girdle band by templating the design and triggering silica deposition."}, {"Source": "cell's fatty membrane", "Application": "packaging", "Function1": "self-repair", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/membranes-self-repair/", "Strategy": "Membranes Self‑repair\n\nThe fatty membranes of cells are capable of self-repair using a mechanism that involves calcium-dependent exocytosis.\n“Self-repair: Our bodies are packages within packages. Every cell has a fatty membrane that self-assembles when placed in water, then reassembles when a breach occurs. Imagine a polymer wrapper that would heal when ripped during use, but would eventually decompose when placed in a compost heap.”\n\n"}, {"Source": "desulforudis audaxviator", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "produce essential amino acids", "Function2": "fix carbon and nitrogen", "Function3": "use inorganic sources of energy", "Function4": "fix nitrogen", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/numerous-biochemical-pathways-enable-independent-life/", "Strategy": "Numerous Biochemical Pathways\nEnable Independent Life\n\nThe extremophile, Desulforudis audaxviator, produce all essential amino acids by developing unique methods of fixing both carbon and nitrogen.\nFew organisms are similar to Desulforudis audaxviator in that they are anaerobic chemolithoautotrophs. In other words, they are able to use inorganic sources of energy (instead of consuming organic molecules as food or using sunlight), fix their own carbon (rather than rely on plants to convert carbon dioxide to organic compounds), and use chemicals other than oxygen for respiration. What’s more, D. audaxviator can also fix its own nitrogen and use it to synthesize the entire repertoire of amino acids necessary for life. Taken together, these characteristics mean that D. audaxviator is capable of complete independence from other organisms.\n\n\n"}, {"Source": "sandcastle worm's tube-like shelter", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "construct tube-like shelters", "Function2": "capture and transport food", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/shelters-constructed-underwater/", "Strategy": "Shelters Constructed Underwater\n\nTube-like shelters of sandcastle worms are constructed from mineral particles using an underwater, quick-set glue.\n\n“Phragmatopoma californica, also called the Sandcastle worm, is a polychaete…which lives in intertidal zones off the coast of California. The worm deploys a crown of ciliated tentacles for capturing and transporting food and particulates from the water column to its mouth where the captured materials are evaluated with ciliated lips. Food is ingested, unsuitable particles are cast away, while particles judged to be of the right size, shape, composition, and surface chemistry for incorporation into the tube are passed to a pair of dexterous palps, the so-called building organ, located immediately ventral to the mouth. Two minute spots of proteinaceous adhesive are applied before the particles are pressed into place by the building organ onto the end of the tube. The worm wriggles the newly placed particles until the adhesive sets, which takes less than 30 s under cold salty water [3].”"}, {"Source": "barnacle's cement", "Application": "underwater adhesives", "Function1": "tenacious underwater adhesion", "Function2": "proteinaceous cement substance", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/multiple-component-glue-aids-underwater-adhesion/", "Strategy": "Multiple Component Glue\nAids Underwater Adhesion\n\nThe proteinaceous cement substance produced by barnacles allows tenacious underwater attachment due to cooperation of four cement proteins.\n“Barnacles have the capability for tenacious underwater adhesion to the surfaces by a proteinaceous cement substance. Three major proteins had been identified in a previous study and this study adds a fourth. It is suggested that each cement protein fulfills a distinct and specific role in underwater adhesion, and that firm barnacle adhesion is achieved cooperatively by these cement proteins. Understanding the specific role of each cement protein will help to provide a better understanding of barnacle settlement and of synthetic polymer mimics, including underwater adhesives.” \n\n“Enzymes and biochemical mechanisms essential to survival are under extreme\nselective pressure and are highly conserved through evolutionary time. We\napplied this evolutionary concept to barnacle cement polymerization, a process\ncritical to barnacle fitness that involves aggregation and cross-linking of\nproteins. The biochemical mechanisms of cement polymerization remain largely\nunknown. We hypothesized that this process is biochemically similar to blood\nclotting, a critical physiological response that is also based on aggregation\nand cross-linking of proteins. Like key elements of vertebrate and\ninvertebrate blood clotting, barnacle cement polymerization was shown to\ninvolve proteolytic activation of enzymes and structural precursors,\ntransglutaminase cross-linking and assembly of fibrous proteins. Proteolytic\nactivation of structural proteins maximizes the potential for bonding\ninteractions with other proteins and with the surface. Transglutaminase\ncross-linking reinforces cement integrity. Remarkably, epitopes and sequences\nhomologous to bovine trypsin and human transglutaminase were identified in\nbarnacle cement with tandem mass spectrometry and/or western blotting. Akin to\nblood clotting, the peptides generated during proteolytic activation\nfunctioned as signal molecules, linking a molecular level event (protein\naggregation) to a behavioral response (barnacle larval settlement). Our\nresults draw attention to a highly conserved protein polymerization mechanism\nand shed light on a long-standing biochemical puzzle. We suggest that barnacle\ncement polymerization is a specialized form of wound healing. The\npolymerization mechanism common between barnacle cement and blood may be a\ntheme for many marine animal glues.” "}, {"Source": "algae and bacteria's extracellular polymeric substances", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "complex extracellular polymeric substance", "Function2": "aid in numerous roles", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/biopolymer-secretions-serve-numerous-life-supporting-functions/", "Strategy": "Biopolymer Secretions Serve\nNumerous Life‑supporting Functions\n\nExtracellular polymeric substances produced by communities of algae and bacteria provide functions such as movement and stability using primarily a mixture of different carbohydrate building blocks with additions of proteins.\nPeriphytons are communities of photosynthetic and heterotrophic, single-celled organisms that form on many submerged marine and freshwater surfaces. They secrete complex extracellular polymeric substances (EPSs) that aid in numerous roles including adhesion, cohesion, and motility. In some species, they are used as carbon sinks for photosynthesis (when other nutrients are in short supply) and in others they serve as carbon reservoirs for feeding. They can be synthesized in a diverse variety of forms since they contain carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and in some cases mineral adjuncts.\n\n"}, {"Source": "halophilic archea's proteins", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "resist the denaturing effect", "Function2": "remain folded at very high ionic strengths", "Function3": "decrease the salt dependence", "Function4": "engineer a protein into an obligate halophilic form", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/proteins-function-in-saline-environments/", "Strategy": "Proteins Function in Saline Environments\n\nProteins of halophilic archea resist the denaturing effect of highly saline environments via tightly folded configurations and small accessible surface areas.\n“Proteins from halophilic organisms, which live in extreme saline conditions, have evolved to remain folded at very high ionic strengths. The surfaces of halophilic proteins show a biased amino acid composition with a high prevalence of aspartic and glutamic acids, a low frequency of lysine, and a high occurrence of amino acids with a low hydrophobic character. Using extensive mutational studies on the protein surfaces, we show that it is possible to decrease the salt dependence of a typical halophilic protein to the level of a mesophilic form and engineer a protein from a mesophilic organism into an obligate halophilic form. NMR studies demonstrate complete preservation of the three-dimensional structure of extreme mutants and confirm that salt dependency is conferred exclusively by surface residues. In spite of the statistically established fact that most halophilic proteins are strongly acidic, analysis of a very large number of mutants showed that the effect of salt on protein stability is largely independent of the total protein charge. Conversely, we quantitatively demonstrate that halophilicity is directly related to a decrease in the accessible surface area.” "}, {"Source": "eastern bluebird's feather", "Application": "sustainable paints", "Function1": "produce vivid non-iridescent colors", "Function2": "bend and bounce different wavelengths of light", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/feathers-produce-non-iridescent-colors/", "Strategy": "How Birds Create a Blue That Never Fades\n\nFeathers of eastern bluebirds produce vivid non-iridescent colors using self-assembled, quasi-ordered nanostructures.\nIntroduction \n\nFew colors in the animal world are so uniform and breathtaking as the vivid blue of the eastern bluebird (Sialia sialius). It’s hard to imagine that such a standout hue could be due not to the normal absorption of light that produces color, but to the shape of ultra-tiny, disordered structures within the barbs of the bird’s feathers. These nanoscale formations bend and bounce different wavelengths of light in different ways.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nBarbs are the individual comblike fronds that extend out from the stiff center of a feather and then stick together to form the vane. Looking extremely closely at the blue parts of bluebird feathers, scientists have discovered that the barbs are made of long strands of a protein called β-keratin tangled together, with air in between. The tangles scatter different wavelengths of incoming light evenly, creating a single color that looks the same from whichever angle it’s being viewed. This is different from iridescent light, which is produced when light is reflected unevenly in different directions. Iridescence causes the color to change depending on what direction an observer is looking at it from (think of feathers on a peacock or grackle).\n\nThe nanostructures that help create the blue for bluebird feathers are very similar to the shape that large molecules take when they are separating out of a solvent—a process not unlike how oil forms spheres when mixed with water and is then allowed to settle out. In fact, scientists think that the configuration arises during the feather’s development in exactly this way.\n\nFirst the cells produce β-keratin. Next, the β-keratin forms a long chain, which causes it to begin to separate in a way that mirrors the way molecules separate out of a solvent. Then, at a certain genetically determined point, the molecules start linking to each other in a way that causes the separation to stop. Exactly when the process stops determines the color produced.\n\nThe configuration that the molecules end up adopting is easy to achieve because it’s the shape that chemistry and physics dictate for the situation. In the case of the eastern bluebird, it also causes light waves to bend and scatter in a way that causes the amazing “bluebird blue” to be reflected back to an observer’s eyes. If the observer is a bluebird of the opposite sex and the configuration is just right to that bird’s eye, the two may mate and pass on the genes that regulate this process, ensuring it endures for another generation.\n\nThe Potential \n\nThis so-called “structural” approach to creating color through the configuration of molecules rather than through the use of pigments provides inspiration for the development of vivid, and more sustainable, fade-resistant paints. Lessons learned about how to direct the flow of light waves might also be used to improve solar photovoltaic cells and light technologies such as laser.\n\nBeyond that, a broader lesson comes in the form of how to think about solving problems. It just might be worth pondering broad chemical and physical principles—gravity, entropy, magnetic attraction, etc.—and consider how they   might be helpful in achieving an end. Designs based on, and taking advantage of, universal laws can be far more efficient and compatible with living things than those that ignore the basic laws of nature.\n\n"}, {"Source": "micromonospora echinospora bacteria's glycosyltransferase", "Application": "sugar cation", "Function1": "perform reversible reaction", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/enzymes-catalyze-reversible-reactions/", "Strategy": "Enzymes Catalyze Reversible Reactions\n\nGlycosyltransferase enzymes produced by Micromonospora echinospora bacteria reversibly catalyze complex organic reactions between sugars and other molecules.\nConventional industrial techniques for glycosylating organic compounds rely upon multi-step organic synthesis reactions; these reactions usually require toxic reagents and solvents and are not readily reversible. \n\nGlycosyltransferase enzymes represent a superior way to perform the same task. Not only do they not require toxic compounds, they also perform the reaction in one reversible step. The ramifications of this reversibility are that the relative abundance of the modified and un-modified forms of the compound can be regulated via addition or removal of the different forms.\n\n"}, {"Source": "red flour beetle's cuticle", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protect chitin", "Function2": "organize chitin", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/protein-helps-organize-cuticle/", "Strategy": "Protein Helps Organize Cuticle\n\nChitin in the cuticle of the red flour beetle is protected from degradation and organized and layered thanks to a special protein.\n“During each molting cycle of insect development, synthesis of new cuticle occurs concurrently with the partial degradation of the overlying old exoskeleton. Protection of the newly synthesized cuticle from molting fluid enzymes has long been attributed to the presence of an impermeable envelope layer that was thought to serve as a physical barrier, preventing molting fluid enzymes from accessing the new cuticle and thereby ensuring selective degradation of only the old one. In this study, using the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum, as a model insect species, we show that an entirely different and unexpected mechanism accounts for the selective action of chitinases and possibly other molting enzymes. The molting fluid enzyme chitinase, which degrades the matrix polysaccharide chitin, is not excluded from the newly synthesized cuticle as previously assumed. Instead, the new cuticle is protected from chitinase action by the T. castaneum Knickkopf (TcKnk) protein. TcKnk colocalizes with chitin in the new cuticle and organizes it into laminae. Down-regulation of TcKnk results in chitinase-dependent loss of chitin, severe molting defects, and lethality at all developmental stages. The conservation of Knickkopf across insect, crustacean, and nematode taxa suggests that its critical roles in the laminar ordering and protection of exoskeletal chitin may be common to all chitinous invertebrates.”"}, {"Source": "split gill fungus's hydrophobins", "Application": "water-proof barrier", "Function1": "self-assemble into barrier layers", "Function2": "water-repellent", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/self-assembling-surfaces-enable-growth/", "Strategy": "Self‑assembling Surfaces Enable Growth\n\nHydrophobins produced by the split gill fungus protect surfaces by self-assembling into a highly water-repellent layer when exposed to an air-water interface.\nThe split gill fungus synthesizes a class of small proteins called hydrophobins that self-assemble into barrier layers. This serves the fungus in two ways: first, the surfactant properties of the hydrophobins allow hyphae, the stringy filaments of the fungus, to breach the surface tension of water to form aerial protrusions used for reproduction; second, the hydrophobins spontaneously generate a robust water-proof barrier over the surface of the exposed hyphae to prevent water-logging of spores before they are released into the air. Hydrophobins self-assemble into barrier layers at the water-air interface by virtue of their specially adapted amino acid composition. They all contain 8 cysteine amino acids, which cross-link together via disulfide bridges when it is dissolved in water. This allows the protein to maintain a globular, water-soluble structure. When exposed to air, the disulfide bridges break and the proteins aggregate into amyloid rods. Amyloid rods are usually considered to be misfolded proteins and are the cause of numerous diseases, including Alzheimers. In fact, the amyloid nature of the hydrophobins in fungi is considered the first documented instance of amyloid proteins being useful in that state. The disulfide bridges keep the hydrophobins from prematurely self-assembling into a barrier layer."}, {"Source": "human genomic dna", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "densely pack dna", "Function2": "avoid knots and tangles", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/dna-densely-packed-without-knots/", "Strategy": "DNA Densely Packed Without Knots\n\nThe genomic DNA of humans is densely packed without knots into individual cells via fractal globule architecture.\n“‘We’ve long known that on a small scale, DNA is a double helix…But if the double\nhelix didn’t fold further, the genome in each cell would be two meters\nlong. Scientists have not really understood how the double helix folds\nto fit into the nucleus of a human cell, which is only about a hundredth\nof a millimeter in diameter…’\n\n“The researchers report two striking findings. First, the human genome is\norganized into two separate compartments, keeping active genes separate\nand accessible while sequestering unused DNA in a denser storage\ncompartment. Chromosomes snake in and out of the two compartments\nrepeatedly as their DNA alternates between active, gene-rich and\ninactive, gene-poor stretches….\n\n“Second, at a finer scale, the genome adopts an unusual organization\nknown in mathematics as a ‘fractal.’ The specific architecture the\nscientists found, called a ‘fractal globule,’ enables the cell to pack\nDNA incredibly tightly — the information density in the nucleus is\ntrillions of times higher than on a computer chip — while avoiding the\nknots and tangles that might interfere with the cell’s ability to read\nits own genome. Moreover, the DNA can easily unfold and refold during\ngene activation, gene repression, and cell replication.”\n\n“We identified an additional level of genome organization that is characterized by the spatial segregation of open and closed chromatin to form two genome-wide compartments. At the megabase scale, the chromatin conformation is consistent with a fractal globule, a knot-free, polymer conformation that enables maximally dense packing while preserving the ability to easily fold and unfold any genomic locus. The fractal globule is distinct from the more commonly used globular equilibrium model.” "}, {"Source": "chinese softshell turtles' eggshell", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "produce protein", "Function2": "promote mineral formation", "Function3": "kill bacteria", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/proteins-crystalize-minerals-kill-bacteria/", "Strategy": "Proteins Crystalize Minerals, Kill Bacteria\n\nThe eggshells of the Chinese softshell turtles are both strong and antimicrobial due to the production of a single protein, pelovaterin.\nEggshell represents a barrier designed to protect against both mechanical forces and microbial infection. Researchers have recently discovered a protein, pelovaterin, that is responsible for both roles. It forms spherical aggregates which trigger the formation of mineral crystals for deposition of the egg shell scaffold. Pelovaterin is also effective at killing certain strains of pathogenic bacteria by an as-of-yet unknown membrane active mechanism. The dual activity of pelovaterin means that turtles can synthesize one protein that both creates eggshell and protects it from infection if it cracks.\n\n"}, {"Source": "sea hare's glands", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protect organism", "Function2": "react to create unpalatable mixture", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/secreted-chemicals-repel-and-confuse-predators/", "Strategy": "Secreted Chemicals Repel\nand Confuse Predators\n\nGlands in sea hares secrete two compounds that protect the organism from predators by reacting together to create an unpalatable mixture of hydrogen peroxide and organic chemicals.\nSea snails and their cousins, sea hares, are extremely vulnerable creatures due to their soft bodies and limited maneuverability. To compensate for their natural disadvantages, sea hares have evolved complex chemical defenses including inks like those found in squid and octopodes. The inks are complex mixtures with remarkable properties. The secretion is composed of two viscous fluids, ink and opaline, that are produced and stored in separate glands. Independently, these two substances have characteristic functions; ink is an unpalatable substance that fish avoid consuming while opaline is not. However, when combined, enzymes in ink catalyze the breakdown of amino acids in opaline to produce new organic compounds and hydrogen peroxide, both of which are unpalatable to predatory fish and are even antimicrobial.\n\n"}, {"Source": "osmia avosetta bee's flower petal nest", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "durable", "Function2": "humid", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/nests-are-durable-and-humid/", "Strategy": "Nests Are Durable and Humid\n\nThe flower petal nests of Osmia avosetta bees are durable and humid because of their multi-layer design, with a hard layer sandwiched between organic layers.\n\n“With a flair for the colorful, O. avosetta makes a ‘petal\nsandwich’ out of two layers [of] flower petals inside a small burrow it digs\nin the ground, cementing them together with clay or mud. Then it caps\nthe chamber with a mud plug, which seals the humidity inside while\nletting the outside harden. It’s the perfect environment for the egg,\nsaid Jerome Rozen, curator in the Division of Invertebrate Zoology at\nthe American Museum of Natural History.” "}, {"Source": "cucumber plant tendril", "Application": "biomimetic twistless springs", "Function1": "twistless overwinding", "Function2": "soft response", "Function3": "strong strain-stiffening", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/plant-tendrils-act-as-spring/", "Strategy": "Plant Tendrils Act As Spring\n\nCucumber plant tendrils twist due to an asymmetric contraction of an internal fiber ribbon of specialized cells.\n“The helical coiling of plant tendrils has fascinated scientists for centuries, yet the underlying mechanism remains elusive. Moreover, despite Darwin’s widely accepted interpretation of coiled tendrils as soft springs, their mechanical behavior remains unknown. Our experiments on cucumber tendrils demonstrate that tendril coiling occurs via asymmetric contraction of an internal fiber ribbon of specialized cells. Under tension, both extracted fiber ribbons and old tendrils exhibit twistless overwinding rather than unwinding [that is, instead of unwinding to a flat ribbon under stress, as an untwisted coil normally would, the cucumber’s tendrils actually coil further], with an initially soft response followed by strong strain-stiffening at large extensions [i.e., as the strain on the tendril increases instead of the coils unravelling as might be expected the number of coils increases]. We explain this behavior using physical models of prestrained rubber strips, geometric arguments, and mathematical models of elastic filaments. Collectively, our study illuminates the origin of tendril coiling, quantifies Darwin’s original proposal, and suggests designs for biomimetic twistless springs with tunable mechanical responses.” "}, {"Source": "clearwing butterfly's wing", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "camouflage", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/lack-of-wing-scales-enhances-camouflage/", "Strategy": "Lack of Wing Scales Enhances Camouflage\n\nThe wings of a clearwing butterfly provide camouflage because they lack scales, allowing whatever background the butterfly has landed on to show through its wings.\n“Some butterfly scales are modified into short spiky points, others into long, fine hairs. In some butterflies, especially those known as the clearwings, parts of the wing carry few or no scales, or scales reduced to tiny bristles. The effect of this is to camouflage the insect by allowing its background — such as the flower on which it is feeding — to show through the wings.” "}, {"Source": "common pond snail", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "recover calcium", "Function2": "keep shell-building going", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/cells-undertake-calcification-in-freshwater/", "Strategy": "Pond Snails Recycle Calcium\nWhen Supplies Are Tight\n\nHydrogen ions push recovered calcium into cells to keep shell-building going strong.\nShellfish that live in salt water environments have an easily accessible source of the calcium and carbonate ions needed to build new shells. In contrast, those that live in freshwater environments, such as the common pond snail, need to develop clever mechanisms for obtaining those resources since the availability of dissolved calcium and carbonate ions is significantly less than that of their marine cousins. When resources of calcium ions are particularly low, the organism maintains critical calcium requirements for new shell formation by cycling internal sources from previously formed shell. Cells create a driving force for the uptake of calcium ions by utilizing the hydrogen ions generated from dissolved carbon dioxide. The hydrogen ions essentially exit the cell through a revolving protein door through which calcium ions summarily enter the cell.\n\n"}, {"Source": "nautilus's shell", "Application": "manmade objects underwater", "Function1": "create chamber", "Function2": "control buoyancy", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/shell-growth-through-compartmentalization/", "Strategy": "Shell Grows by Adding Chambers\n\nAs its body grows, a nautilus closes off the smaller shell space with a wall, creating a chamber that it uses to help control buoyancy.\nIntroduction \n\nTo a beachgoer, a seashell is often simply an object of beauty. To a mathematician it may be an object of intrigue or inspiration. But to the creature that made it, a shell is predominantly a protection. It protects the organism from harm in the form of predators, rocks, and other inanimate objects in its environment. But it poses a bit of a problem, too: How does an animal grow when it’s encased in a container that can’t grow with it?\n\nThe Strategy \n\nThe solution for the chambered nautilus (Nautilus pompilius) is simple and elegant. When it gets too large for its existing space, the (ultimately) volleyball-size nautilus adds on to the open end of its shell, expanding the diameter in a spiral configuration. And, in a remarkable and timely example of repurposing, it does not abandon its old space. Rather, it closes it off with a wall, creating a chamber that it uses to help stay buoyant as its body gets heavier.\n\nNautiluses live in the South Pacific, hundreds of meters beneath the surface of the ocean. They make their shell by mixing sugars, proteins, calcium, and other minerals, then adding the resulting crystallized material to the lip of the existing shell. But that’s not all. Every 150 days or so, a nautilus forms a membrane at its tail end that separates almost all of its body from the older portion of the shell. The one exception is a tube-shaped appendage called a siphuncle that extends back through the previously constructed chambers.\n\nWhen first formed, a chamber is filled with fluid. But over time, as the growing nautilus adds bulk, the siphuncle sucks the fluid from the chamber. As a result, the shell becomes more buoyant, counterbalancing the added weight of the living animals to maintain neutral buoyancy (a condition of neither sinking nor rising).\n\nOver the course of its life, a nautilus might add up to 30 chambers. In addition to gradually adjusting for its own increasing weight, it also can add or remove fluid from the old chambers more quickly to compensate for sudden changes such as a hefty meal or a sudden loss of part of its shell.\n\nThe Potential \n\nWhat lessons might we learn from the nautilus? The strategy of making and using closed chambers to take on and jettison a liquid already is used, and might be further applied, to regulate the position of submarines, drilling rigs, electricity-generating turbines and other manmade objects underwater.\n\nPerhaps more universally applicable and generally beneficial, however, is this takeaway: It’s not always necessary (or even beneficial) to throw something away when it is no longer suitable for its original purpose. Rather, we might do well to consider whether an existing structure might be retained, added to, and ultimately repurposed to provide a new and valuable benefit."}, {"Source": "desmid green algae's vacuole", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "sequester strontium", "Function2": "preferential precipitation", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/vacuoles-sequester-strontium/", "Strategy": "Vacuoles Sequester Strontium\n\nVacuoles in desmid green algae sequester Sr in the presence of excess calcium through a sulfate trap where the presence of dissolved barium leads to preferential precipitation of (Ba,Sr)SO4.\nMany cyanobacteria are known for their ability to sequester carbon dioxide through the precipitation of calcium carbonate but not many have been known to precipitate biominerals containing barium or strontium. What sets desmid green algae apart is its ability to sequester strontium (Sr) and barium (Ba). Sr and Ba are chemically very similar to calcium and when the elemental molecules are in the presence of one another, calcium often “outcompetes” the other two in forming a precipitant. However, researchers have found that when there is a large amount of dissolved barium in vacuoles where calcium and strontium are concentrated, the bacteria precipitates (Ba, Sr)SO4. They atrribute this finding to (Ba,Sr)SO4’s low solubility compared to other options for biomineral precipitants. 90Sr is a harmful radioactive element that has been linked to cancer as it can substitute for calcium in bone. In addition, during environmental disasters, cleanup teams struggle with removing 90Sr in the presence of calcium because of competition between the two for uptake."}, {"Source": "earth-star fungus", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "launch spores", "Function2": "split and turn inside out", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/double-layered-ball-assists-spore-dispersal/", "Strategy": "Double‑layered Ball Assists Spore Dispersal\n\nThe double-layered ball of an earth-star fungus launches spores by splitting its outer skin, turning it inside out, and using it to push the second sphere and its contents up and out.\n“The fungi belonging to the group known as earth-stars produce a ball with a double skin. When this ripens, the outer skin splits and turns inside out, so pushing the inner sphere upwards. The under surface of the split skin, in some species, is brightly coloured, red or yellow, so that an earth-star at this stage looks almost flower-like. The spores then puff out from a hole in the centre of the bag.”"}, {"Source": "marine amphipod's legs", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "produce adhesive underwater threads", "Function2": "combine barnacle cement biology with spider silk thread extrusion spinning", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/silk-threads-adhere-underwater/", "Strategy": "Silk Threads Adhere Underwater\n\nDucts on legs of a marine amphipod adhere to substrate due to release of fibrous, adhesive underwater threads.\n“The discovery of a novel silk production system in a marine amphipod provides insights into the wider potential of natural\nsilks. The tube-building corophioid amphipod Crassicorophium bonellii\nproduces from its legs fibrous, adhesive underwater threads that\ncombine barnacle cement biology with aspects of spider silk\nthread extrusion spinning. We characterised the filamentous\nsilk as a mixture of mucopolysaccharides and protein deriving\nfrom glands representing two distinct types. The\ncarbohydrate and protein silk secretion is dominated by complex β-sheet\nstructures\nand a high content of charged amino acid residues. The\nfilamentous secretion product exits the gland through a pore near the\ntip of the secretory leg after having moved through a duct,\nwhich subdivides into several small ductules all terminating in\na spindle-shaped chamber. This chamber communicates with the\nexterior and may be considered the silk reservoir and processing/mixing\nspace, in which the silk is mechanically and potentially\nchemically altered and becomes fibrous.”"}, {"Source": "sea urchin's open stereom", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "grow spines", "Function2": "create bridges", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/skeleton-forming-cells-regenerate-spines/", "Strategy": "Skeleton‑forming Cells Regenerate Spines\n\nCells in open stereom in sea urchins grow spines by creating bridges through calcite precipitation.\nOver several days, sea urchins are able to grow spines in places where damage has been inflicted. Once the damage has occurred, the urchins begin growing micro-spines in a conical shape by precipitating calcite. These initial micro-spines are thin with a rounded tip. “Lateral growth takes place allowing adjacent micro-spines to join by forming a horizontal ‘bridge’” . The formation of bridges results in a fenestrated meshwork spanning from the base of the spines to the tip. This meshwork is referred to as the open stereom. While new tuberculae grow, the ones bridged by the meshwork continue to thicken simultaneously."}, {"Source": "geoffrey coates", "Application": "poly(hydroxyalkanoate)", "Function1": "store carbon and energy", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/storing-carbon-and-energy/", "Strategy": "Storing Carbon and Energy\n\nBacteria store carbon and energy by synthesizing a polymer known as poly(beta-hydroxybutyrate) or PHB.\n“Geoffrey Coates and others at Cornell University have discovered a highly efficient chemical route for synthesis of a polymer known as poly(beta-hydroxybutyrate) or PHB, a thermoplastic polyester found in nature, particularly in some bacteria. Bacteria use it as a storage form of carbon and energy. According to Coates’s website…’Poly(hydroxyalkanoate)s (PHAs) are naturally-occurring biodegradable polyesters that are presently commercially made by fermentation. We are working to develop an alternate route that consists of carbonylation of epoxides to beta-lactones, followed by ring-opening polymerization to yield PHAs. A key advance in our lab regarding this strategy was the discovery of epoxide carbonylation catalysts consisting of Lewis-acidic cations in combination with Co(CO)4 anions. These highly active and selective catalysts carbonylate a wide range of epoxides and lactones to their corresponding lactones and anhydrides. Current work focuses on the elucidation of their mechanisms of operations, and the development of more active and stereoselective variants of these catalysts.'” "}, {"Source": "grasshopper's leg", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "detect sound", "Function2": "detect direction", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/leg-senses-sound-strength-and-direction/", "Strategy": "Leg Senses Sound Strength and Direction\n\nGrasshoppers detect sound and the direction of its source with leg membranes.\n“Grasshoppers listen with their legs. They have two slits on the first pair of thighs which lead to deep pockets. The common wall between these forms a membrane which is the equivalent of an eardrum. The angle at which sound strikes the slits affects the strength in which it reaches the drum, so the grasshopper, by waving its legs in the air, can discover the direction from which a call is coming.” "}, {"Source": "leaves of some plants", "Application": "creative design", "Function1": "maximize photosynthetic returns", "Function2": "adapt to biological surroundings", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/leaf-traits-and-functions-adapt-to-demands-of-local-niche/", "Strategy": "Leaf Traits and Functions Adapt\nto Demands of Local Niche\n\nPlants maximize photosynthetic returns on investments in leaf production by adopting strategies that cater to the demands of their biological surroundings.\nWhen planning to construct a new building or apply a new technology, creators may mimic the way a plant invests its energy when creating a leaf. Each design must be adapted to the place in which it is planned to be implemented. A building that will experience low-intensity change in technology may require more investment early on so that it may last a longer time in its environment. In competitive technological fields where research advances daily (such as solar panal design), however, less initial investment may be needed because once the technology is in place for use it will likely be replaced by another technology that does the job more efficiently. Thus, by turning to nature for example, we can fit form to function and effectively manage the returns on investments in the most efficient way possible.\n\n"}, {"Source": "insects' socketed hairs", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "detect environmental stimuli", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/hairs-sense-environmental-cues/", "Strategy": "Hairs Sense Environmental Cues\n\nSocketed hairs of insects detect environmental stimuli through vibration.\n“Most insects have socketed hairs (sensory setae) scattered over much of the body which vibrate in response to sounds and may also be sensitive to touch, humidity and light. Nocturnal insects, such as cockroaches, are particularly sensitive to sounds via their setae and have been known to shy away from vibrations issued at 3000 cycles per second–way beyond human hearing capabilities. The setae may also play other roles. Locusts use those on the head, between the antennae, to judge the direction and humidity of the breeze, and climb some eminence for this purpose. Subsequently, they may use the information thus gained to fly to areas of low pressure where rain is likely to induce lusher feeding pasture.” "}, {"Source": "jet ant's carton nest", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "reinforce the nest", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/nest-structurally-reinforced/", "Strategy": "Nest Structurally Reinforced\n\nThe carton nests of jet ants are reinforced by the hyphae of resident fungi.\n“Three animals, for instance, have independently invented the making of paper…Ants have developed yet another method of building carton nests; the jet ant (Lasius fuliginosus) impregnates wood particles with a sugar solution, which creates a nutritive substance for its cultivation of fungi, whose hyphae bind the particle together, thus reinforcing the nest structure; this increases the structural strength of the house.” "}, {"Source": "lizard's tail", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "escape from predators", "Function2": "minimal blood loss", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/tail-shedding-protects-from-predators/", "Strategy": "Tail Shedding Protects From Predators\n\nThe tail of a lizard helps it escape predators by breaking off at one of the cartilaginous fracture planes within its caudal vertebrae.\n“The shedding of tails, and sometimes other limbs too, is not uncommon in the natural world. Autotomy, as scientists call it, is a clever means of getting away from predators, which are literally left holding a part of the intended victim’s body. Not only is the victim able to survive the incident, it is able to replace the lost body part. Species from no less than 11 of the 16 classified families of lizard shed their tails in this way. The secret of the process lies in the structure of a typical lizard’s tail. Each of its caudal vertebrae from the sixth onward contains a weak horizontal ‘break’ or fracture plane, which is made of cartilage instead of bone and will snap easily if held. Also, within each vertebra’s fracture plane the blood vessels and nerves are constricted, so that if the tail does snap off, blood loss will be minimal.” "}, {"Source": "song thrush's nest", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "create a protective material", "Function2": "harden into a cardboard-like material", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/nest-lined-with-protective-material/", "Strategy": "Nest Lined With Protective Material\n\nCup-shaped nests of song thrush are lined with wood pulp because it hardens into a protective, cardboard-like material.\n“The song-thrush (Turdus philomelos) lines its nest cup with rotting wood fibres, which creates a kind of a pulp that hardens into a cardboard-like material.” "}, {"Source": "fairy shrimp's appendages and water flea's appendages", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "paddling movement", "Function2": "filter feeding", "Function3": "bristle-equipped appendages", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/appendages-used-for-movement-and-filtering/", "Strategy": "Appendages Used for Movement and Filtering\n\nThe appendages of fairy shrimp and water fleas are used for both paddling movement and filter feeding because they are equipped with bristles, allowing them to operate at different Reynolds numbers for different functions.\n“In a series of studies, Mimi Koehl and her collaborators have looked at (among other things) the bristle-equipped appendages of tiny crustaceans [such as fairy shrimp and water fleas], as in fig. 6.4. These creatures swim with such appendages, using them as paddles – with a lot of semistagnant water around each bristle, an appendage can serve as a paddle. The creatures also use such appendages as rakes, filtering edible particles from the water around them. That requires the passage of water between the bristles. Paddle or rake? The appendages look pretty much alike. What determines how one can be used is the Reynolds number at which it operates. [Reynolds number is the ratio of inertial forces to viscous forces. An object with a low Reynolds number has difficulty moving across currents in a fluid. One with a high Reynolds number moves more freely.] Viscosity and density are givens; size and speed of motion provide the operative variables. Large and fast lets an appendage rake; small and slow promotes paddling.”"}, {"Source": "caddisfly's portable case", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protect from predator", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/portable-cases-protect-from-predators/", "Strategy": "Portable Cases Protect From Predators\n\nSome caddisflies protect themselves from predators by building portable cases out of local materials - such as pebbles, sand, and aquatic plants - that are cemented together with silk or mucus.\n“There are a number of invertebrates (animals without backbones) that construct cases for themselves from materials abundant in their environments, like sand, pebbles, shells, and plant materials. These bits and pieces are cemented together with silky or mucous secretions from the creature. Caddis flies and sabellid or honeycomb tubeworms are two common examples. Whereas caddis flies appear to randomly select objects of varying sizes, honeycomb tubeworms select particles of uniformly small size for the primary layer of their tubes.” \n\n"}, {"Source": "red oak roller weevil's female", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "create package", "Function2": "hold eggs", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/leaf-serves-as-container/", "Strategy": "Leaf Serves As Container\n\nFemale red oak roller weevils create packages to hold their eggs by cutting and rolling oak leaves into tubes.\n“A weevil, the red oak roller, uses a leaf as a container for its young. It cuts the leaf transversely across the middle to the central rib, working first from one side then the other. It folds together the two quarters nearer the tip over the midrib and then rolls them into a double thickness tube. In that it lays its eggs.” "}, {"Source": "sponge's silica structure", "Application": "structured aggregates", "Function1": "self-assemble", "Function2": "assist material synthesis", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/protein-assists-self-assembly-of-materials/", "Strategy": "Protein Assists Self‑assembly of Materials\n\nSilica structures of sponges self-assemble with the help of silicatein (a protein).\n“The growing demand for benign materials synthesis methods has spawned research on self-assembly in living organisms. In sponges, silica structures are formed at ambient conditions with the help of silicatein, a protein that hydrolyzes and condenses the precursor molecule tetraethoxysilane. Researchers at the University of California, Santa Barbara synthesized cysteine-lysine block copolypeptides mimicking the properties of silicatein. The copolypeptides self-assembled into structured aggregates that hydrolyzed tetraethoxysilane while simultaneously directing the formation of ordered silica structures. Different types of silica structures could be produced by differentially oxidizing the cysteine sulphydryl groups. Species studied was Tethya aurantia.”\n"}, {"Source": "janthinid snail's foot", "Application": "easy-to-store personal flotation devices", "Function1": "make a bubble raft", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/bubble-raft-used-to-float-on-water/", "Strategy": "Snail Sculpts Bubbles to Make Life Raft\n\nThe foot of a Janthinid snail creates a bubble raft that allows the snail to float on the surface of the ocean. \nIntroduction \n\nSome snails live on land. Others live under water. Members of the Janthinidae family of ocean-dwelling snails live at the interface of water and air, floating upside down at the surface of tropical oceans with the help of a raft of bubbles they build with air and mucus.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nTo make its flotational device, a janthinid snail needs four things: air, water, mucus that is compatible with both, and its muscular foot. It starts by reaching above the surface of the water with the front of its foot. Then it curls in the edges of the foot to create a pocket of air. Glands in the foot spread mucus around the air pocket, creating a bubble. Finally, the snail draws its foot below the surface, leaving the bubble attached to the back part of the foot. Each bubble takes about 10 seconds to make, and the snail can create up to 10 or so without stopping. It might take an hour to produce a multi-chambered raft buoyant enough to allow the snail to maintain its position at the intersection of air and water.\n\nThe Potential \n\nThe janthinid bubble raft provides inspiration for a wide range of human innovations. Its sturdy but lightweight nature could provide insights useful for designing easy-to-store personal flotation devices, inexpensive packing materials, or foam for cushioning and insulation. Even the concept of living suspended at the interface between water and air can offer inspiration. As our planet becomes more crowded, it might be helpful to think beyond solid ground and imagine other places and spaces we humans might occupy, whether on land, in the air, on the water—or all of the above."}, {"Source": "rhodobacter sphaeroides bacteria", "Application": "production of biopolymers", "Function1": "produce biopolymers", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/fermentation-produces-biopolymers/", "Strategy": "Fermentation Produces Biopolymers\n\nThe metabolism of Rhodobacter sphaeroides bacteria can produce biopolymers such as PHB using carbon in a fermentation process.\n“PHB [polyhydroxybutyrate] can be synthesized by many microorganisms, such as Alcaligenes eutrophus, A. latus , Pseudomonas species and recombinant Escherichia coli …Rhodobacter sphaeroides has been reported to accumulate high amount of PHB (40–60% of dry cell weight, DCW)…In this study, the optimization using statistical method clearly indicated that carbon and nitrogen source had a profound effect on the biomass and PHB production. Acetate, an effective carbon source for growth and PHB production for all three strains of R. sphaeroides, is cheaper than malate, which is typically used in R. sphaeroides fermentation. Up to 50% of DCW of PHB content obtained from R. sphaeroides strain (N20 and U7) was similar to that from the recombinant E. coli…The results suggested that R. sphaeroides N20 had a good potential for production of PHB by fermentation in a 5-l bioreactor using a cultivation medium containing cheap carbon source acetate as the main substrate. The PHB content of 95% of the DCW achieved from this strain is the highest value ever reported from photosynthetic bacteria.” "}, {"Source": "cork oak", "Application": "water and gas barrier", "Function1": "provide a water-tight barrier", "Function2": "provide a barrier to dissolved ions", "Function3": "provide a barrier to gases", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/cork-bars-water-dissolved-ions-and-gases/", "Strategy": "Cork Bars Water, Dissolved Ions and Gases\n\nCork of cork oak provides a barrier to water, dissolved ions and gases due to tissues containing long-chain aliphate molecules.\n“The unique properties of cork combine low permeability, low temperature conductivity, and high chemical resistance with high elasticity and low weight. These properties and cork’s chemical composition, which is dominated by long-chain aliphates with terminal functional groups, have drawn attention to the use of suberin biosynthetic products in industrial applications.” "}, {"Source": "mammalian stratum corneum's keratin intermediate filament", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "resistant to water", "Function2": "protective covering", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/filaments-adopt-geometric-symmetry/", "Strategy": "Filaments Adopt Geometric Symmetry\n\nThe formation and dynamics of the keratin intermediate filaments in mammalian stratum corneum may be the result of membrane templating.\n“Keratin is tough, adaptable, flexible, resistant to water, and provides a good protective covering for the rest of the body. These qualities also make it an ideal material for the moulding of claws, nails and hooves…” \n\n“A new model for stratum corneum keratin structure, function, and formation is presented. The structural and functional part of the model, which hereafter is referred to as ‘the cubic rod-packing model’, postulates that stratum corneum keratin intermediate filaments are arranged according to a cubic-like rod-packing symmetry with or without the presence of an intracellular lipid membrane with cubic-like symmetry enveloping each individual filament. The new model could account for (i) the cryo-electron density pattern of the native corneocyte keratin matrix, (ii) the X-ray diffraction patterns, (iii) the swelling behavior, and (iv) the mechanical properties of mammalian stratum corneum. The morphogenetic part of the model, which hereafter is referred to as ‘the membrane templating model’, postulates the presence in cellular space of a highly dynamic small lattice parameter (<30 nm) membrane structure with cubic-like symmetry, to which keratin is associated. It further proposes that membrane templating, rather than spontaneous self-assembly, is responsible for keratin intermediate filament formation and dynamics. The new model could account for (i) the cryo-electron density patterns of the native keratinocyte cytoplasmic space, (ii) the characteristic features of the keratin network formation process, (iii) the dynamic properties of keratin intermediate filaments, (iv) the close lipid association of keratin, (v) the insolubility in non-denaturating buffers and pronounced polymorphism of keratin assembled in vitro, and (vi) the measured reduction in cell volume and hydration level between the stratum granulosum and stratum corneum. Further, using cryo-transmission electron microscopy on native, fully hydrated, vitreous epidermis we show that the subfilametous [sic] keratin electron density pattern consists, both in corneocytes and in viable keratinocytes, of one axial subfilament surrounded by an undetermined number of peripheral subfilaments forming filaments with a diameter of ~8 nm.”"}, {"Source": "magpie lark's nest", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "provide a sturdy home", "Function2": "reinforce the nest", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/nest-is-reinforced/", "Strategy": "Nest Is Reinforced\n\nThe nest of the magpie lark provides a sturdy home on a branch because it is a bowl-shape, made of mud and reinforced with sticks, feathers, fur, and grass.\n“The magpie lark of Australia constructs a bowl of mud strengthened not only with grass but with small sticks, feathers, and fur. This creation is placed atop a branch, so it must be well secured. Not only is there less surface area between nest and substrate than the swallows and martins have to work with, but the branch can move abruptly, whereas cliff faces do not. One behavioral response to this greater challenge is that the birds seem to vibrate the mud more intensely, apparently to forge a better bond as it liquefies and runs between the straw and other reinforcing material. The birds also wrap the mud almost completely around the supporting branch, enlarging the area of contact…the individual mud pellets cannot be distinguished, so complete has been the flow of liquefied mud.” "}, {"Source": "mature oak tree", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "provide shelter", "Function2": "provide lodging", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/providing-shelter-for-multiple-organisms/", "Strategy": "Providing Shelter for Multiple Organisms\n\nA mature oak tree provides shelter for hundreds of moths, birds, and bugs; each part of the tree houses its own inhabitants.\n“A mature oak tree, standing a hundred feet tall, provides lodging, and often board as well, for more different kinds of animals than any other European tree. Thirty species of birds, forty-five different bugs and over two hundred species of moth have been collected from oaks. Each part of the tree has its own particular lodgers.”"}, {"Source": "wasp's nest", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "strengthen nests", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/fibers-reinforce-nests/", "Strategy": "Fibers Reinforce Nests\n\nNests and honeycombs of wasps are sturdy because they incorporate fibers in a parallel pattern.\n“Reinforcement by the planned use of fibers, as in fiberglass or ferroconcrete, is also evident in the thin cardboard pillars of wasps’ nests and honeycombs. In principle, these pillars consist of the same material as the rest of the structure. However, they derive their great strength from the fact that all the wood fibers are arranged in a parallel pattern. That is to say, the wasps instinctively take into consideration the strength requirements of their building materials while building their nests–and they do so with ingenious simplicity.” "}, {"Source": "ant lion's larva", "Application": "automatic parts for feeding and packaging equipment", "Function1": "build sand pit", "Function2": "catch prey", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/sand-pit-captures-prey/", "Strategy": "Sand Pit Captures Prey\n\nThe larvae of ant lions capture prey by building sand pits with the steepest possible slope.\n“In fact, the biological use of complex materials transcends the normal world of viscoelasticity and shear-dependent solid-fluid transitions. A totally different kind of yield underlies the operation of the pit of a larval ant lion. An unbound pile of solid particles will form a slope no steeper than some ‘angle of repose,’ a phenomenon of great interest to both highway engineers and designers of automatic parts for feeding and packaging equipment. Lucas (1982) shows that the ant lion carefully maintains the greatest possible slope. The addition of a wandering ant then precipitates a miniature avalanche, with a large and efficient set of jaws barely buried at the bottom of the pit.”"}, {"Source": "termite nest's arches", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "provides structural support", "Function2": "support specialized chambers, ventilation shafts, and insulating cavities", "Function3": "supply walkways", "Function4": "provide structural strength", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/arches-provide-structural-support/", "Strategy": "Arches Provide Structural Support\n\nThe nests of termites gain structural support for chambers, ventilation shafts, and insulating cavities because arches are the main architectural element.\n“The basic building step in many termites involves gluing fecal pellets to make arches; the arches, supporting a network of other arches, provide most of the structural strength needed to support specialized chambers, ventilation shafts, and insulating cavities, and they supply convenient walkways as well. Recycling feces is a superb way to turn a problem into a solution…The construction of the arches goes well beyond flexibility and variation…Columns are neither too close nor too far apart to permit the subsequent construction of arches.” "}, {"Source": "tree's cell wall", "Application": "wood-like composites", "Function1": "form cell wall", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/wood-self-assembles/", "Strategy": "Wood Self‑assembles\n\nThe cell walls of wood in trees self-assemble through structural features, not biochemistry.\nA better understanding of how the cell wall of wood forms will someday help wood scientists assemble wood-like composites without using trees. The current hypothesis is that the cell wall of wood does not require biochemistry to form, but self-assembles spontaneously because of structural features. Researchers are studying this process carefully, in hopes that someday wood-like materials can be produced from other plant-derived molecules. \n\n"}, {"Source": "echinoderm skeleton plate", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "efficiently arrange calcium carbonate plate", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/skeleton-components-arranged-efficiently/", "Strategy": "Skeleton Components Arranged Efficiently\n\nThe skeletons of some echinoderms arrange their calcium carbonate plates efficiently using pentaradial symmetry.\n“Starfish have five arms; sand dollars have five radial food grooves on their undersides–this arrangement of five elements radiating from a center point (‘pentaradial symmetry’) is widespread among the echinoderms but unknown elsewhere in nature…Early echinoderms were covered with a skeleton made up of discrete plates of calcium carbonate. Now one can pave a floor with triangles, squares, or hexagons, but using pentagons alone inevitably leaves gaps. One can’t make an array of squares close on itself to form a hollow solid unless at eight special locations the apices of three rather than four squares touch, a distinct complication. And one can’t make any array solely of hexagons close on itself at all. Conversely one can get a closed, space-enclosing structure from triangles (tetrahedrons are the simplest, but others such as twenty-sided icosahedrons are possible) and pentagons (the simplest being the twelve-sided dodecahedron). Among the pentagons (fig. 4.13) hexagons can be intercalated practically without limit, but twelve basic pentagons must remain. In the most symmetrical arrangement, these pentagons are in six pairs with members of a pair at the opposite extremities of the solid. If we run an axis between members of one pair, the ten other pentagons then arrange themselves in two nearly equatorial rings. If enough hexagons are intercalated, these can form the key elements of five arms. And a look at any book treating the paleontology of echinoderms reveals a host of hexagonal plates. Perhaps a pentaradial symmetry is, in fact, a ‘natural’ or easy way to organize a radially symmetrical creature built of a shell of little solid elements!” "}, {"Source": "nurse shark's teeth", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "develop new rows of teeth", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/sharp-teeth-always-available/", "Strategy": "Sharp Teeth Always Available\n\nThe teeth of nurse sharks are always sharp and effective because new rows of teeth develop constantly to replace older, worn down teeth.\n“Seen at close quarters, a nurse shark reveals a formidable array of backward-curving teeth. Sharks are relatively primitive fish, their skeletons, and hence their jaws, being made of cartilage rather than bone…This nurse shark has three rows of teeth in use at a time. As they grow, they slowly move forwards and eventually drop out — they are probably in use for one or two weeks. But there are always rows of teeth developing behind to replace them. These teeth are larger than the ones currently in use, to keep pace with the shark’s growth. It has been estimated that, over a period of ten years, some sharks produce, use and shed about 24,000 teeth.”"}, {"Source": "arthropod's joint", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "two degrees of bending freedom", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/joints-have-two-degrees-of-bending-freedom/", "Strategy": "Joints Have Two Degrees of Bending Freedom\n\nThe joints of some arthropods have two degrees of bending freedom (up-down and left-right) thanks to two 1-degree bending joints found at right angles to each other.\n“Bending both up-down and left-right…Arthropods gain two degrees of bending freedom by putting two 1-degree bending joints next to each other, each oriented at a right angle to the other…The classic work on such cases was done by S.M. Manton, in the 1950s and 1960s; as put, with a long list of references, by Wainwright et al. (1976), ‘The accounts of her researches in this field constitute a monument in the study of mechanical design of the most mechanically diverse group of organisms that have ever lived.'” "}, {"Source": "garpike's scales", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "provide protection", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/scales-form-protective-armor/", "Strategy": "Scales Form Protective Armor\n\nThe scales of garpike provide protection via hard ganoin covering and lattice arrangement.\n“Fish scales come in a variety of styles. A few very primitive fish, including garpikes, have ganoid scales, diamond-shaped and forming a lattice pattern (diagram a). They are covered with a hard, shiny material called ganoin. Such scales were characteristic of many prehistoric fishes, loading them with cumbersome, inflexible armour plating.”"}, {"Source": "insects' antennae", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "interpret sensory input", "Function2": "assess air velocity", "Function3": "assess water current", "Function4": "assess gravity effect", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/organs-sense-environmental-cues/", "Strategy": "Organs Sense Environmental Cues\n\nInsects interpret sensory input from antennae using Johnston's organs.\n“Some insects’ antennae do in fact act as sound-wave receivers. Those of male midges and mosquitoes are quite as feather-like as moths’ but are geared to respond to the sound of the females’ wing beats, the whine of other males’ flight, as well as that of other species, being ignored. While the antennae receive the sounds, interpretation of the latter is made by special structures at their base called Johnston’s organs. These organs are found on most adult winged insects, as well as in aquatic insects and larvae, although they may have varying sensory roles, such as assessing air velocity, water current and, notably in subterranean insects, the effects of gravity.”"}, {"Source": "woodland ecosystem", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "recover from disturbances", "Function2": "require good light to grow", "Function3": "require nutrient-rich soil", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/plant-requirements-govern-recovery/", "Strategy": "Plant Requirements Govern Recovery\n\nWoodland ecosystems recover from disturbances via succession, depending on plants' various requirements for nutrients and light.\nIn October 1987 a hurricane struck southern England and over 15 million trees were destroyed. A few months later, foxgloves, which need good light to grow, sprang up quickly in the nutrient-rich woodland soil. During the first year of growth, the foxgloves store surplus food in their roots. During the second year, they flower and disperse about a quarter of a million seeds each. Many of the foxgloves then die, and their offspring may have to wait decades before having an opportunity to sprout. Nettles, which also require nutrient-rich soil, begin to compete with the foxgloves–they start more slowly, but spread more rapidly, developing mats of horizontal stems that other seedlings have a hard time penetrating. After several years, the nettles have extracted so many nutrients from the soil that it no longer meets their needs. They begin to falter, and the seeds of other plants with larger food stores, such as birch, begin to emerge. The birch seeds require lots of light to sprout, and once sprouted remain as seedlings for several years until conditions are most favorable. The birch gradually form a thicket, shading out other plants. Acorns also sprout and very slowly begin to grow. As the birch begin to fail, the oaks gradually reclaim the territory they held decades ago. The oaks, in turn, provide food and shelter for hundreds of woodland creatures. "}, {"Source": "african knifefish's long stomach fin", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "create propulsive water jets", "Function2": "move quickly and smoothly", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/fin-movements-aid-in-swimming-backward-and-forward/", "Strategy": "Fin Movements Aid in Swimming\nBackward and Forward\n\nThe undulating fin of the knifefish enables it to swim forward and backward, as well as keep it afloat, by creating propulsive water jets.\n\nWith its slick, streamlined body and long belly fin, moving around underwater may seem simple for an African knifefish (Gymnarchus niloticus). It is, however, a lot more complicated than how it appears at first glance. The knifefish must heavily rely on its long stomach fin to keep it both moving and afloat, as its undersized side fins don’t provide the lift needed in the water. Fortunately, this fin is a marvel in the animal world when it comes to movement, allowing the fish to quickly move in all directions–including backward.\n\nThese movements are all achieved with different types of undulations (wave-like movements) that the fin is able to undergo, as in this video. Similar to a human arm or leg, the fins of a fish are controlled by muscles, and it is thanks to these muscles that the stomach fin of the knifefish is able to move in such a way. By sending undulations (picture sports fans doing the wave during a sports game) along the fin from the front to the back of the fish, the water is churned up, creating a backward directed jet that pushes the fish forward. In reverse, undulating the fin from the back to the front churns up the water toward the front of the fish, creating a forward-directed jet, which pushes the fish backward.\n\nStaying in place, however, is a bit more complicated, as two equal waveforms must be initiated. These two waves must be created along the fin, starting from the opposite sides of the fish, and meeting in the middle. Once the two waves meet, both the forward and backward jets cancel out, and water is pushed downward, creating a new downward jet that keeps the fish from sinking by pushing it upward. Using these different undulation patterns in combination, the knifefish is able to move quickly and smoothly forward or backward.\n\nThis summary was contributed by Thomas McAuley-Biasi.\n\n"}, {"Source": "purple sea urchin teeth", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "co-orient crystal axis", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/crystals-co-orient/", "Strategy": "Crystals Co‑orient\n\nThe calcite crystals in purple sea urchin teeth are co-oriented thanks to propagation of existing crystallinity through an amorphous precursor.\n“Sea urchin teeth are remarkable and complex calcite structures,\ncontinuously growing at the forming end and self-sharpening at the\nmature grinding tip. The calcite (CaCO3) crystals of tooth\ncomponents, plates, fibers, and a high-Mg polycrystalline matrix, have\nhighly co-oriented crystallographic axes. This ability to co-orient\ncalcite in a mineralized structure is shared by all echinoderms.\nHowever, the physico-chemical mechanism by which calcite crystals become\nco-oriented in echinoderms remains enigmatic. Here, we show differences\nin calcite c-axis orientations in the tooth of the purple sea\nurchin (Strongylocentrotus purpuratus), using high-resolution\nX-ray photoelectron emission spectromicroscopy (X-PEEM) and microbeam\nX-ray diffraction (μXRD). All plates share one crystal orientation,\npropagated through pillar bridges, while fibers and polycrystalline\nmatrix share another orientation. Furthermore, in the forming end of the\ntooth, we observe that CaCO3 is present as amorphous calcium\ncarbonate (ACC). We demonstrate that co-orientation of the\nnanoparticles in the polycrystalline matrix occurs via solid-state\nsecondary nucleation, propagating out from the previously formed fibers\nand plates, into the amorphous precursor nanoparticles. Because\namorphous precursors were observed in diverse biominerals, solid-state\nsecondary nucleation is likely to be a general mechanism for the\nco-orientation of biomineral components in organisms from different\nphyla.”"}, {"Source": "hind legs of planthopper", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "synchronize legs movement", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/legs-synchronize-during-jumps/", "Strategy": "Legs Synchronize During Jumps\n\nHind legs of planthoppers produce powerful synchronized jumps thanks to a mechanical linkage.\n“The hind legs of Issus (Hemiptera, Issidae) move in the sameplane underneath the body, an arrangement that means they mustalso move synchronously to power jumping. Moreover, they moveso quickly that energy must be stored before a jump and thenreleased suddenly. High speed imaging and analysis of the mechanicsof the proximal joints of the hind legs show that mechanicalmechanisms ensure both synchrony of movements and energy storage…Synchrony is achieved by mechanical interactionsbetween small protrusions from each trochantera…which touch at the midline when the legs are cocked beforea jump. In dead Issus, a depression force applied to a cockedhind leg, or to the tendon of its trochanteral depressor musclecauses a simultaneous depression of both hind legs. The protrusionof the hind leg that moves first nudges the other hind leg sothat both move synchronously. Contractions of the trochanteraldepressor muscles that precede a jump bend the metathoracicpleural arches of the internal skeleton. Large areas of thesebow-shaped structures fluoresce bright blue in ultraviolet light,and the intensity of this fluorescence depends on the pH ofthe bathing saline. These are key signatures of the rubber-likeprotein resilin. The remainder of a pleural arch consists ofstiff cuticle. Bending these composite structures stores energyand their recoil powers jumping.” "}, {"Source": "glass sponge's crystal", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "controlled growth", "Function2": "reduction in calcitic crystal symmetry", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/controlled-crystal-symmetry/", "Strategy": "Controlled Crystal Symmetry\n\nCrystals in glass sponges exhibit controlled growth due to biologically induced reduction in calcitic crystal symmetry.\n“Organisms can exert a remarkable degree of control over crystal growth.\nOne way of achieving this is by the adsorption of specialized\nmacromolecules on specific planes of the growing crystals. With\ncontinued growth of the crystal, the macromolecules are incorporated\ninside the crystal bulk. Their presence does not change the crystal\nstructure, but creates discontinuities in the perfect lattice. Here we\nstudy in detail three unusual cases of reduction in symmetry at the\nlevel of crystal domain shapes, induced by this controlled\nintercalation. We examined sponge spicules, which are single crystals\nof Mg-bearing calcite. They were specifically chosen for this study,\nbecause their morphologies do not reflect the hexagonal symmetry of\ncalcite. Their crystal textures (coherence lengths and angular spreads)\nwere characterized by high-resolution X-ray diffraction with\nwell-collimated synchrotron radiation. The results are compared to\nanalogous studies of synthetic calcite and Mg-bearing calcite. In all\nthe selected spicules reduction in symmetry is observed in the\ncoherence lengths among symmetry-related crystallographic directions.\nThe reconstructed shapes of the domains of perfect structure closely\nmatch the specific spicule morphologies. The synthetic crystals show no\nsuch reduction in symmetry. Although the manner by which such exquisite\ncontrol is achieved is not known, we envisage it involving a\ncombination of oriented nucleation with either physical or\nstereochemically driven adsorption.”"}, {"Source": "meadow spittlebug's larvae", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "produce protective foam", "Function2": "protect from predator", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/larvae-produce-foam/", "Strategy": "Larvae Produce Foam\n\nThe larvae of meadow spittlebugs produce their protective foam casings by exhaling air into a viscid fluid.\n“Frog-hopper larvae (Philaenus) produce foam by exhaling air into a drop of viscid fluid, which is an excretion from the anus of inverted insect that flows around its body (the air comes from openings situated in pairs in each segment)…The larva of a spittle bug (Philaenus spumarius) does not need to enlarge its larval shelter because it continuously foams the excess of plant sap it excretes around itself. The foam protects the larva from predators and parasitoids as well as from ultraviolet radiation.”"}, {"Source": "horseshoe crab's eyes", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "reduce glare", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/eyes-perceive-polarized-light/", "Strategy": "Eyes Perceive Polarized Light\n\nThe eyes of horseshoe crabs reduce glare from sunlight because they contain an area that can perceive polarized light.\n“The first aquatic species shown to be able to perceive polarized light was the horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus), a sea-dwelling chelicerate arthropod whose compound eyes were found by Dr T. H. Waterman in 1950 to contain an area that could analyze light polarization. Since then, Waterman’s continuing studies have revealed that many aquatic insects, crustaceans, fishes, and even mollusks such as squid and octopuses exhibit similar abilities that allow them to reduce glare or dazzling reflections caused by bright sunlight, just as we do by wearing polarized sunglasses.”"}, {"Source": "flying squirrel's glide", "Application": "design of airplane aeronautics", "Function1": "glide more than 100 times their body length", "Function2": "change lift and drag forces", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/how-flying-squirrels-control-glide/", "Strategy": "How Flying Squirrels Control Their Glide\n\nFlying squirrels have membranes and cartilage that help them change lift and drag forces, enabling them to glide more than 100 times their body length.\nIntroduction \n\nSeveral hours before the sun rises in a conifer forest in Alaska, a northern flying squirrel (Glaucomys sabrinus) leaps from a high tree branch. Launching forward, it stretches its arms and legs out as far as possible, opening parachute-like membranes between them to catch the wind. The squirrel then glides to a tree 100 feet (30 meters) away where it hopes to find fungi to eat.\n\nThe ability to glide has evolved at least six separate times in mammals, suggesting it gives certain species advantages that may include saving the energy from walking and climbing, expanding their foraging range, or avoiding exposure to predators.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nA flying squirrel’s ability to glide comes from two anatomical features—membranes and cartilage. It has two sets of membranes that are composed of skin and muscle. One membrane stretches between each wrist and ankle, forming wing-like flaps. Behind the wrist are pieces of cartilage that bend upward like the tips of airplane wings to improve stability and minimize drag. Another membrane stretches from each ankle to the tail.\n\nChanges in body position allow the squirrel to alter aerodynamic forces such as lift and drag. When researchers studied the aerodynamics of flying squirrels by filming and analyzing their glides in nature, they found the squirrels did not glide under equilibrium, but instead continuously changed their velocities and forces throughout three phases of “flight.” During those phases, the squirrel’s body tilts up, and the net aerodynamic forces rotate from pointing forward to upward, and then towards the back. This corresponds to its acceleration increasing, reaching its peak, and decreasing.\n\nThe Potential \n\nUnderstanding how mammals like the northern flying squirrel glide could improve parachute and skydiving suit designs as well as improve airplane aeronautics. This could help improve efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in planes that currently burn fossil fuels. In the future, electric planes may need maximum efficiency to help batteries last as long as possible."}, {"Source": "antarctic crustacean's wax", "Application": "buoyancy", "Function1": "sink deep into the water", "Function2": "hibernate", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/antarctic-crustaceans-use-wax-to-sink-in-water/", "Strategy": "Wax Changes Density to Help Sink or Float\n\nAntarctic crustaceans create wax within their bodies to help them sink deep into the water to hibernate for winter.\n\nIntroduction \n\nA tiny Antarctic marine crustacean (Calanoides acutus) hibernates deep in the ocean during winter where the cold slows its metabolism. Swimming down into the water can take a lot of energy, but this crustacean uses a special material to help.\n\nOnce it reaches depths below 400 meters (one quarter mile), cold temperatures cause a pocket of waxy liquid within the crustacean’s body to turn into a dense solid, helping the organism to sink on its own.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nWax is a buoyant material, which means that it normally floats, rather than sinks, in water. Wax floats because it is less dense than the water. The waxy liquid inside the Antarctic crustaceans is a wax ester, which is a mixture of fatty acids and fatty alcohol molecules. These molecules can be broken down and used as energy for muscles and organs. They can also be used to store energy and can be transported throughout the body through the bloodstream. The wax is made up of long chains of carbon atoms attached to each other by single chemical bonds. As the crustacean swims deeper into the water, the wax changes from having single bonds to having double bonds. This change allows the wax molecules to fit together more tightly, which increases their density and makes them heavier.\n\nThe Potential \n\nCreative approaches to buoyancy from species like Antarctic crustaceans could provide submarine, blimp, and robotic designers more options for their work."}, {"Source": "hopping tammar wallaby's hind limbs", "Application": "human design of all sorts of moving structures to increase energy efficiency", "Function1": "store elastic energy", "Function2": "increase locomotor efficiency", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/tendons-store-and-return-energy/", "Strategy": "Energy‑Storing Tendons\nGive Wallabies Their Bounce\n\nTendons in hind limbs use elastic recoil to boost energy efficiency.\n\nAlthough most terrestrial animals that run, hop, or trot across the ground need to spend more metabolic energy to go faster, the hopping tammar wallaby can go faster without little or no increases in energetic cost. Furthermore, a female tammar wallaby can carry the heavy load of the infant “joey” in her pouch without increasing her cost of locomotion. These remarkable feats are likely due to the storage and recovery of elastic energy by the large springy tendons in the wallaby’s hind legs. During the leaping, aerial phase of the hop cycle, the wallaby’s forward movement represents kinetic energy and the gravitational pull back to the ground is a form of potential energy. These energies transform into elastic strain energy of stretching tendons when the foot hits the ground. That energy can then be recovered in the elastic recoil of those tendons that helps propel the wallaby back off the ground. As much as 90% of the energy stored in the tendon can be recovered for such reuse. The key to this energy recovery is that muscles attached to the tendons are stiff enough so that their length changes little as they generate force. If the muscles changed in length a lot, they might absorb and dissipate the tendon’s elastic energy, making it unavailable to power the next hop.\n\nThe faster the wallaby goes and the heavier the load, the more elastic energy gets stored and recovered, hence the cost of locomotion can be unchanged with speed or load over a normal range of speeds. The use of tendons and elastic energy is also found in many other large animals that run (such as horses and turkeys), but to a much less dramatic extent in terms of energy savings as those observed in kangaroos and wallabies. It is as yet unclear exactly why these macropods experience such high savings in energy compared with other animals. The general strategy of elastic energy storage as a means of increasing locomotor efficiency is also observed in a variety of swimming animals, from squid to dolphins.\n\nThe use of elastic energy storage could be considered in the human design of all sorts of moving structures to increase energy efficiency. “Spring loaded locomotion” has been used in the design of the pogo stick and some prosthetic legs."}, {"Source": "gliding bird's wing", "Application": "aircraft", "Function1": "continuously change shape and size", "Function2": "adjust wing sweep", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/change-increases-aerodynamic-performance/", "Strategy": "Change Increases Aerodynamic Performance\n\nWings of gliding birds increase aerodynamic performance by continuously changing shape and size.\n\n“Gliding birds continually change the shape and size of their wings, presumably to exploit the profound effect of wing morphology on aerodynamic performance. That birds should adjust wing sweep to suit glide speed has been predicted qualitatively by analytical glide models,\nwhich extrapolated the wing’s performance envelope from aerodynamic\ntheory. Here we describe the aerodynamic and structural performance of\nactual swift wings, as measured in a wind tunnel, and on this basis\nbuild a semi-empirical glide model. By measuring inside and outside\nswifts’ behavioural envelope, we show that choosing the most suitable\nsweep can halve sink speed or triple turning rate. Extended wings are\nsuperior for slow glides and turns; swept wings are superior for fast\nglides and turns. This superiority is due to better aerodynamic\nperformance—with the exception of fast turns. Swept wings are less\neffective at generating lift while turning at high speeds, but can bear\nthe extreme loads. Finally, our glide model predicts that\ncost-effective gliding occurs at speeds of 8–10 m s-1, whereas agility-related figures of merit peak at 15–25 m s-1. In fact, swifts spend the night (‘roost’) in flight at 8–10 m s-1 (ref. 11), thus our model can explain this choice for a resting behaviour. Morphing not only adjusts birds’ wing performance to the task at hand, but could also control the flight of future aircraft.” "}, {"Source": "european mistletoe's seed", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "adhere to branch", "Function2": "germinate", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/sticky-berries-adhere-2/", "Strategy": "Sticky Berries Adhere\n\nThe seeds of European mistletoe pass safely through a bird's gut yet stick to branches where they germinate due to mechanical properties of the cellulosic filaments in their sticky coating.\n\n“The only European mistletoe is the strange twin-leaved parasite that once played an important part in human fertility rites, perhaps because in winter its leaves remain green and visibly alive when those of the tree on which it grows have all fallen…Its white berries have flesh that is so extraordinarily sticky that when a bird such as a thrush or a blackbird tries to eat them, they often become stuck to its beak. The bird finds this so irritating that it tries to wipe the berry off by scraping it on to another branch and in doing so, rams it into a crevice. The seed then puts out a root which worms its way into the tree and eventually connects with the vessels within the branch that carry the tree’s sap. And with that as food, it flourishes.” (Attenborough 1995:229-230)\n“The results presented in this study illustrate the remarkable characteristics of the cellulose located in the thick cell walls of the viscin tissue from V. album. Initially, the microfibrils of this cellulose are indeed tightly coiled perpendicularly to the viscin cell axes. Due to the hemicelluloses that are also present and when the hydration is sufficient, these cellulose microfibrils are free to move past each other in such a way that the wall of the viscin tissue is able to get deformed upon the slightest stretching action. This deformation can reach extraordinary values of several hundred folds without breakage, each viscin cell giving one tiny cellulose filament having no more than a few microns in width, as opposed to the initial viscin cells that had diameters of several tens of micron. As deduced from diffraction experiments (Figure 9(a)), the orientation of the cellulose in these stretched filaments is unusually high. The combination of this high orientation with the fairly large molecular weight of the corresponding cellulose indicates that these filaments should have high mechanical properties. Their strength must in fact be correlated to the biological function of the viscin tissue, which is to hold firmly the mistletoe seed through the bird guts. When expelled from the bird and dropped on the branch of a tree, the seeds will normally stick to the branch thanks to their hemicellulosic glue. Some of the seeds will even dangle down from the branch, held by the viscin cellulosic filaments. Under the action of the wind, these seeds will be brought back in contact with the branch to which they will adhere for further germination. This phenomenon explains why mistletoe sometimes germinates even at the underlying part of branches.” \n \n“As a group, the Australian mistletoes have developed a rather more specialised system of transport than that employed by their European relative. One particular bird, the mistletoe bird, eats little other than mistletoe berries. There are so many species, each with its own fruiting season, that the bird is able to find berries throughout the year and it flies along regular migration routes in order to do so. Its digestive system is specially modified to cope with this diet. For some reason, it processes the berries with remarkable speed so that one will take less than half an hour to travel from entry to exit. When it emerges the seed still has considerable residual stickiness and so remains fastened to the bird’s rear. The defecating bird does not, however, sit transversely across a twig waiting for the mistletoe seed to drop off. Instead, it turns so that its body is aligned along the twig and carefully wipes its bottom on the bark beneath. This fixes the seed to the tree but threads of the seed’s glue still remain attached to the bird’s rear and it has to make three separate sideways jumps along the twig before the connection is finally broken.” "}, {"Source": "oyster reef", "Application": "sustainable concrete", "Function1": "form extensive reefs", "Function2": "maintain habitat", "Function3": "filter water and improve its quality", "Function4": "protect coastlines from erosion", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/adhesive-is-both-strong-and-flexible/", "Strategy": "Adhesive Is Both Strong and Flexible\n\nOysters build strong but flexible reefs using minerals in a sticky protein web.\n\nIntroduction \n\nOysters are a delicacy to some and a staple food to others, but they are also vital to coastal ecosystems. Oysters grab on to one another, stacking themselves like stalagmites that grow from the ocean floor. Over time, oyster clumps form extensive reefs that resemble underwater cities. They provide habitat to many aquatic species, filter water and improve its quality, and dampen waves caused by storms and ship traffic, protecting coastlines from erosion.\n\nDr. Jonathan Wilker, chemistry professor at Purdue University, studies how oysters and other marine animals create their underwater bonds. Although many marine animals produce a protein “glue,” Wilker says that oyster cement is unique because—in addition to a small amount of mostly-protein organic matter—it contains a high quantity of inorganic calcium carbonate.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nCalcium carbonate, otherwise known as limestone, is not at all adhesive. So how does oyster cement work? Similar to how skyscrapers must be both rigid and flexible to allow slight swaying in the wind (without toppling), oysters combine hard calcium carbonate with softer, stickier proteins, enabling them to withstand strong tidal forces while holding their colonies together.\n\nThe Potential \n\nOne of Wilker’s goals of this work is to simply understand how nature makes materials. “That, in itself, is pretty exciting,” he said. But he points out that this research has a range of potential medical applications, including for bone repair and dental cements, which involve adhering inorganic materials in wet environments. In addition, this work is leading to greener concrete products that can be used to build marine-friendly human structures along shorelines—and help recover some of the 85% of oyster reefs that have disappeared globally over the past century due to human activity."}, {"Source": "tokay gecko's feet", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "stick to various surfaces", "Function2": "high surface area", "Function3": "fling off contaminants", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/feet-self-clean-2/", "Strategy": "Feet Are Super Sticky but Don’t Get Dirty\n\nFeet of the tokay gecko use atomic forces to stick to surfaces, but stay clean by flinging contaminants off toes.\n\nThe Strategy \n\n Part 1 Geckos are renowned for the sticky feet that enable them to climb a variety of surfaces. Their toe pads are covered in millions of small hair-like projections called setae, which are each about 100 μm long and 5 μm in diameter. The setae branch further into hundreds of nano-scale structures that end in tiny discs called spatulae. This multi-scale branching gives gecko feet a very high surface area. Spatulae stick to surfaces via the van der Waals forces that occur between all molecules. Although these forces are individually weak, the high surface area of all the spatulae combined means the forces add up and enable geckos to perform their famous feats.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nPart 2 If this system enables gecko feet to cling to surfaces, why don’t they also cling to dust and other particles? Geckos appear to keep their sticky feet clean and functional through dynamic self-cleaning.\n\nFor the tokay gecko (Gekko gecko), when its foot detaches from a surface the animal is walking on, its toes have the ability to hyperextend: the toes peel off the surface starting at the tip, and curl up away from the surface (human fingers, for comparison, cannot voluntarily hyperextend, and are much more functional in flexion). When the setae at the tip of the toe are first pulled, they stretch a little and store elastic energy as the spatulae are still attached to the surface. As the toe continues to curl up, the setae suddenly detach from the substrate. Their stretchy nature and ability to spread out as the toe curls up and back results in a flinging motion that can dislodge particles caught on and between the spatulae. This action proceeds sequentially from the tip to the base of the toe, until the entire foot is free. When gecko toes hyperextend and produce this flinging motion (what researchers call “setal jump-off”), they shed contaminating particles twice as fast as they would if the toes didn’t hyperextend. After four steps, the feet can regain almost 80% of their adhesive force.\n\nThis dynamic mechanism appears to work in concert with other passive mechanisms for self-cleaning, like particle removal that results when contaminants are more attracted to the substrate than the gecko foot. As a result, contaminating particles are both flung off the setae and deposited on the substrate during walking."}, {"Source": "sponge's barbed filaments", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "anchor sponge", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/barbed-filaments-anchor/", "Strategy": "Barbed Filaments Anchor\n\nFilaments anchor sponges in soft sediments using barbed tips\n\nSponges are some of the most simple of animals. They lack body symmetry and have no organs, getting their food and oxygen from the water. Most sponges work like chimneys, taking water in at the bottom and then ejecting it through the opening at the top and through the pores in their bodies. All sponges have skeletons and in some, the appropriately named “glass sponges”, the skeleton is made up of needle-like shards of glass.\n\nGlass sponges live in very deep water where they must be capable of remaining anchored to the soft sediment of the deep ocean floor. Euplectella aspergillum, Venus’s flower basket, anchors itself with numerous hair-like glass skeletal elements called spicules, each up to 10 cm long. The spicules are bundled together where they attach to the sponge’s body, forming a thick cable, but they spread out singly into multiple tiny threads that run through the sediment. Each spicule has a series of barbs along its length and at the terminal end is a crown of barbs that works much like a sea anchor, holding the sponge steady in the soft shifting sand and silt.\n\nLike many interactions in nature, Venus’s flower basket makes use of very large numbers of relatively weak attachments that when combined form a strong bond. In this instance, where the substrate itself is very weak and a single strong bond would not help, this method is particularly useful."}, {"Source": "fish's skin", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "decrease drag", "Function2": "fast, efficient swimming", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/slime-reduces-drag/", "Strategy": "Slime Reduces Drag\n\nSkin of fish reduces drag by being covered by a slime layer of complex proteins, polysaccharides, and bacteria.\n\n“The external layer of mucus on fish was investigated as a drag reducing polymer. Comparing velocity profiles for water flow over rainbow trout (Salmo gairdneri) and wax models of trout with and without hydrodynamically smooth surfaces revealed that the integumental mucous secretion can significantly reduce the rate of momentum transfer through the boundary layer. The difference in momentum transfer is expressed as a reduction in friction drag…”\n\n“Several conditions must be satisfied for mucus to act as a drag reducer and for my treatment of velocity gradients to be valid: (1) Mucus must consist, in part, of polymers soluble in water and with molecular weights exceeding 50,000 (White and Hemmings, 1976). (2) There must be turbulent or pulsed laminar flow about the fish (Driels and Ayyash, 1976). And (3) the density and viscosity of the fluid from the surface of the fish outwards must be constant.” \n\n“Mechanisms involved in utilizing the slime to achieve good swimming efficiency include transition delay, and turbulent flow drag reduction, in addition to the recently discovered drag reduction in pulsed laminar flow of polymer solutions…Both theory and experiment indicate the transient laminar shear flows show reduced wall shear stress in polymer solutions. Hence, the possibility exists that small fish with low length Reynolds numbers can utilize polymers to reduce drag, as well as the larger fish with high Reynolds numbers and turbulent flow.”"}, {"Source": "torrent-stream frog's tadpoles", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "stick to rocks", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/sucker-mouths-help-tadpoles-stick/", "Strategy": "Sucker‑mouths Help Tadpoles Stick\n\nThe tadpoles of torrent-stream frogs stick to rocks in fast-flowing waters via enlarged mouths with suction lips.\n\n“[T]he torrent-stream frog’s tadpoles thrive in this tumultuous environment because they have evolved enlarged mouths with suction lips that enable them to stick to the surface of a rock while grazing on the algae growing there.”"}, {"Source": "insects' feet", "Application": "sticky insect pads", "Function1": "stick to various surfaces", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/feet-prevent-slipping/", "Strategy": "Feet Prevent Slipping\n\nFeet of insects stick to surfaces using nanometer-thin films of liquid secretions.\n\n“Many insects cling to vertical and inverted surfaces with pads that\nadhere by nanometre-thin films of liquid secretion. This fluid is an\nemulsion, consisting of watery droplets in an oily continuous phase.\nThe detailed function of its two-phasic nature has remained unclear.\nHere we show that the pad emulsion provides a mechanism that prevents\ninsects from slipping on smooth substrates. We discovered that it is\npossible to manipulate the adhesive secretion in vivo\nusing smooth polyimide substrates that selectively absorb its watery\ncomponent. While thick layers of polyimide spin-coated onto glass\nremoved all visible hydrophilic droplets, thin coatings left the\nemulsion in its typical form. Force measurements of stick insect pads\nsliding on these substrates demonstrated that the reduction of the\nwatery phase resulted in a significant decrease in friction forces.\nArtificial control pads made of polydimethylsiloxane showed no\ndifference when tested on the same substrates, confirming that the\neffect is caused by the insects’ fluid-based adhesive system. Our\nfindings suggest that insect adhesive pads use emulsions with\nnon-Newtonian properties, which may have been optimized by natural\nselection. Emulsions as adhesive secretions combine the benefits of\n‘wet’ adhesion and resistance against shear forces.” "}, {"Source": "butterfly's wing", "Application": "efficient wind turbines", "Function1": "provide lift force", "Function2": "decrease drag", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/wing-scales-provide-lift/", "Strategy": "Tiny Structures Help Butterflies Soar\n\nMicroscopic scales provide lift to nature’s “flying flowers.”\nIntroduction \n\nThe vivid orange, iridescent blues, deep blacks, and other astounding colors showcased on the wings of nature’s flying flowers––butterflies––are due to the way the hundreds of thousands of microscopic scales that cover the wings reflect light. But it turns out that’s not the only benefit of these shingle-like structures. The configuration of the scales also contributes to flying efficiency as the butterfly dances and dips its way through the air.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nIn animals and inanimate objects alike, four forces make flight possible: lift, weight, thrust, and drag. When all balance out, the object stays in one position in the air, like a hummingbird or a helicopter. If one or more are stronger than the others, the object moves up, down, forward, or backward.\n\nThe surface of a butterfly’s wing is covered with hundreds of thousands of overlapping scales, arranged like shingles on a roof. The size, shape, and orientation of the scales alters the relative size of the four forces of flight by affecting how air flows over the butterfly’s wings and how vortices (air swirls) form.\n\nNatural observations and experiments have shown that with fewer scales, butterflies don’t flap their wings as fully, and they have a harder time flying upward. Though the details are not yet well defined or described, it’s clear that scales help the butterfly fly by providing lift.\n\nThe organized patterns of bumps created by fish scales are known to reduce drag essentially by combing the passing water into smooth, orderly layers. Butterfly scales may produce a similar effect. They also can alter the formation of vortices in certain parts of the wing. For instance, the bumps created by overlapping scales at the front end of the wings could slow the formation of vortices there and reduce the amount of energy going into forming the vortices. Since vortices create drag as they spin off the surface, this would decrease drag and therefore increase lift and thrust.\n\nThe Potential \n\nBy studying how various configurations of butterfly wing scales affect flight, designers can get ideas for how to improve the efficiency and versatility of the flight of conventional aircraft, parachutes, kites, drones, and other objects traveling through the air. They might also inform the design of more efficient wind turbines and reduce the materials needed for structural stability in tall buildings. The micro-geometry of wing scales can provide valuable insights for the design of innovative flying machines that incorporate flapping into their operation and of cars, trains, and other ground vehicles. They also can provide insights into improving the efficiency of cargo ships and other vehicles that travel through water or other media.\n\n"}, {"Source": "european blowfly's foot fluid", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "generate adhesion", "Function2": "generate strong attractive force", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/capillary-action-aids-adhesion/", "Strategy": "Capillary Action Aids Adhesion\n\nFluid secreted from tiny hairs on the feet of the European blowfly help it stick to surfaces via capillary action adhesion.\n\n“A study of fly footprints shows that the offending insect relies mainly on capillary forces generated by fluid secreted from its feet. Mattias Langer et al. used atomic-force microscopy to examine the adhesiveness of tiny puddles of foot fluid left by a fly, Calliphora vicina, as it walked across a glass slide. As the fluid evaporates, its stickiness decreases, showing that the fluid plays an important role in generating adhesion between foot and substrate. Adhesion measured in air was much stronger than that measured in an aqueous environment, indicating that capillary forces are mainly involved in the fly’s attachment mechanism.” \n\n“The attachment pads of fly legs are covered with setae, each ending in\nsmall terminal plates coated with secretory fluid. A cluster of these\nterminal plates contacting a substrate surface generates strong\nattractive forces that hold the insect on smooth surfaces. Previous\nresearch assumed that cohesive forces and molecular adhesion were\ninvolved in the fly attachment mechanism. The main elements that\ncontribute to the overall attachment force, however, remained unknown.\nMultiple local force-volume measurements were performed on individual\nterminal plates by using atomic force microscopy. It was shown that the\ngeometry of a single terminal plate had a higher border and\nconsiderably lower centre. Local adhesion was approximately twice as\nstrong in the centre of the plate as on its border. Adhesion of fly\nfootprints on a glass surface, recorded within 20 min after\npreparation, was similar to adhesion in the centre of a single\nattachment pad. Adhesion strongly decreased with decreasing volume of\nfootprint fluid, indicating that the layer of pad secretion covering\nthe terminal plates is crucial for the generation of a strong\nattractive force. Our data provide the first direct evidence that, in\naddition to Van der Waals and Coulomb forces, attractive capillary\nforces, mediated by pad secretion, are a critical factor in the fly’s\nattachment mechanism.” "}, {"Source": "freshwater mussel's mantle", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "suck sustenance", "Function2": "take advantage of free ride", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/mussel-mantle-lures-larval-hosts/", "Strategy": "Mussel Mantle Lures Larval Hosts\n\nA shellfish structure that looks like a meal attracts erstwhile predators, which then become unwitting nannies and bus drivers for the sedentary animal’s offspring.\nIntroduction \n\nHow do you get around if you can’t get around? That’s a big dilemma for freshwater mussels, shell-bound invertebrates that inhabit the bottom of lakes and streams. At best they can creep slowly along the bottom.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nWith that lack of motility, it’s hard to imagine how reproduction could result in anything but a large stacks of mussels that would quickly exceed their habitat’s ability to support them. But nature has found a way.\n\nMother mussels incubate their eggs until they hatch into grain-of-sand-size larvae called glochidia. Then they transfer the glochidia to nearby fish. The glochidia clamp down on the fish’s gills, where they remain for several weeks, not only sucking sustenance but also taking advantage of the free ride. Eventually the glochidia drop off and colonize a new location.\n\nThe Potential \n\nThe plain pocketbook’s artful strategy for spreading its offspring around is a remarkable example of nature mimicking nature. It provides inspiration for thinking outside the box when it comes to solving problems: In this instance, adaptive pressure to be mobile in water produced not the ability to swim, but the ability to latch onto another organism better equipped to do so.\n\nThere is also in this story a model of embracing external forces to shape your own strategy. Mussels are not known to be able to see the details of nearby fish or to in any way judge the visual accuracy of their lures. Their genetic code is simply varying the adult females’ appearance, and it’s the bass’s influence that shapes the mimicry through natural selection.\n\nThis inspires consideration of what to pay attention to when designing something to meet a specific need. In this instance, evolution emulated the traits of bait to catch a predator’s eye—the horizontal stripe, the eyespot, the waving tail—but not the other characteristics of a prey fish, such as scales and pectoral fins, that aren’t required to signal, “this looks like food.” For any level of mimicry that humans undertake, a good first step is to identify which traits matter most, and a good way to find them is to create many variations and see which get the response we’re looking for.\n\n"}, {"Source": "red mangrove's buttresses", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "increase stability", "Function2": "increase footprint", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/buttresses-of-red-mangrove-improve-stability/", "Strategy": "Buttresses of Red Mangrove Improve Stability\n\nButtresses of the red mangrove enable growth in thin soils by efficiently increasing footprint\n\nThe red mangrove (Rhizophora mangle) is a coastal tree that grows in shallow estuaries throughout tropical regions. They grow in regions where storms and high winds are common and they are continually subjected to water currents and tidal forces. At the same time, they grow in waterlogged and shallow silt that is continually moving and so they are unable to anchor themselves using their roots the way trees growing on land can. Unsurprisingly, these trees invest much less energy in their root system, which can be as low as 5% of the total tree biomass (this compares to between 15-55% for other tree species). Instead, red mangrove trees rely on rhizophora, specialised stilts made from the same material as the main stem that take in and transport water and oxygen and also provide support for the tree on a difficult shifting surface.\n\nRed mangrove rhizophora work like flying buttresses on European cathedrals, or like a person using ski poles or crutches to maintain balance. They make the footplate area of the organism much larger, whilst keeping down the total amount of tissue required for stability. Red mangle buttresses are even more effective at this than man-made structures, as their rhizophora branch as many as six times before entering the silt.\n\nAs the trees grow, new rhizophores are continually produced, enabling the trees to respond to changes in their environment, for example growing towards the best light, regardless of the quality of the substrate. They are remarkably effective at this, growing larger than other trees in the mangrove forests and maintaining main stems that are no more than a few degrees from vertical, despite the challenging conditions and continual pressure from water flow and tides that constantly threaten to push them over.\n\nThe unique structure and stability of the red mangrove makes them particularly important for the protection of vulnerable coastal ecosystems from extreme events like cyclones and tsunamis."}, {"Source": "lion’s mane jellyfish's bell", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "jet water", "Function2": "propel body forward", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/jellyfish-bell-propels/", "Strategy": "Contracting Ring of Muscle\nPropels Body Forward\n\nThe bell of lion’s mane jellyfish contracts in waves causing a jet of water to propel the jellyfish forward.\n\nThe lion’s mane jellyfish (Cyanea capillata) grows to up to 2.3 meters (7 ft) across its bell, making it the largest jellyfish in the world.\n\nLion’s mane jellyfish swim by jet propulsion. When the bell contracts, water is squeezed out, jetting the jellyfish in the opposite direction. On relaxing, fresh water flows back into the bell, enabling efficient feeding.\nThe bell is formed of eight lobes. There is a ring of muscle fibers near the center with 16 muscle rays that extend from the ring to the edge of the bell, two in each lobe. The radiating muscle fibers are attached to stiff buttresses, while the bell tissue is tough and elastic.\n\nThe jellyfish swims in several phases. First, the bell is flat or even inverted. Second, the ring of muscle contracts, pulling the edges of the disc down and in and ejecting a jet of water. Third, the radiating muscle fibers contract simultaneously, pulling against the buttresses and bringing the edge of the bell down to as much as 90 degrees from horizontal. Finally, the muscles relax and the elastic upper layer pulls the entire bell up and back to its original flat shape. The jellyfish has a nervous system that ensures all the muscle fibers contract at the right time, and it can control its swimming direction by contracting the radiating muscle fibers unequally."}, {"Source": "whirligig beetle's leg", "Application": "design of watercraft", "Function1": "increase thrust", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/leg-hairs-increase-thrust/", "Strategy": "Leg Hairs Increase Thrust\n\nHairs on the whirligig beetle's middle and hind legs increase thrust by expanding surface area.\n\nThe whirligig beetle (in the family Gyrinidae) is an aquatic insect that is typically found swimming on the surface of the water. These small beetles can reach impressive swimming speeds (up to 44 body lengths per second) and are masters of maneuvering–their name comes from the circular swimming trajectories they often make on the water surface. Off their middle and hind legs extend numerous microscopic swimming hairs or bristles, arranged much like teeth on a comb. These hairs play a key role in generating thrust during swimming by making the leg more paddle-like. But how do hairs with spaces between them function like a paddle?\n\nWhirligig beetles and other small organisms experience a fluid world differently than larger organisms do. For a small organism moving in a fluid, the viscous forces within the fluid (that make it feel “sticky” and contribute to fluid resistance) play a larger role than inertial forces (that keep a fluid moving). That is, they operate at a relatively low Reynolds number (the ratio of inertial to viscous forces). The result for the whirligig beetle is that when it sweeps its leg through the water to swim forward, little water flows between the tiny hairs. A leg with its hairs extended functions as if it were a solid paddle, generating more thrust than if the hairs weren’t there. Upon the leg’s return stroke, the hairs collapse against the leg to reduce the “effective area” and help minimize drag."}, {"Source": "owl wing", "Application": "noise reduction", "Function1": "alter air turbulence", "Function2": "absorb noise", "Function3": "reduce aerodynamic noise", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/wing-feathers-enable-near-silent-flight/", "Strategy": "Wing Feathers Enable Near‑silent Flight\n\nSpecialized feathers of the owl enable near-silent flight by altering air turbulence and absorbing noise.\n\nOwls are known as silent predators of the night, capable of flying just inches from their prey without being detected. The quietness of their flight is owed to their specialized feathers. When air rushes over an ordinary wing, it typically creates a “gushing” noise as large areas of air turbulence build up. But the owl has a few ways to alter this turbulence and reduce its noise.\n\nFirst, the leading edge of the owl’s wing has feathers covered in small structures that project out from the wing. One hypothesis is that these serrations break up the flowing air into smaller flows that are more stable along the wing. Furthermore, this change in airflow patterns also appears to reduce the noise of the flowing air. The wing’s serrated leading edge appears to be most effective at reducing noise when the wing is at a steep angle—which would happen when the owl is close to its prey and coming in for a strike.\n\nThese smaller airflows then roll along the owl’s wing toward the trailing edge, which is comprised of a flexible fringe. This fringe breaks up the air further as it flows off the trailing edge, resulting in a large reduction in aerodynamic noise. Then, any remaining noise that would be detectable by the owl’s prey is absorbed by velvety down feathers on the owl’s wings and legs. These soft feathers absorb high frequency sounds that most prey, as well as humans, are sensitive to. All together, these feather features enable owls to remain undetected when they fly.\n"}, {"Source": "oyster reef", "Application": "greener concrete", "Function1": "create protective crevices", "Function2": "help sustain commercial fishing", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/oyster-reef-shapes-create-safe-havens-for-their-young/", "Strategy": "Oyster Reef Shapes Create\nSafe Havens for Their Young\n\nUneven, complex oyster reefs create protective crevices where calm waters allow larvae to attach and thrive.\nIntroduction \n\nOyster reefs are like underwater forests that provide habitat for hundreds of marine species, including shrimp, flounder, and herring. These forests not only protect, house, and feed marine life, they also help sustain commercial fishing that humans rely on for food.\n\nFor reefs to grow, individual oysters cluster together. Just like we need homes that shelter us from the elements, oysters must find locations where they can survive. That isn’t always easy for larvae, which swim in potentially rough ocean currents for up to three weeks before finally settling, hopefully, on a reef. If enough larvae can’t find purchase or don’t end up in locations where they can endure, reefs won’t flourish.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nScientists compared naturally thriving reef locations to a restored reef site to study the variables that influence larval success. They found that natural reefs have surfaces that increase the larvae’s ability to attach to and survive on it.\nHuman buildings are uniform structures because we design elements like bricks to fit together perfectly. But oyster shells are rough and irregular. They secrete a specialized adhesive to stick to one another, building complex, amorphous structures that climb from the ocean floor up rocks and seawalls. These structures must be sturdy to withstand strong forces from the ocean’s currents.\n\nThe Potential \n\nOverfishing, coastal development, and disease have ravaged oyster reefs. Globally, as much as 85% have been lost over the past few centuries. Understanding how oysters optimize their reef designs to maximize larval success can improve restoration methods to revive biodiversity in failing reefs. It could also lead to greener concrete for underwater structures, made with compositions and textures that promote larvae attachment and reef growth.\n\nOysters can also inspire ideas beyond reef construction. For example, what can oysters teach us more broadly about the strong currents that cause erosion and weathering of materials in water and other environments as well?"}, {"Source": "aquaporin molecule", "Application": "energy-efficient way to remove contaminants from wastewater or purify", "Function1": "allow water to pass through", "Function2": "separate water from other molecules", "Function3": "realize selective filtration", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/hourglass-shaped-molecules-filter-water/", "Strategy": "Hourglass‑Shaped Molecules Filter Water\n\nAquaporin molecules form a channel that allows water to move across cell membranes\nIntroduction \n\nWater is a basic ingredient of life. Our bodies are more than half water, and other organisms depend on it as well for everything from photosynthesis to maintaining their shape to eliminating waste.\n\nWhere water is in a living thing, is as important as whether water is available. Too much water inside a cell, and it will burst like a balloon. Too little, and it will dry out and die.\n\nHow does a cell keep the amount of water just right? The answer lies in hourglass-shaped molecules with a tunnel down the middle that are very, very picky about what they let through.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nAll living things are made up of cells. All cells have membranes that separate them from the rest of the world. And all membranes have channels that let molecules in and out. One type of channel, called aquaporins, selectively let water molecules move across the cell membrane. These channels are so important that they are found in organisms belonging to all kingdoms of life.\n\nHow do aquaporins separate water from other molecules? The answer lies in their shape and the way electrical charge is distributed across the proteins they’re made of.\n\nAquaporins are proteins, which are made up of long chains of smaller molecules called amino acids. Different kinds of amino acids attract or repel each other, creating stretches of shapes such as sheets and helices within the molecule.\nAn aquaporin molecule contains six long stretches of helices that stick through a cell membrane like a peephole through a door. Together, they form a tiny tunnel about the size of a water molecule. The center of the aquaporin channel carries a positive charge, which repels other positively charged molecules and prevents them from passing through. Thus, only small, uncharged molecules such as water are able to pass through the channel. Increasing efficiency, aquaporin molecules tend to appear in groups of four arranged together, creating a fifth pore in the middle that also moves water across the membrane.\n\nSome aquaporins also have an additional filter embedded in their structure that is made up of specific amino acids that can filter out or let in  a selection of other molecules, such as glycerol, carbon dioxide, and ammonia.. But many aquaporins are exclusive to water, creating an amazing mechanism for separating the “molecule of life” from everything else. Because water inherently travels from areas of high concentration to low concentration,  the channels do not need to use energy to pump the water molecules across the membrane. Instead, passive transport allows the water molecules to flow in or out of the cell, energy-free.\n\nThe Potential \n\nThe ability of aquaporins to separate water from other molecules without requiring an active pump opens the door to an energy-efficient way to remove contaminants from wastewater or purify drinking water. The concept might also be applied to creating customized channels that selectively filter other types of small molecules. This would make it possible to increase the concentration of a desired substance or remove undesired contaminants from a product.\n\n"}, {"Source": "fish scale", "Application": "scaled coatings in pipes", "Function1": "decrease drag", "Function2": "minimize turbulence", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/why-fish-scales-arent-such-a-drag/", "Strategy": "Why Fish Scales Aren’t Such a Drag\n\nThe shape of scales causes water flow to streak across fish skin, reducing turbulence and minimizing drag.\nIntroduction \n\nAirplanes, submarines, and cars are designed with smooth materials because they have less drag than rough ones. Right? Actually, that may be a fish tale––according to, well, most fish. Around 25,000 species of bony fish have adapted scaly skin that new research shows reduces drag.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nProfessor Christoph Bruecker and graduate student Muthukumar Muthuramalingam at City University of London conducted two studies that indicate the roughness of fish scales doesn’t act like typical roughness of other materials. Although shape and size vary across species, fish scales are essentially rows of overlapping seashell-shaped bumps. The peaks of the bumpy scales create wakes of slower water behind them. The overlapping sides of scales form valleys where most of the water rushes through. So as a fish swims, it has alternating bands of “low flow” behind the scale peaks and “high flow” behind the valleys.\n \n\nThe Potential \n\nIncorporating scales into material designs might also help humans consume less fuel. Scaled coatings in pipes could reduce friction loss along pipelines. Etching scales onto the surfaces of airplanes, submarines, and cars could also improve fuel efficiency and lower greenhouse gas emissions. Many think there is no bigger fish to fry than addressing climate change. Fish scales might just help."}, {"Source": "dragonfly's head and neck", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "generate friction", "Function2": "protect head", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/microstructures-protect-from-damage/", "Strategy": "Microstructures Protect From Damage\n\nMicrohairs on the head and neck of the dragonfly create friction to temporarily arrest the head and protect it from damage.\n\nMost insects have multiple points of attachment between their head and neck. This keeps the head stable and protects it from damage, but it limits the range of motion, reducing visibility. In species that need a wider visible area—such as hunters like dragonflies and damselflies—the head and neck are attached only at a single point. Although this allows for a wider range of motion, this arrangement also makes the head more vulnerable to damage when the insect moves suddenly. To help keep its head more stable, the dragonfly has a “head-arresting system,” which allows the head and neck to join temporarily, keeping the head in place.\n\nThe head-arresting system is comprised of thousands of fixed hairs, known as microtrichia, located on the back of the head and upper part of the neck. The hairs have complementary shapes that allow them to fit together, and each pair of interlocking hairs creates a small amount of friction as they slide past one another. The cumulative effect of thousands of hairs rubbing against each other adds up to a significant amount of friction, allowing the dragonfly to hold its head stably in place. The attachment is easily reversible if the dragonfly uses enough force to pull its head away from the neck, allowing the insect to repeatedly and stably attach the head and neck."}, {"Source": "pitcher plant's rim", "Application": "self-cleaning surfaces", "Function1": "low-friction surface", "Function2": "reduce friction", "Function3": "clog the insect's foot pad", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/pitcher-rims-are-extremely-slippery/", "Strategy": "Pitcher Rims Are Extremely Slippery\n\nRims of the pitcher plant are extremely slippery due to a liquid film overlaying a microtextured surface.\n\nPitcher plants of the genus Nepenthes are stunning tropical plants with a deadly habit. Specialized leaves in this carnivorous plant form a tall pitcher that traps insects and other small prey when they land on the rim of the pitcher and fall in, ending up in a pool of digestive juices. The surface of the rounded rim (called the peristome) is especially slippery, causing insects to fall right into the fatal pitcher. What makes the pitcher rim such a precarious place?\n\nScientists have identified two different, interacting factors that make the rim a low-friction surface: first, it is patterned with a series of micron-sized ridges that run into the pitcher. The ridges are made of overlapping epidermal cells, like roof tiles, that give the surface texture directionality—it’s easier to slide toward the inside of the pitcher than it is to slide the opposite way and escape. Second, when there’s a source of liquid—for instance humidity, rain, or the plant’s own nectar—a thin film forms on the rim’s microtextured surface. This “wetted” surface drastically reduces friction between the plant and insect feet, particularly if movement is toward the inside of the pitcher. Unlike many microtextured plant leaf surfaces that are water repellent (hydrophobic), the pitcher plant rim appears to wet easily, making it a highly effective slippery surface.\n\nIn many species of pitcher plant, waxy crystals lining the pitcher walls also play a role in making the surface slippery. The crystals detach from the plant’s surface and clog the insect’s foot pad, leaving it unable to stick to the surface and escape.\n\nThe pitcher plant’s slippery surfaces are inspiring several researchers to develop self-cleaning surfaces, some of which apply the novel concept of staying permanently wet to stay clean.\nCheck out the video below by New Scientist to see the slippery pitcher in action."}, {"Source": "flight feather", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "prevent damage", "Function2": "withstand forces", "Function3": "be lightweight", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/bending-prevents-damage/", "Strategy": "Bending Prevents Damage\n\nFlight feathers of birds avoid damage by bending out of the way\n\nFlight feathers are unique structures that are credited with being the primary evolutionary development that enabled birds to fly. They must be able to withstand the large forces that occur during flight and they must be lightweight. Unlike airplane wings, which are solid, bird flight feathers are formed from a web of barbs projecting from a central stiff vein. This design balances the large surface area needed for lift with strength and extreme lightness.\n\nFeather barbs are thin and flexible and have a number of features to protect them from permanent damage. Barbs are linked with a series of grooves and hooks that zipper up like Velcro, enabling them to detach when forces become too great and to be easily repaired later. Barbs are ribbon shaped, meaning they are stiff in one direction and flexible in the other. They are stiff in the direction under which they are loaded during flight, but very flexible in the other direction. This works because the hook and groove mesh holds them in place and counteracts their side-to-side flexibility. At the same time, if forces do become too large and the barbs are at risk of permanent damage, they are still able to twist, presenting their flat flexible side to the force, bending and spilling the load. In this way, they flex out of the way when necessary, reassuming their prior position later and zippering back up again, as good as new.\n\n"}, {"Source": "rotator cuff", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "manage force", "Function2": "manage weight", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/shoulder-joint-manages-stress/", "Strategy": "Shoulder Joint Manages Stress\n\nRotator cuff in humans manages force via an extra pliable region\n\nJoining together materials with very different properties is challenging in nature as well as in manufacturing. When different materials are joined, forces can build up at the interface that cause failure. This type of failure is called “fatigue” and it can occur at lower levels of stress than each material could withstand on its own. In engineering, as in nature, failure almost always occurs at points of fatigue, and not in the bulk material.\n\nOne of the largest materials discrepancies in nature is the joining of muscle to bone via tendon. This is particularly important at the shoulder, where not only must the joint manage the weight of the limb itself, but also anything else we might carry. In 2019, the weightlifting world record was set by Lasha Talakhadze of Georgia, who successfully lifted 264 kg (582 lb), the equivalent of about 4 people. That’s a lot of weight, all going through his shoulders!\n\nOne way of reducing the risk of fatigue is to join different materials with a transition zone that has a gradient of properties from one to the other. In the rotator cuff (the tendon array that attaches the muscles of the shoulder to the upper end of the arm) there is a gradient, but it is more complex than a simple transition. Starting at the collarbone and moving towards the tendon, the tissue is softer and more flexible the further away it is from the bone. The softening follows a sigmoidal pattern, which means the change in flexibility with distance from the bone is slow near the bone, and becomes more dramatic further away. A similar transition occurs at the tendon end of the join. However, instead of becoming more rigid like bone, as we might expect for a smooth transition from tendon to bone, this tissue also transitions into a region that is more pliable. This means that the gradient starts with bone, becomes more flexible than either bone or tendon in the middle, and then firms up slightly to match the properties of tendon. This extra pliable region seems to manage the stresses as they arise, preventing their build up elsewhere in the joint and reducing injury due to fatigue.\n\nThe shoulder joint requires some of the strongest muscles in the body to attach to the bone of the arm via very small attachment sites."}, {"Source": "snake's concertina movement", "Application": "search-and-rescue missions", "Function1": "maneuver through tight spaces", "Function2": "move through narrow channels", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/accordion-movement-propels-snakes-through-narrow-channels/", "Strategy": "Accordion Technique Allows Controlled\nMovement Through Narrow Channels\n\nSnakes use zig-zag anchor points and friction to maneuver through tight spaces.\n\nIntroduction \n\nNavigating swiftly through all sorts of difficult terrain, from scorching sand to rocky crevices, snakes have evolved extraordinarily specialized methods of locomotion—all, obviously, without the aid of any appendages whatsoever. Scientists are particularly interested in the technique snakes use to move through narrow channels, called “concertina” movement, as it could have life-saving applications in the field of robotics.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nThe word “concertina” refers to a small musical instrument akin to an accordion. It is an apt name for the motion described. In order to pass through a narrow canal, a snake will condense and extend itself continuously, like the movement of the bellows as a concertina player plays. First, the snake will extend its head along the canal, then bring a point on one side of its body, just behind its head, to one the wall; it then folds its body up so that another point on its other side slightly further back can press against the opposite wall, and another, and another. When the snake has three to five such anchor points, it moves its head forward again. The front points come off the wall, but the points further back hold the snake in place until a new hold can be created farther ahead.\n\nResearch has shown that friction is crucial to the functionality of this movement. If you were to run your finger down a snake from head to tail, it would feel quite smooth. The lack of friction in this direction allows for swift forward movement. The overlapping scales, however, create a jagged surface in the other direction. During the concertina movement, snakes actually dig their scales into the walls around them a bit, creating high resistance to backward movement, and allowing snakes to push themselves forward.\n\nThe Potential \n\nThis simple combination of texture and movement has great potential for the field of exploratory robots. One possible context is in search-and-rescue missions where the passages through rubble created by a collapsed building are narrow, irregular, and unpredictable.\n\nMore applications are found in the field of bioengineering and medicine. One day we may very well go to the doctor for colonoscopy procedures, and have tiny snake-like robots get where they need to go while minimizing pain and damage to surrounding tissues.\n\nOn first thought, it might seem strange to associate snakes with medicine and healing, but think again. The ancient Greek “rod of Asclepius,” showing a snake wound around a staff was such a sign, and it mirrors a staff made by Moses to heal the Israelites in the book of Numbers. It continues to appear in the logo of the World Health Organization and many other medical groups around the world. Maybe our ancestors were onto something.\n\n"}, {"Source": "spider's silk", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "ride electrostatic repulsion", "Function2": "surf on electric charges", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/spiders-surf-on-electric-fields/", "Strategy": "Spiders Fly Riding Electric Currents\n\nSpiders travel thousands of miles through the air using their silk to ride electrostatic repulsion instead of the wind.\nIntroduction \n\nYou may have heard of “jumping” spiders, but did you know that some spiders have been found over two miles high in the sky and a thousand miles out to sea?\n\nHow do they get there? Charles Darwin first mused on this mystery in the early 1800s, but only recently have scientists found a solid explanation. It turns out that an itsy bitsy spider can go up something much more exciting than a water spout.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nTo begin its journey, a spider crawls to an exposed point, raises its abdomen, shoots out a couple strands of silk, and then jets away. For a long time it was thought the spider was simply carried off on wind currents. However, the physics just didn’t make sense: spiders “balloon” like this when the wind is low, and light air currents couldn’t explain the impressive velocity with which they take flight. Furthermore, spiders can’t shoot out much silk on their own; some external force had to be pulling it from their spinnerets. Now we know: spiders can sense and surf on electric charges in the Earth’s atmosphere.\n\nThe Potential \n\nFor most current human flight applications, electric repulsion and attraction aren’t strong enough to overcome the force of the Earth’s gravity. However, nanotechnology, 3D printing, and other advances are producing sophisticated machinery of remarkably small sizes and light weights. On these scales, “flying spider” technology could create exciting opportunities for development.\n\nIf we think of all the human-designed products that utilize wind, how many could be shrunken and engineered to use electrical currents in the atmosphere?"}, {"Source": "skeletal muscle", "Application": "synthetic muscles for prosthetic limbs", "Function1": "generate force", "Function2": "enable movement", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/skeletal-muscles-generate-force/", "Strategy": "Skeletal Muscles Generate Force\n\nSkeletal muscles contract and relax, generating force and enabling movement.\nIntroduction \n\nHumans have over 650 skeletal muscles that make up about 40% of our body weight. Skeletal muscles generate the force that all vertebrates need to move. In fact, every action we take requires them to either contract or relax. But how exactly do they do it?\n\nThe first clues came in 1682 when Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, the Dutch “father of microbiology” looked at muscles through his self-made magnifying lenses: “I gave my mind to this subject and now say that, since we see that a large muscle in its turn consists of many thousands of [flesh-fibres], and that each flesh-fibre again consists internally of filaments . . . that each filament is in its turn a muscle of flesh.”\n\nThe Strategy \n\nWe now know these filaments as myofibrils. Thousands of myofibrils make up a single muscle fiber like tiny straws stacked inside a much larger one. Each myofibril is divided into cylindrical sections stacked on top of one another and linked together.\n\nThese structures are called sarcomeres, and they’re the smallest contracting elements of a muscle. When you decide to flex your biceps, nerves release chemicals which trigger the sarcomeres to squish themselves inward like flattened soda cans, which shortens the myofibrils. This pulls and contracts the muscle fibers, which flexes the entire muscle. In essence, a muscle contraction is the sum of its sarcomere contractions.\n\nA single sarcomere shortens itself through a process called “the sliding filament theory.” Sarcomeres are made primarily of two proteins: actin and myosin. Actin proteins form thin filaments that extend from both flat ends of the cylindrical sarcomere towards the center without connecting, like opposite walls with shelves that don’t touch. In between each actin filament, thick myosin filaments stretch across most of the sarcomere. Chemical changes cause myosin to bind with actin and pull the “shelves” inward, shrinking the sarcomere from both sides.\n\nThe Potential \n\nScientists and engineers are developing artificial muscles that simulate contraction and relaxation. These designs could enhance how robots move, improve pump designs, and lead to better automatic valves, switches, and sensors. One day we may even develop synthetic muscles for prosthetic limbs to assist people with mobility challenges."}, {"Source": "perching bird's feet", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "perch on weak surface", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/feet-stay-put/", "Strategy": "Feet Stay Put\n\nThe feet of perching birds can perch even on weak, slippery surfaces due to the rough bumpy skin on their soles.\n“The Passeriformes or ‘perching birds’ have the typical bird foot: three toes forward and one behind, with which a bird can perch crosswise on a branch. A bird’s sole is covered with rough bumpy skin, so that it can obtain purchase even on a small, weak, mobile twig which may be wet and slippery after rain.”"}, {"Source": "bird's bone", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "support huge physical loads", "Function2": "enable control", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/dense-bones-are-thin-and-strong/", "Strategy": "Dense Bones Are Thin and Strong\n\nBird bones aid in attaining flight because they are thin and dense, not because they are lightweight.\n\nIntroduction \n\nIt is a common belief that the skeletons of birds are “lightweight,” but when examined more closely, what is meant by this is unclear. In order to be considered lightweight, bird bones must be light relative to something else. Looking at their thin and delicate appearance, it might be logical to assume that bird bones are light relative to non-flying animals of a similar size, however, this is not the case. Weight for weight, bird skeletons take up the same body mass percentage as the skeletons of equivalently sized mammals.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nSome birds have pneumatized (air-filled) spaces within their largest bones, which can reduce skeletal mass by between 8 and 13 %. This aids with flying, however it is restricted to only some bird species and so it cannot be critical for flight.\n\nThe bones of flying birds are thinner than those of other animals. In order to be both thin and maintain the strength required to cope with the huge physical loads that are applied to them in flight, bird bones are denser than those of equivalently sized flightless animals. Bird bones are thin, but they are far from as delicate as they appear.\n\nBirds tend to be small animals, which does aid with flying, and they stand out from flightless animals of a similar size in that they have a relatively large surface area to volume ratio. Even when standing with wings folded, birds have a much larger surface area for their mass than other animals. With wings extended, this increases dramatically, creating lift and enabling control.\n\nLarge bones require large support structures, that is, musculature to move them and blood vessels to supply them with nutrients. Although bird bones themselves are denser and, proportionally, take up a normal percentage of body weight, their small relative volume means they require less in the way of support. In this way, the skeletons of birds enable them to have a smaller total body mass relative to their surface area. Bird skeletons are not lightweight, but because of their unique structure, bird bodies can be.\n\nThe Potential \n\nFlight is a delicate balance between the lift and the energy required to generate lift. Birds must consume enough calories to sustain flight for migration, to forage for food, and to build nests. Nature found an equilibrium in birds by designing dense bones that efficiently support smaller bodies. Flight for humans (indeed all modes of our transportation) also must consider efficiency. In other words, how far we can go on the available fuel? With more efficiently designed structures  (bones) of cars, airplanes, and cargo ships, we consume less fuel and emit less pollution."}, {"Source": "earthworm's flexible body", "Application": "burrowing robot", "Function1": "burrow through soil", "Function2": "move through soil", "Function3": "crawl through tight spaces", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/a-flexible-body-allows-the-earthworm-to-burrow-through-soil/", "Strategy": "A Flexible Body Allows the\nEarthworm to Burrow Through Soil\n\nThe soft, fluid-filled flexible body of the earthworm enables it to burrow through soil using its unique set of muscles and internal fluid to maintain shape.\n\nIntroduction \n\nEarthworms are commonly found in healthy soils, whether it’s your backyard or a grassland. They are soft, slimy tube-shaped organisms without a skeleton or limbs. Earthworms are decomposers that add air and disperse nutrients in the soil as they burrow. As decomposers, they consume dead organic material such as leaves and roots. After consuming the material, they break it down and excrete it as nutrients. The spreading of nutrients enhances the health of the soil, benefitting the earthworm’s community of living organisms.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nThe soft, flexible body of the earthworm is divided into segments, which allows it to easily move through the soil to find food. The earthworm’s body is also known as a hydrostatic skeleton, which is a flexible skeleton filled with fluid. A common earthworm (L. terrestris ) can range from 110-200 mm in length with anywhere from 135-150 segments in its body.  Each segment of the worm’s body contains muscles that work independently of every other segment.  The internal walls separate the segments and are lined with circular and longitudinal muscles. Circular muscles are wrapped around the circumference of each segment Longitudinal muscles extend down the length of each segment. The muscles create a soft barrier between segments, allowing the segments to be controlled independently. Inside each segment, there is fluid that holds the segment’s shape. As the earthworm burrows, it squeezes into tightly packed soil. This creates a high-pressure environment that could damage the worm. However, the fluid inside the segments helps prevent damage to the earthworm. Fluid cannot change volume because the molecules in the fluid are very close together. The high-pressure environment cannot press the molecules even closer, thus maintaining the earthworm’s shape.\n\nThe Potential \n\nAn earthworm has a special ability to crawl through tight spaces. Humans have designed robots to mimic this crawling motion. These robots could be made to burrow deep underground and distribute materials or test underground conditions quickly without the need to dig large holes.\n\nThis strategy was contributed by Sue White and edited by Natalie Chen."}, {"Source": "maple seed", "Application": "monocopter", "Function1": "provide lift force", "Function2": "prolong flight time", "Function3": "increase seed dispersion", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/tornado-like-spinning-increases-seed-dispersion/", "Strategy": "Tornado‑like Spinning\nIncreases Seed Dispersion\n\nThe leading edge of the tornado-like spinning maple seed provides a constant lift force, allowing seeds to disperse over a greater area.\n\nIntroduction \n\nScattering seeds is a prominent mechanism in all plants, often assisted by birds and gusts of wind.  When birds eat the seeds of trees, they transport and defecate them, creating a randomized scatter where new trees will grow.  When caught in a gust of wind, seeds fall and end up growing in close vicinity to one another. To increase the reach of where their seeds are planted, maple tree seeds twirl in a tornado-like vortex, creating more lift than their non-twirling counterparts.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nThe leading edge of the seed lowers the air pressure over the top of the seed, sucking the wind of the seed upwards, giving it extra lift, or extra travel time. This leads to a prolonged arrival at the ground, and more efficient dispersal.\n\nThe lift mechanism is similar to those of insects and hovering hummingbirds who use their wings to develop a continuous air vortex, sustaining their flight. The spinning motion created by the maple seed structure sustains a lift vortex which prolongs the flight. It’s also important to note that dead (brown-colored) seeds scatter further because they have an altered center of gravity from alive (green-colored) seeds.  This is because the center of gravity in the seed is closer to the center of lift, similar to a paper airplane that is able to fly further than its opponents.\n\nThe Potential \n\nThrough careful study of how a maple seed spirals through the air, scientists have designed the smallest known monocopter. Until the mechanics of falling seeds were better understood, monocopter flight was unstable. Investigating how maple seeds deal with turbulent air could also help develop more efficient wind turbines, increasing the amount of renewable energy that can be extracted from the breeze.\n\n"}, {"Source": "fern sperm", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "chemotaxis", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/signal-directs-sperm/", "Strategy": "Signal Directs Sperm\n\nThe sperm of ferns detect unfertilized archegonia via a malate signal.\n“In higher plants, we find positive chemotaxis in fern sperms, which respond to a malate signal from unfertilized archegonia.” "}, {"Source": "lesser burdock's seed casings", "Application": "velcro", "Function1": "disperse seed", "Function2": "attach easily to passing animal's skin, fur, or feathers", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/hooked-spines-grab-onto-fibers/", "Strategy": "Hooked Spines Grab On to Fibers\n\nIncurved hooks on lesser burdock seed casings grab the hair of passing animals and disperse the seeds over a wide area.\nIntroduction \n\nIt’s happened to many of us: returning from a walk or a hike, we notice prickly seeds, or burrs, attached to our pants, our shoes, maybe even our dog’s fur. We pick them off and throw them on the ground, where they have the chance to grow into a whole new plant.\n\nThis is one way that plants can disperse their seeds over a wider area than would be possible if they simply dropped to the ground. By producing seeds that stick to passing animals, plants turn us into unwitting allies in the spread of their seeds.\n\nOne plant that utilizes this method particularly well is Arctium minus, also known as lesser burdock or common burdock, which is native to Europe but introduced across much of the world.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nThe fruit of lesser burdock is a round head about three-quarters of an inch (2 cm) wide, with purple petals, covered in long, flexible, spines that end in curved hooks. The spines and the petals form a globular casing around the seeds at the interior of the flower head.\n\nThe plant blooms between July and October, following the summer months of its original European habitat. As the seeds ripen, the flower dries, and the entire seed casing will separate easily from its stalk. The hooked spines attach easily to the skin, fur, or even feathers of passing animals, which then transport the seeds whither the animals wander. When eventually the animals rub the burrs off their coats, the seeds separate and disperse to the soil.\n\nBy falling along the paths of their animal hosts, the seeds are also more likely to be planted in soil that has been freshly manured, offering them higher odds of successfully germinating and growing into mature plants. Conversely, these hooks are so tenacious that birds, bats, and other small animals have found themselves caught by the hooked spines and unable to exert enough force to pull away from the plant.\n\nThe Potential \n\nLesser burdock served as the inspiration and model for the invention of Velcro, which reproduces the attachment strategy by using two strips of fabric: one which resembles the spines with curved hooks, and one which resembles animal fur with thousands of tiny loops. When the two fabrics meet, they adhere to each other in a secure but removable manner, allowing them to be reused.\n\nGeorges de Mestral, a Swiss engineer, spent eight years attempting to replicate the plant’s adhesive powers after experiencing the seeds attach to his pants and his dog on a walk through the woods in 1941. Nearly a century later, the lesser burdock’s approach to adhesive hooks has improved human endeavors as commonplace as fastening a child’s shoes and as extraordinary as bracing equipment on the International Space Station."}, {"Source": "kingfisher's beak", "Application": "designing trains", "Function1": "dive into the water without splashing", "Function2": "catch fish", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/beak-provides-streamlining/", "Strategy": "The Beak That Inspired a Bullet Train\n\nThe shape of the kingfisher beak allows it to dive into the water without splashing.\n\nIntroduction \n\nWhile beside a creek, pond, or at the ocean, you may have been fortunate to spy a kingfisher. Found the world over, kingfishers are a family of birds containing over 100 species, often visiting bodies of water, where, as their name suggests, they are masters at catching fish.\n\nThe method kingfishers use to catch fish seems simple enough. Once a kingfisher spies a fish (using special glare-reducing cells in its eyes), it leaves a perch and plunges into the water to grab it in its beak. Fish, however, have a defensive strategy that is hard to overcome. Specialized receptors along a fish’s body, known as a lateral line, sense disturbances in the flow of surrounding water. Any sudden movement of water––such as a compression wave from a diving bird––and fish are gone with a flick of the tail. If you’ve ever tried to catch a fish with your hands, you know how difficult it is to escape their detection as soon as your hand touches the water.\n\nSo how does a kingfisher, hitting the water’s surface at over thirty-six feet (eleven meters) per second, manage to grab a fish in its beak before the fish detects it and flees?\n \nThe Strategy \n\nThe secret is in the shape of the kingfisher’s beak. A long and narrow cone, the kingfisher’s beak parts and enters the water without creating a compression wave below the surface or a noisy splash above. The fine point of the conical beak presents little surface area or resistance to the water upon entry, and the evenly and gradually enlarging cross-section of the beak keeps fluid flowing smoothly around it as it penetrates further into the water column. This buys the bird crucial milliseconds to reach the fish before the fish knows to flee. The length of the beak is critical here: the longer it is, the more gradually the angle of the wedge expands. A shorter, fatter, or rounder beak would increase the wedge angle, resulting in a splash, a compression wave, and a fleeing fish.\n\nThe Potential \n\nEiji Nakatsu, chief engineer of the company operating Japan’s fastest trains, wondered if the kingfisher’s beak might serve as a model for how to redesign trains not to create such a thunderous noise when leaving tunnels and breaking through the barrier of tunnel-air and outside-air. Sure enough, as his team tested different shapes for the front of the new train, the train became quieter and more efficient as the geometry of its nose became more like the shape of a kingfisher’s beak, requiring 15% less energy while traveling even faster than before."}, {"Source": "north american porcupine's quill", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "penetrate tissue easily", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/quills-penetrate-easily/", "Strategy": "Quills Penetrate Easily\n\nQuills of the North American porcupine penetrate tissue easily due to stress concentration at the barbs that likely stretches or tears tissue fibers locally at the interface of the quill.\n\n“North American porcupines are well known for their specialized hairs, or quills that feature microscopic backward-facing deployable barbs that are used in self-defense. Herein we show that the natural quill’s geometry enables easy penetration and high tissue adhesion where the barbs specifically contribute to adhesion and unexpectedly, dramatically reduce the force required to penetrate tissue. Reduced penetration force is achieved by topography that appears to create stress concentrations along regions of the quill where the cross sectional diameter grows rapidly, facilitating cutting of the tissue. Barbs located near the first geometrical transition zone exhibit the most substantial impact on minimizing the force required for penetration. Barbs at the tip of the quill independently exhibit the greatest impact on tissue adhesion force and the cooperation between barbs in the 0–2 mm and 2–4 mm regions appears critical to enhance tissue adhesion force. The dual functions of barbs were reproduced with replica molded synthetic polyurethane quills.”\n\n“[T]he quill with barbs required 54% less penetration force compared with the barbless quill…the barbed quill requires significantly less force and work to penetrate into tissue, compared with an 18 gauge hypodermic needle, which has a diameter of 1.161 ± 0.114 mm, similar to the diameter of a porcupine quill (1.262 ± 0.003 mm).”\n\n“The analysis revealed that tissue is primarily stretched and deformed by high stress concentrations near the barbs. The local stress concentrations likely reduce the need to deform the entire circumference of tissue surrounding the quill, consequently reducing the penetration force.”"}, {"Source": "fish's lateral line system", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "navigate", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/lateral-line-system-acts-as-sonar/", "Strategy": "Lateral Line System Acts as Sonar\n\nNeuromasts of the lateral line system of fish help them navigate by sensing their own waves, reflected back from surrounding objects, which are deflected by minute sensory cells embedded in jelly.\n“The lateral line system is a kind of underwater sonar and is very similar to the sonar-based navigation system employed by bats. But instead of listening to ultrasonic squeaks bouncing back from solid objects, the fish is able to feel the movement of water reflected back against its body from objects around it. The lateral line system consists of a horizontal groove running along each flank and onto the head, where it splits into three shorter grooves. Within each groove is a line of tiny sense organs known as neuromasts. A neuromast consists of several minute sensory cells whose hairs are embedded together within a triangular tongue of jelly called a cupula. As a fish swims, its movements create ripples or waves in the water that travel outward until they make contact with an object in the fish’s surroundings, whereupon they bounce back toward the fish. The returning vibrations are deflected by the neuromasts’ cupulae, thereby stimulating nerve connections to the brain, which give the fish sophisticated information about its surroundings. Neuromasts also cover the entire surface of a fish’s skin, and can serve as normal touch receptors, responding to physical contact with objects as well as vibrations.”"}, {"Source": "bee's wing", "Application": "lightweight aerial machines", "Function1": "create lift", "Function2": "generate thrust", "Function3": "increase speed", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/wings-generate-lift/", "Strategy": "Wings Generate Lift\n\nThe bee's complex wing positions create steady and unsteady lift forces.\n\nIntroduction \n\nThe act of hovering in mid-air involves a series of complex wing movements.  Bees hover in a slightly upright position, and their wing movement involves a forward and rearward wing stroke.  This motion is similar to how humans tread water by moving their arms forward and backwards to help maintain buoyancy.  The bee’s full stroke consists of three areas: mid-stroke, rearward-stroke, and forward-stroke, each contributing specific lift characteristics.\n\nThe Strategy \n\n \nAt mid-stroke, the bee’s wing resembles an airplane wing reaching with steady-state aerodynamic forces develop at the front edge of the wing.  An airplane wing must maintain less than 9-degree angle of attack (a wing’s orientation relative to the direction of motion) to prevent stall (turbulent air interrupting lift).  The bee wing angle of attack, however, averages between 41.1 – 50.5 degrees. To prevent stall, a vortex (a swirl of air) moving along the bee’s wing from the abdomen delays the onset of turbulent air at higher angles of attack.\n\nAt the end of both the rearward and forward strokes, the bee’s wing rotates along its lengthwise axis to orient the leading edge into the new direction of wing travel.  This rotation resembles how a human with hands stretched out to their side, rotates their hands from palms up to palms down. This rotation at stroke reversal creates three different lift forces to enhance the overall lift: rotational, acceleration, and wake capture.  Additionally, at the rearward stroke when both wings can almost touch, a jet of air shoots out to enhance thrust and creates a low-pressure zone that jump starts lift forces during the forward stroke.\n\nDuring low-load hovering, the bee’s wing operates within a forward-to-rearward stroke range of 90 degrees at around 230 Hz.  This stroke range creates an imaginary plane called the stroke plane. To move forward and in reverse, the stroke plane is tilted forward or rearward similarly to how helicopters fly. The bee’s indirect flight muscles are tuned for this higher 230 Hz frequency, which is atypical of other insects.  To increase the bee’s speed or its ability to carry a heavy pollen load, the wings maintain a 230 Hz stroke frequency by increasing the forward-to-rearward stroke range beyond 90 degrees. At a maximum stroke, the bee can fly at 3/4 mph.\n\nThe Potential \n\nThe flapping wings of bees represent a completely different approach to powered flight than human propellers, jet engines, or helicopter blades. It allows hovering and precision turning in ways we are currently unable to match. While still seemingly impractical for heavier objects, the rapid flapping holds much potential for applications that could increase the precision, coordination, and efficiency of ultra lightweight aerial machines like drones."}, {"Source": "bacteria", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "move forward", "Function2": "move backward", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/slime-enables-movement/", "Strategy": "Slime Enables Movement\n\nNozzles underneath some bacteria eject slime to propel the organism forwards or backwards.\n\n“Gliding motion across surfaces, usually with slime–whether or not by the same scheme–occurs in procaryotic organisms (bacteria and their kin) as well. It’s based on either of two mechanisms. Bacteria are often covered with tiny hairs, pili; retraction of one type (designated IV) through their outer membranes can move them around. Alternatively, they can secrete carbohydrate slime rearward to get a push.”"}, {"Source": "male bee's midleg", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "hold onto female", "Function2": "mate", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/male-midlegs-keep-bees-attached-while-mating/", "Strategy": "Male Midlegs Keep Bees Attached While Mating\n\nMale bees use their midlegs to hold onto females while coupling. The legs also have brushes for grooming. \n\nAlso known as the mesothoracic leg, the midleg is the second pair of legs on the thorax of the bee. Changes in the midlegs of the bees are often a secondary sexual characteristic, affecting male bees and influencing their chances of finding a mate.\n\nModified midlegs are often used to hold onto the female as the bee mates with her. Many species mate in midair, so the ability to stay coupled together is important. Midlegs can also contain different coloured brushes and keels used for grooming.\n\nThis information is also available from the University of Calgary Invertebrate collection, where it was curated as part of a study on design inspired by bees. \n\n"}, {"Source": "seaweed's fronds", "Application": "smart material", "Function1": "shape change", "Function2": "reduce stress", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/fronds-change-shape/", "Strategy": "Fronds Change Shape to Avoid Damage\n\nFronds of seaweed change shape and orientation to allow them to move with instead of resisting strong water currents.\nIntroduction \n\nSeaweeds, or macroalgae, often exist in or near the intertidal zone of oceans, where they are subject to very large forces from rapidly flowing tidal and storm currents. Unlike other occupants of intertidal zones, macroalgae are attached to the ocean floor and cannot move to take shelter. At the same time, they rely on energy from the sun to survive and so they need to maximize their surface area. This large frond area leaves seaweeds at high risk of damage.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nIntertidal macroalgae solve this problem by changing shape. When currents are mild, they project a large surface area into the water, gently wafting in the waves and collecting energy from the sun. However, when exposed to strong currents, macroalgae bend close to the floor and their fronds are swept into a narrow configuration that does not protrude into the current. Like a cyclist bending low over the handlebars, this more hydrodynamic shape reduces the interaction with the water, reducing stress on the organism and preventing damage and fracture.\n\nThe Potential \n\nAs with seaweed, too much rigidity in a material may lead to fracture or failure in the face of stress. Designing materials that can flex has many applications, including buildings, bridges, airplane wings, and even bioimplants. The ability to bend and change shape could one day result in smart materials that adapt to the whims of nature, changing properties to become more aerodynamic during high winds or becoming more flexible during earthquakes."}, {"Source": "maltese fungus's suckers", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "attach to roots", "Function2": "extract nutrients", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/suckers-attach-to-roots-to-absorb-nutrients/", "Strategy": "Suckers Attach to Roots to Absorb Nutrients\n\nSuckers of the Maltese fungus attach to the roots of other plants to extract nutrients\n\n“On top of a tiny pillar of rock standing in the sea just off the Maltese island of Gozo grows one of the rarest of all Mediterranean plants. It is called locally the Maltese fungus. In fact it is not a fungus but a true flowering plant. Most of its life is spent underground, drawing its nourishment from the roots of tamarisk or sea lavender. At this stage it consists of no more than a stem from which sprout the many suckers that attach it to the roots of its host.”"}, {"Source": "mammalian teeth", "Application": "dental retainers", "Function1": "anchor teeth", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/spliced-collagen-anchors-teeth/", "Strategy": "Spliced Collagen Anchors Teeth\n\nTeeth of mammals anchored by spliced collagen fibres\n\nIt’s obvious that we need our teeth to stay put firmly in our jaws, but it’s less obvious that they do still need to move. As we grow, our jaw changes shape and size and our teeth need to be able to move to accommodate the difference. Even after we stop growing, our jaw bones are constantly being remodeled, causing subtle changes. Dental retainers take advantage of this slight flexibility applying pressure in one direction and forcing teeth to migrate slowly to a new, more preferable, position in the mouth. Other mammals, like rats, have teeth that never stop growing: their teeth must be strong and stable enough to cope with the forces generated by gnawing but flexible enough to cope with the constant movement.\n\nTeeth are held in place by tiny ligaments, called periodontal ligaments. These tiny connective tissues are made primarily from collagen. Bone and tooth cementum (the surface layer of the roots of teeth) also contain collagen, however in bone and cementum the collagen is mineralized with calcium apatite to form a hard surface.\n\nCollagen is a protein made up of multiple strands interwoven into fibers. In both bone and cementum, collagen fibers that are continuous with the mineralized tissue protrude from the hard surface. These fibers, called “Sharpey’s fibers” are the anchor points for the periodontal ligaments. Sharpey’s fibers from bone and cementum protrude into the space between the jaw bone and the tooth where the collagen bundles from each side fray and then splice with the frayed fibers from the opposite side. The fraying and splicing forms a multiply branched web of collagen instead of a bunch of cables. In this way, individual collagen fibers among the splice can be broken and reformed, allowing the slow movement of teeth without reducing the strength of attachment of the teeth in the jaw.\n\n"}, {"Source": "bee's hind legs", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "hold onto mate", "Function2": "contoured to fit female", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/hind-legs-keep-bees-coupled-in-midair/", "Strategy": "Hind Legs Keep Bees Coupled in Midair\n\nBees use their hind legs to hold onto their mates, the legs often being perfectly contoured to fit onto the female. \n\nDifferences in the hind legs of bees are often a secondary sexual characteristic, affecting male bees and increasing their chances of finding a mate.\n\nThe legs are often used to hold onto the female during mating. Many species mate in midair, so the ability to stay coupled is important. Hind legs are often expanded, widened or modified with spines. The inner surface of the hind legs may also be contoured to fit perfectly against the female, varying from species to species.\n\nThis information is also available from the University of Calgary Invertebrate collection, where it was curated as part of a study on design inspired by bees. \n\n"}, {"Source": "remora's suction disc", "Application": "waterproof adhesive", "Function1": "attach to surface", "Function2": "generate friction", "Function3": "detach from the surface", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/sucker-attaches-to-uneven-surfaces/", "Strategy": "The Versatile Grip of Remoras’ Suction Discs\n\nUnique structures give fish the ability to adhere tenaciously to a variety of surfaces under water.\n\nIntroduction \n\nAs the enormous bulk of a great white shark speeds through the ocean, a single wave of its tail propels it many, many times the body lengths of the small fish clinging to its belly. These passengers, called remoras, move at relative warp-speed, expending very little energy of their own as they are carried from feast to feast.\n\nRemoras feed on scraps of food shredded by their actively hunting hosts, and on harmful parasites on their hosts’ skins. That service is part of what makes the arrangement helpful to the larger animals. Catching a ride, remoras also increase their chances of reproduction, since a good host is a great place to find a mate.\n\nAll this activity requires being able to hang on tightly and efficiently, but also to detach at will for eating, mating, and other activities. So how do they do it?\n\nThe Strategy \n\nA remora’s stick-to-itiveness stems from a unique suction disc structure on the top of its flat head. The disc’s outer edge is ringed with an oval of soft, fleshy tissue. This lip makes contact with the surface of a host, whether it is a rough-skinned shark or a smooth dolphin. The lip conforms closely to the surface and begins to create a leakproof seal. Water is pumped out of the interior cavity to create a pressure difference inside and outside the seal. Higher water pressure outside just pushes harder against the seal. That’s the basic suction that holds the remora in place.\n\nBut a closer look at the fleshy tissue reveals an additional reinforcing feature. Just under the tissue’s surface is a layer that is densely filled with long, thin, vertically aligned fibers of collagen, a protein that is both strong and elastic. The fibers compress easily but resist stretching and breaking. Those properties help the lip maximize contact with surfaces to protect the seal. They also keep the lip from easily creeping or slipping when a remora’s host speeds up or changes direction suddenly.\n\nThe interior of the disc is lined with 10 to 30 thin, flat layers of tissue, aligned in two columns of parallel rows, like oars on a Roman galley or the ridges on the roof of your mouth. These are called lamellae, and remoras can raise them up to make more contact with their hosts and enhance suction.\n\nThe lamellae are embedded with many rows of spiky mineral structures called spinules, each a few millimeters tall. Remoras position their lamellae so that the spinules grip into the tiny crevices on the surface of the host. That generates friction that deters slippage. Spinules have a variety of tip ends, increasing the likelihood that at least some spinules are suitably shaped to gain traction on the particular surface available at that time.\nReleasing the lamellae then allows remoras to detach whenever and wherever they desire.\n\nThe Potential \n\nFishermen throughout the tropics have made use of this suction capability. They catch and tether remoras, then place them into the water near larger prey. When the remoras attach, the fishermen reel them both in together.\n\nBeyond this direct use, the structure of remoras’ suction disc offers blueprints for an engineering holy grail: finding a way to get things to adhere quickly, reliably, and reversibly, especially in watery environments. Ongoing research on remora discs could lead to new technologies and nontoxic, waterproof, easily removable adhesives that can be used on construction, clothing, outdoor gear, and beverage packaging, for example.\n\nScientists have already designed remora-inspired underwater robotic devices that allow them to hitchhike effectively, reducing their energy demands and prolonging their ability to stay under water. Similar devices could result in no-harm tags to observe marine animals and lead to breakthroughs in knowledge about the ocean."}, {"Source": "male bee's foreleg", "Application": "design inspired by bees", "Function1": "spread scent", "Function2": "collect oil", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/forelegs-are-used-to-spread-scent/", "Strategy": "Forelegs Are Used to Spread Scent\n\nMale bees use their forelegs to send mating signals and spread their scent. \n\nDifferences in the forelegs of bees are often a secondary sexual characteristic that affects male bees and plays a role in their chances of finding a mate.\n\nForelegs can be used to cover the females eyes as they mate. The different shapes and sizes of the forelegs between species cause different shadows and patterns of light to shine through as he covers her eyes. These patterns signal to the female bee that she is mating with her own species.\n\nForelegs are also used to collect scent, whether the scent is excreted as a pheromone (such as can happen in Leaf-cutter bees) or collected from a series of flowers (such as in Orchid bees). This scent is then used as a signal to attract a mate and to assure her that they are the same species. When secreting pheromones, the scent can also be used to distinguish the relationship between the female and her mate, to assure that they are not closely related. The forelegs can also come equipped with dense, soft hair to massage the sent into her antennae.\n\nThe forelegs can also be modified to collect oil from flowers in addition to pollen, though this is not a male-specific trait. The oils are collected using a dense brush of hairs on the front of the leg.\n\nThis information is also available from the University of Calgary Invertebrate collection, where it was curated as part of a study on design inspired by bees. \n\n"}, {"Source": "spider's legs", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "move around", "Function2": "catch prey", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/leg-uses-hydraulics-and-muscle-flex/", "Strategy": "Leg Uses Hydraulics and Muscle Flex\n\nThe legs of spiders move using a combination of the hydraulic pressure of body fluid and muscle flex.\n\nSmaller spiders (usually those weighing under 3g) use a hydraulic catapult method to move around and catch prey, whereas larger spiders (those weighing over 3g) rely on a combination of a hydraulic catapult and muscle-based contraction.\n\nSpiders have four pairs of legs, and each pair has a specialized task for locomotion. The front two pairs are situated in front of the spider’s center of mass, and the rear two pairs are behind its center of mass. During forward motion, the front two pairs flex inward, creating a rearward pulling force.  The third leg pair acts as a pivot point, like a pole vaulter using the pole to swing their momentum over the bar. The fourth leg pairs extend from hydraulic pressure creating a rearward push force.\n\nEach leg consists of seven tubular sections with three distinct regions. The hip joint located at the body allows movement left and right as well as up and down while the other two active elements, femur-patella, and tibia-metatarsus, allow movement up and down only. The hip joint has both extension muscles to push out the legs and flex muscles to pull in the legs.  The femur-patella and tibia-metatarsus only have flex muscles. To extend the legs, hemolymph fluid, similar to blood in vertebrates, pumped from the spider’s body fills the lower side of the femur-patella and tibia-metatarsus joints, pressurizing a bellow-like structure to extend the leg. With flex-only muscles attached to the inside circumference of the spider’s body, the spider can maximize its grip on prey. As a liquid, the hemolymph can fill in the gaps between muscle fibers for an efficient extension as well as leg structure stiffening.\n\nWhen the spider prepares to jump on its prey or away from danger, it pressurizes the legs for an extension while simultaneously flexing its muscles in place. When the spider relaxes its flexed muscles, the pressurized legs extend initiating the jump sequence. Depending on the desired trajectory of the jump, the spider can manipulate the timing and force of each leg as well as using in-flight leg extension or contraction to manage angular momentum and aerodynamics.  Its silk dragline provides the spider with an emergency stop.\n\nWhile spiders under a mass of 3g (like Cupiennius salei) primarily use this hydraulic catapult method, spiders with mass over 3g (like Ancylometes concolor) would start to bounce uncontrollably during full hydraulic pressurization, causing its legs to lose contact with the ground, unless it used excessive muscle energy to manage the bounce.  Thus, more massive spiders use a combination of hydraulic extension and muscle flex at launch but rely more heavily on muscle flex in their front legs."}, {"Source": "jumping bean moth caterpillar", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "transfer full force of movement", "Function2": "startle any animal", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/threads-transfer-movement/", "Strategy": "Threads Transfer Movement\n\nThe jumping bean moth caterpillar pulls on threads attached to the inside of its seed to 'jump' and move to shade when it gets too hot.\n\n“To perform its trick, the caterpillar first weaves a silken web against the seed wall. Then, by grasping this web with its forelegs and jerking violently, the caterpillar transfers the full force of its movement to the capsule. The sudden jolt startles any animal that tries to eat the seed. By jerking repeatedly, the caterpillar can even roll the seed into the shade to find shelter from the sun’s heat.” "}, {"Source": "russian thistle tumbleweed's branches", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "provides structural support", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/branches-provide-support/", "Strategy": "Branches Provide Support\n\nIntertwining and interconnected branches of Russian thistle tumbleweeds provide structural support through trussing.\n\n“The tumbleweed is a complex growth of branches with wildly irregular, sometimes temporary triangulation-like, connections on the inside of the plant, creating massive interlocking structural relationships that are held together by barbs (they hook together like Velcro). In the form of a ball, the hooked branches make an extremely strong, structural truss-like sphere that rolls along fields distributing its seed—the form and structure are part of an evolutionary function of propagation.”"}, {"Source": "rattan palm's tendrils", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "climb vigorously", "Function2": "sharp, curved hook", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/tendrils-enable-upward-climb/", "Strategy": "Tendrils Enable Upward Climb\n\nRattan palms attach to established trees and climb vigorously upwards thanks to long, thin tendrils with extremely sharp, curved hooks.\n\n“Rattans, the highly specialised climbing palms of south-east Asia, have stems that are barely thicker than a man’s finger. The front tip, from which all growth comes, explores with extremely long, thin tendrils equipped along their length with needle-sharp curved hooks. If these snag your arm – and the tendrils are so thin that they can easily be overlooked – they can rip both your shirt and your flesh. With these, it hitches itself on to an established tree and actively grows upwards. Sometimes the support is not strong enough to bear the extra load and it collapses, but the rattan is not deterred. It continues to grow as it sprawls across the forest floor and does so with such vigour that some species develop longer stems than any other plant and may reach a length of over five hundred feet.”"}, {"Source": "squirting cucumber's fruit", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "eject seed under pressure", "Function2": "carry seed with sap", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/pressurized-fruit-ejects-seeds/", "Strategy": "Pressurized Fruit Ejects Seeds\n\nThe fruit of squirting cucumbers distribute seeds by ejecting them under pressure.\n\nThe squirting cucumber (Ecballium elaterium) is a plant in the Cucurbitaceae family, which also includes melons, squash and non-squirting cucumbers. It is native to Southern Europe, North Africa and some of Asia. It is a low growing, creeping plant with small hairy green fruit. The fruit is poisonous, but contains a number of compounds that may have medicinal properties.\n\nLike all plants, the squirting cucumber needs to spread its seeds so that young seedlings are not competing with the parent for sunlight and nutrients. Whereas other members of the Cucurbitaceae produce edible fruit and rely on animals to spread their seeds, the squirting cucumber uses hydrostatic pressure.\n\nThe fruit of Ecballium elaterium hang down vertically from short, upright stems. Inside each fruit is a series of chambers filled with viscous sap and seeds. As the fruit ripens, the chambers fill with more and more sap, reaching pressures of about 27 atmospheres. Simultaneously, abscission tissue develops where the fruit is joined to the stem. Abscission tissue is a weak fracture point that allows parts of a plant to fall off without leaving open tissue that might get infected. When the pressure inside the fruit exceeds the strength of the abscission tissue around the stem, the fruit falls off, leaving a small hole at the top where the stem was attached. As it falls, the pressure forces the sap out of the hole at the top, carrying the seeds with it. Because the hole is pointing up, as the fruit falls, seeds are sprayed in a jet away from the parent plant."}, {"Source": "hummingbird's wrist joints", "Application": "unmanned drone aircraft", "Function1": "create lift", "Function2": "maintain hover", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/hummingbird-wrist-joints-rotate-to-maintain-hover/", "Strategy": "Hummingbird Wrist Joints\nRotate to Maintain Hover\n\nThe wrist joints of the hummingbird enable hovering by rotating back and forth.\n\nIntroduction \n\nThe hummingbird (Apodiformes) is able to drink the nectar of flowers while steadily hovering in mid air by flapping its wings over 80 times per second. Hummingbirds are able to achieve this amazing feat by moving the air around their wings more efficiently than other birds.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nBirds are able to fly by flapping their wings up and down, which creates ‘lift.’ This is because the shape of the wing creates a lower pressure above and a higher pressure below, ‘lifting’ the bird upwards. When birds flap their wings, the downstroke creates the lift, while the upstroke prepares the bird for the next downstroke. Insects, on the other hand, are able to use both their upstroke and downstroke to create lift because they are able to twist their wings at their flexible joints, which increases their aerodynamic efficiency. Most birds are unable to do this because their muscle and skeletal joints are configured to allow a repeatable back and forth motion. However, similar to the insect, the hummingbird is able to rotate its wings back to front at the wrist joint to create lift during both the downward and upward stroke. The hummingbird is able to maintain its hover due to the constant lift force created.\n\nThe Potential \n\nUnlike birds flapping their wings to generate lift, when humans fly, we typically burn fossil fuels in combustion engines to provide the force needed. Understanding how hummingbirds achieve such efficient flight may improve how we navigate the skies, possibly leading to designs that need far less energy than current technologies. Hummingbird flight might inspire a new wave of highly efficient unmanned drone aircraft, improving our ability to use them to accomplish hazardous tasks like inspecting power lines."}, {"Source": "fungi's spore", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "shoot spores", "Function2": "catapult spores", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/droplet-coalescence-catapults-ballistospores/", "Strategy": "Droplet Coalescence Catapults Ballistospores\n\nBallistospores of fungi are catapulted away by coalescence of water droplets.\n\nFungal spores are tiny particles that perform a similar function to seeds in plants. Spores are usually single-celled and can grow into a new organism without requiring fertilization. Like plants, fungi need to disperse their spores in order to colonize new locations. Spores are very light and can be carried large distances by air currents. However, fungal fruiting bodies from which spores are dispersed are small and usually grow in low sheltered spots. In order to reach air currents, fungi distribute spores in a number of different ways. Some rely on wind or rain droplets to dislodge spores, while others, such as Pilobolus, are capable of shooting their spores distances of up to 2.5 meters.\nThe Basidiomycota are one large sub-division of the kingdom Fungi, comprising more than 30,000 known species. Basidiomycota have diverse methods for dispersing spores and one common mechanism is a ballistospore. Ballistospores are crescent shaped single spores that grow from the tips of specialized spore-producing structures called sterigma. Once mature, ballistospores spontaneous launch from the fruiting body at velocities of 1.2 metres per second, achieving 12000 g.\n\nThe mechanism of ballistospore launch is passive and makes use of air humidity and the natural behavior of water. Each ballistospore has two hygroscopic (water absorbing) patches on its surface. The patches are coated with sugars, including mannitol, that absorb water from the air and guide formation of two droplets on the spore’s surface. The patches are separated by a hydrophobic strip that prevents the drops from merging until they reach a critical size. Once they are large enough, the two drops make contact and merge. This merging causes the water to spread over the surface of the spore, changing its center of gravity and releasing energy from the altered water surface tension. The energy from the moving water enables the ballistospores to “jump” off the sterigma.\n\nFungi produce countless spores and, in an interesting addendum, ballistospores may have a far wider impact than simple fungal reproduction. After launch, the thin layer of water quickly evaporates, leaving the mannitol that had been concentrated in two precise locations spread over the entire surface of the spore. The fungi that produce ballistospores live primarily in forests, and this means the air above forests contains large numbers of aerial ballistospores. The mannitol coating the spore surface maintains its hygroscopic nature and continues to absorb moisture from the atmosphere over the trees. One theory suggests that this action could seed cloud formation and lead to increased rainfall over densely wooded areas."}, {"Source": "sea urchin's egg and sperm", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "slow down dilution", "Function2": "enhance fertilization rate", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/viscous-eggs-and-sperm-may-slow-down-dilution/", "Strategy": "Viscous Eggs and Sperm\nMay Slow Down Dilution\n\nViscous eggs and sperm from sea urchins may slow down dilution and enhance fertilization rates by forming sticky clumps.\n\nSea urchins are spiny marine animals that reproduce through broadcast spawning: they gather together into groups where females release millions of eggs and males release billions of sperm into the open water where the two can mix, potentially meet, and fertilize.\n\nThe exact conditions that trigger spawning in different urchin species are as yet unknown, but environmental cues like water temperature and food availability appear to play a role in triggering group spawning in some urchin populations.\n\nOnce released from the urchin’s body, sperm and eggs are at the whim of the surrounding water and its motion. If they become too diluted from dispersing too rapidly and widely, the chance of fertilization could decrease dramatically. Some species of sea urchins appear to have strategies that can help control dispersion of eggs and sperm and potentially make fertilization more likely. For instance, the eggs and sperm are negatively buoyant, meaning they tend to sink. This may prevent them from being swept away too quickly when first released.\n\nIn addition, the eggs and sperm have high viscosity. This property affects how much substances stay together or disperse: high viscosity substances tend to stick together (e.g., glue or molasses), while low viscosity substances flow and separate easily. Because of their high viscosity, urchin eggs and sperm can form concentrated clumps or sticky strings that stay close to the urchin and gradually diffuse over time. This could increase the chance that sperm and eggs encounter each other. Furthermore, this viscosity can change depending on how masses of sperm or eggs flow. When flow speeds within a flowing stream of sperm or eggs vary greatly (which can happen when fluids travel through a narrow pipe, for example), their viscosity decreases. This behavior is called shear-thinning. For an urchin, having eggs or sperm be less viscous while they travel through a reproductive duct and out an external pore could mean that less energy is needed to expel the eggs or sperm from its body.\n\n"}, {"Source": "australian green tree frog's toe pad", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "stick to various surfaces", "Function2": "maintain clean and functional toe pads", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/toe-pads-adhere-and-clean-themselves/", "Strategy": "Toe Pads Adhere and Clean Themselves\n\nThe feet of the Australian green tree frog stick to surfaces and stay clean due to mucus secreted between the toe pads\n\nAustralian tree frogs are able to climb a variety of surfaces with the help of their sticky toes. The toes have four digits with pads on the ends, and each pad is made up of layers of hexagonal cells separated by grooves that allow fluid to pass through. These grooves secrete mucus that forms a thin layer of fluid between the pad and the surface, allowing the pads to stick to the surface by wet adhesion.\n\nThe mucus also allows the frog to maintain clean and functional toe pads by passively self-cleaning whilst climbing. Contaminants, such as soil and plant particles that stick to the pads, are removed through continual movement and repositioning of the pads during travel. A ‘flushing’ action is also used via the secretion of mucus on the pads; contaminants become trapped in the mucus and are pushed to the tips of the pads. They are then removed entirely and are left on the mucus footprint.\n\n"}, {"Source": "male diving beetle's leg", "Application": "reversible underwater attachment", "Function1": "attach to female beetle", "Function2": "adhere to surfaces", "Function3": "enhance adhesion", "Function4": "easily detach", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/legs-reversibly-stick-to-surfaces-underwater/", "Strategy": "Legs Reversibly Stick to Surfaces Underwater\n\nLegs of male diving beetles reversibly stick to surfaces underwater using suction and viscous properties of water.\n\nDiving beetles are aquatic insects that live in ponds, lakes, and other bodies of stagnant water. Their paddle-like hind legs enable them to swim through the water, and in males, enlarged and adhesive sections of the forelegs enable them to attach temporarily to the backs of female beetles during courtship. Like many insects, diving beetles use small projecting structures called setae on their legs to aid in adhesion. In terrestrial insects, these setae are often hair-like structures. In male diving beetles, however, the adhesive setae are modified into spatula or suction-cup-like shapes that can function underwater.\n\nEach spatula-shaped seta on the diving beetle Cybister rugosus has a thin contact surface and a stalk. The contact surface is a ~400 µm-long, roughly oval-shaped pad with a small sucker and a series of parallel grooves running lengthwise on the underside. The short, flexible stalk connects the pad to the foreleg. These structures contribute to several mechanisms for effective and easily reversible underwater attachment. The small sucker on the pad likely functions as a suction cup, while the grooves can fill with water and adhere to a surface through viscous resistance. This is resistance to fluid flow due to the internal stickiness (viscosity) of water on a small scale, and would prevent the seta from slipping off a wet surface. The setal stalk is flexible and can twist to reorient the pad so that its water-filled grooves line up with exerted forces and enhance adhesion.\n\nFinally, the setae can easily detach because adhesion is velocity-dependent, meaning the speed with which setae contact a surface can affect the strength of adhesion. Adhesion is stronger if movement between the seta and surface is fast. This might occur when a male diving beetle is holding onto a female beetle that is swimming erratically. Adhesion is weaker, though, if movement is slow, making it easier for the foreleg to detach if the setae are peeled off slowly."}, {"Source": "snake scale", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "move over a variety of surfaces", "Function2": "high level of friction", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/scale-shape-enables-limbless-movement/", "Strategy": "Scale Shape Enables Limbless Movement\n\nScales of snakes enable limbless forward movement through directional friction.\n\nSnakes are limbless animals and so must move over a variety of surfaces using only their flexible and slender bodies. During typical slithering movements, a large portion of a snake’s body is in contact with and sliding over the ground at all times. This causes friction, which can damage the animal’s skin. In order to manage this friction, snake scales have a number of features that increase slipperiness. The scales on the underside of the snake are smoother than those on the sides and back, and they may also release a lubricant. However, in order to move, snakes must be able to grip the surface they are travelling across and push against it. In order to do this, they require a high level of friction between their scales and the surface: snakes must generate both low and high friction during travel.\n\nStudies on a variety of different snake species have demonstrated that the friction generated by sliding depends on the direction of travel. Belly scales have small “micropatterns” that create arrays of v-shaped feathered trailing edges. The tips of these v-shapes point towards the tail of the snake and, in some species, they are raised at the tip. In this way, as the snake slides, the surface moves easily up and over the raised tips, but in the reverse direction they act like the pawl of a ratchet, snagging the surface and resisting movement in the opposite direction. The scales also have series of parallel grooves running from the head of the snake towards its tail. These grooves work like rails, limiting surface contact area and friction as long as the snake in moving in a parallel direction to the grooves, but generating high friction and grip when the snake moves sideways. In general, the scales on the undersides of snakes are low friction when the animal is moving forward, but generate high friction and grip when it moves from side-to-side or backwards.\n\nSnakes have multiple methods of moving, including a side-to-side slither, concertina-like (accordion-like), and “sidewinding” (flinging themselves over the ground). They have remarkable levels of control over their muscles and may even be able to control each scale’s angle and attitude independently. In this way, they are able to combine fine muscle movement with the structure of scales to generate forward travel by bracing against and pushing off of the ground in a variety of different ways."}, {"Source": "passion flower's tendrils", "Application": "glues", "Function1": "attach to and climb up smooth surfaces", "Function2": "fill tiny features on the surface", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/tendrils-enable-climbing-up-smooth-surfaces/", "Strategy": "Tendrils Enable Climbing Up Smooth Surfaces\n\nTendrils from passion flowers adhere to tiny features on relatively smooth surfaces via terminal adhesive pads.\n\nPassion flowers are a genus of plants with around 500 members, of which most are vines. They grow natively in all tropical regions except Africa. Climbing plants like the Passiflora use external structures as supports that enable them to reach sunlight without investing energy in the growth of support tissues. Vines attach to other plants or solid surfaces by twining their stems, or leaf petioles (leaf stems) around supports, and by using tendrils. Tendrils can be modified leaves, shoots or, in the case of passion flowers, flower buds.\n\nPassion flower tendrils generally work by twining around a support. Twining tendrils work well for attaching to and climbing up narrow cylindrical objects like the stems of other plants, but they are less useful for climbing up relatively flat surfaces such as rock faces, or the trunks of larger trees. One species of passion flower, Passiflora discophora, endemic to Ecuador, has tendrils with sticky pads on the ends that overcome this issue by growing into and filling tiny features on otherwise flat surfaces.\n\nUnlike other species of passion flowers, P. discophora tendrils branch, meaning a single tendril might have multiple ends. Tendrils initially grow straight, except for the tips, which are hooked and as narrow as 1/10th of a millimeter across at the end. When the hooked ends make contact with a surface feature, they curl up tightly and the cells that make up their surface begin to protrude. These cells grow into a pad, filling the available space in the object’s surface exactly and forming a very snug fit. The outermost layer of cells on the pad are particularly small and grow into tiny cavities and features on the surface. The tendrils also secrete a waxy substance that fills any remaining gaps and may also function as a glue. Once firmly attached, tendrils coil, shortening themselves and pulling the plant up behind them."}, {"Source": "vertebrate immune system", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "bind foreign molecules", "Function2": "produce antibodies", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/antibodies-bind-a-diversity-of-molecules/", "Strategy": "Antibodies Bind a Diversity of Molecules\n\nAntibodies in the vertebrate immune system bind a diversity of foreign molecules via a highly variable binding site.\n\nThe vertebrate immune system is a highly coordinated system of interacting molecules, tissues, and processes that defend an organism against disease and infection. When a foreign pathogen invades the body, one of the immune system’s responses is to produce antibodies. These antibodies (also called immunoglobulins) are customized proteins that can bind to surface molecules on pathogens. A bound antibody can deactivate the pathogen, or can function like a flag, signaling to other parts of the immune system that the attached pathogen is a foreign invader and should be destroyed. Pathogens come in various shapes and sizes, ranging from viruses to microorganisms. Antibodies have to recognize and bind a diversity of pathogens in a lifetime, and the immune system can produce billions of different antibodies to accomplish this.\n\nThe surface molecules that antibodies bind to on pathogens are called antigens, and binding between antibody and antigen is highly specific. A given antibody can fit with and bind only one or a few different antigens. Each antibody is a Y-shaped molecule with two binding sites, one on each tip of the Y’s upper arms. While the majority of the molecule is similar among different antibodies, the binding sites at the tips are highly variable. Different numbers and combinations of protein building blocks (amino acids) result in different protein folding patterns at the binding site. How the proteins are folded determines the specific 3D shape and chemical characteristics at the antibody’s binding site. This binding site attaches to antigens like a lock fits a key. Many weak bonds between the binding site and the antigen enable the antibody to attach tightly.\n\nBy keeping the basic structure of the antibody consistent and only altering the binding site in response to different antigens, the immune system can produce a myriad of antibodies to combat diverse pathogens. Furthermore, antibodies can form complexes, where their multiple binding sites attach to and bring together many antigen-bearing pathogens. This helps to localize an infection and makes it easier for other parts of the immune system to respond."}, {"Source": "platypus's front feet", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "provide paddling power", "Function2": "extend webbing", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/feet-paddle-efficiently/", "Strategy": "Feet Paddle Efficiently\n\nThe front feet of a platypus provide exceptional paddling power thanks to extensive webbing.\n\n“The rear toes [of the platypus] are webbed like those of a duck; but the front feet are unique. The web extends along the sides of the feet and under, and beyond, the claws on all the toes. This more than doubles the surface area, and thus the paddling power, of the foot.” "}, {"Source": "primate's fingertips", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "enhance grip", "Function2": "increase area of contact", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/wrinkled-fingertips-enhance-grip/", "Strategy": "Wrinkled Fingertips Enhance Grip\n\nFingertips of primates enhance grip in wet conditions by wrinkling\n\nWe all know that our fingertips and toes wrinkle if they stay wet for around five minutes or more. Less well known is that this is an active response triggered by our nerves and that if those nerves are damaged, it stops. The wrinkles that appear in our fingers and toes have a very distinctive pattern that corresponds with the most efficient topography for moving water out of the way.\nThe grooves and ridges that form when our fingers, and the fingers of other primates, become wet mean that, first, a small area of skin makes contact with the surface the fingers are gripping. Like the treads of a tire, the grooves channel the water out the way. Unlike the treads of a tire, our finger pads are soft and so we are able to continue to increase the area of contact, reducing the size of the grooves as pressure increases and the water is cleared.\n\nThis active increase in grip in response to moisture makes sense in species that regularly climb on damp and rainy surfaces like trees and rocks.\n\n"}, {"Source": "english ivy's roots", "Application": "shape-changing root hairs", "Function1": "attach firmly", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/roots-attach-firmly/", "Strategy": "Roots Attach Firmly\n\nRoots of English ivy attach firmly to surfaces using a multi-step attachment strategy involving glue and shape-changing root hairs.\n\nEnglish ivy can attach itself to nearly any surface using a strategy involving natural-forming glue and shape-changing root hairs. Along the underside of its stems, the ivy sprouts thin roots that can cling to small surface bumps on trees, rocks, and building plaster. Once the roots are in place, they secrete a glue-like substance to adhere to that location. As a final means for securing a tight hold, the root can change shape and scrunch itself into a tight spiral shape around its attachment point. These different stages of attachment can vary to enable the ivy to secure itself to a range of surfaces.\n\nThis strategy was co-contributed by EcoRise Youth Innovations\n\n"}, {"Source": "boxfish's body", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "maneuverability", "Function2": "stability", "Function3": "affect water flow", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/body-shape-influences-stability-and-maneuverability/", "Strategy": "Body Shape Influences\nStability and Maneuverability\n\nThe shape of the boxfish controls water flow around the body to influence stability and maneuverability.\n\nWith a rigid bony armour covering a box-shaped body, boxfishes are surprisingly agile swimmers. They easily maneuver their way around complex physical environments encountered in the coral reefs they inhabit.\n\nOriginally, it was thought that the fish’s boxy shape functioned as a rigid frame to keep the fish stable while swimming; however, more recent research has suggested that the boxy shape actually destabilizes the body during swimming and enhances maneuverability. Stability and maneuverability in swimming tend to have competing requirements. Stability often involves a narrow range of movements, like a tuna whipping its tail back and forth while cruising through the open ocean. Maneuverability, on the other hand, involves a wide range of movements like tight turns and changes in posture. Being highly stable often means being less adept at maneuvering, and vice versa. Researchers studying boxfishes have looked at how water flows around their bodies to determine how stability and maneuverability play roles in their swimming behavior.\n\nProjecting from the boxfish’s carapace (its bony outer covering) are ridges and edges that affect how water flows around its body. In an early set of experiments, researchers found that these ridges appeared to manipulate the flow so that it produced stabilizing forces during swimming. In a later study using different methods, other researchers found that the flows around the ridges and body should destabilize the body overall. Although this might seem undesirable, destabilization actually enables a much wider range of movement than if the boxfish were trying to remain constantly stable. In this latter case, the boxfish can  use the pectoral fins at its side and tail fin to control this destabilization and ultimately be highly maneuverable in the water. Additional research could help uncover exactly how the boxfish’s body and fins work together to affect stability and maneuverability as it navigates its complex environment. \n\n"}, {"Source": "garden nasturtium's leaf", "Application": "textured surface", "Function1": "reduce contact time", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/leaf-ridges-reduce-contact-time-with-water-drops/", "Strategy": "Leaf Ridges Reduce Contact\nTime With Water Drops\n\nRidges on garden nasturtium leaves reduce contact time with water drops by enabling faster drop recoil.\n\nMany plants have hydrophobic (water repellent) leaves. When raindrops fall on these surfaces, they tend to bounce off, and the less time a liquid drop spends in contact with a surface, the lower the likelihood that it will stick and leave some moisture behind.\n\nGarden nasturtium (Tropaeolum majus), a common backyard garden plant, has leaves that appear to reduce the contact time of incoming liquid drops by altering drop hydrodynamics with a “macrotextured” surface of relatively large veins and ridges.\n\nOn most smooth or microtextured surfaces, incoming drops hit the surface and then experience “axisymmetric recoil”: the drop spreads out into a pancake shape with uniform thickness, and then bounces back up, recoiling with a roughly circular shape and uniform speed around its edges. The center of the spread out drop is static, and has little role in the recoil. On surfaces with macrotexture (up to 150 microns high) ridges and veins, like nasturtium leaves, if a drop hits a ridge, it experiences “center-assisted recoil” instead. The ridge alters the behavior of the drop so that it recoils in an asymmetrical shape, and the liquid in the center of each spread out region contributes to recoil. This is possible because the liquid layer above the ridge is thinner than elsewhere on the surface, so it has less liquid to accelerate back up and recoils faster than other parts of the drop. This non-uniform recoil speed within the drop tends to make it fragment, resulting in small, connected fractions that recoil more quickly. In addition, more of the drop contributes to recoil than would be the case with one big mass of water.\n\nWhether or not reduced drop contact time gives the nasturtium plant any functional benefit has yet to be determined, but researchers who have developed and tested synthetic surfaces with macrotextures have demonstrated similar effects. This finding may be of use for surfaces where water contact time is an issue."}, {"Source": "eukaryotes' transport protein", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "grip the track tightly", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/heavily-loaded-transport-protein-catch-bonds/", "Strategy": "Heavily Loaded Transport Protein Catch‑bonds\n\nTransport protein in eukaryotes binds more tightly to its track via molecular force transmission only when heavily loaded\n\nTransport is necessary for life. Whether it’s us driving to the shops to buy food, or proteins inside our cells carrying individual molecules from where they were made to where they are needed, sometimes things just have to be carried.\nInside our cells, transport of molecules is carried out by a protein called dynein which walks along a track called a microtubule. Dynein is a large protein that pairs up with a second copy of itself to look very much like a pair of legs. At the end of each leg are “feet” that bind to the microtubule track, while the cargo is tethered to the other end. Dynein uses adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the energy currency of the cell, to power each step and staggers its way along the track dragging the cargo behind it.\n\nWhen carrying a small or intermediate cargo, dynein proceeds along the track somewhat randomly. The molecule’s feet are lightly bound and they might step forwards or backwards, or even let go entirely. Taken together, on average, dynein molecules are more likely to move forwards than back, and so the cargo gets carried in the right direction. Transport via this method is exceedingly slow, however this doesn’t matter as the distances traveled are exceedingly small.\n\nWhen carrying a large cargo, there is a heavier load on the stalk tethering the load. This might be expected to make the dynein more likely to let go of the track, however, the tension on the stalk causes the molecule to change shape, gripping the track more tightly. Because the protein is holding on more tightly and is less likely to let go, the velocity of transport of the cargo actually increases, on average, for heavier loads.\n\n"}, {"Source": "insect's ocelli", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "sense day length", "Function2": "regulate life cycle", "Function3": "perceive movement", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/ocelli-sense-length-of-daylight/", "Strategy": "Ocelli Sense Length of Daylight\n\nThe ocelli of insects sense day length via a small lens and pigmented retinal cells.\n“Each ocellus usually consists of a small lens backed up by several pigmented retinal cells, which can determine the quality and source of light and usually perceive something moving nearby. Ocelli usually look like small dark dots, and are often grouped in a triangle on the back of an insect’s head. They enable the insect to judge the length of daylight, for example, by which it may regulate its whole life cycle. Spiders’ eyes form extremely good images and have, for their size, excellent resolution.”"}, {"Source": "european moth caterpillars", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "locate a food source", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/scent-trails-lead-to-food/", "Strategy": "Scent Trails Lead to Food\n\nCaterpillars of the European moth find new food sources via scent trails exuded from other caterpillars.\n\n“A European moth that is a serious pest in orchards, lays its eggs in spirals glued together around the twigs of fruit trees. When they hatch, the young caterpillars, while sustaining themselves by eating the leaves immediately around them, spin a large silken shroud around the branch so big that it can accommodate them all. They spend the day within it, concealed from the sight of hungry predatory birds. But when night comes they set out in long columns to demolish more leaves.\n\n“After they have eaten everything in their immediate neighbourhood, a single scout sets out to prospect for more. As it explores new parts of the tree, it lays down behind it a trail of scent that exudes from glands on its rear end. This enables it to find its way back to shelter before dawn. The next night, its companions inspect the trail. If it has a single track, as might happen if the caterpillar was taken in the night by some hunter, they will ignore it. But if there is a double track, indicating that the scout returned and if, furthermore, its smell indicates that the scout had a good meal, then the whole colony of several hundred will set off in procession to strip the leaves from yet another part of the fruit tree.” "}, {"Source": "dragonfly's head and neck", "Application": "reversible attachment", "Function1": "protect from mechanical stresses", "Function2": "generate friction", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/microstructures-create-reversible-attachment/", "Strategy": "Microstructures Create Reversible Attachment\n\nThe neck attachment of a dragonfly's head protects it from mechanical stresses by arresting it using microstructures that create friction.\n\nArrow shows location of dragonfly arrestor mechanism. Artist: Meghan Hanson Powers. Copyright: All rights reserved by Biomimicry 3.8 Institute.\n\nTwo kinds of top and bottom microtrichia, separated on the top and attached on the bottom. Artist: Meghan Hanson Powers. Copyright: All rights reserved by Biomimicry 3.8 Institute."}, {"Source": "butterfly's proboscis", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "form a sealed coil", "Function2": "interlock in various directions", "Function3": "interlocking structure", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/proboscis-forms-a-sealed-cylinder/", "Strategy": "Proboscis Forms a Sealed Cylinder\n\nThe cuticular structures on the surface of the proboscis of a butterfly form a sealed coil against the head of the insect by interlocking in various directions.\n\nThe tubular feeding structure (i.e., proboscis) of a butterfly remains tightly coiled against the head of the insect when it is not feeding. The proboscis is made up of two long, tubular structures known as galea. The coil is able to remain unfurled through the interlocking structures located on both the dorsal and ventral sides of the galea tubes. These scale-like structures, referred to as legulae, are varied in size and directional orientation so that they overlap and fit together tightly (much in the same way puzzle pieces lock together). This interlocking of structures creates a sealed cylinder that is unaffected by flight or other movements. These structures are unique to insects and help conserve energy by allowing the insects to use no muscle tension and exertion to keep the proboscis coiled (it was previously thought that the insects had to use their galeal muscles to hold the proboscis in a coiled shape).\n\n"}, {"Source": "millipede's short legs", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "provide thrust for burrowing", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/many-legs-provide-thrust-for-burrowing/", "Strategy": "Many Legs Provide Thrust for Burrowing\n\nThe many short legs of a millipede provide thrust for burrowing as the leg movements follow a wave along the body.\n\n“A millipede advances along a twig. Although renowned for the number of their legs, even the longest millipedes have only about 680 legs, and most species have far fewer. You might expect that an animal with so many legs would move very fast, but the millipede’s legs are so short and its fat body so close to the ground that its legs take only short strides at a time. Nevertheless, they can deliver considerable thrust, and millipedes are strong enough to burrow into the ground very efficiently…The leg movement of the millipede occurs in a wave along the body: certain groups of legs are moving forwards as others are thrusting backwards. At any given time there are always some legs in contact with the ground at intervals along its body.” "}, {"Source": "crustacean limb", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "move in a complete circle", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/multiple-joints-allow-circular-movement/", "Strategy": "Multiple Joints Allow Circular Movement\n\nLimbs of crustaceans allow movement along several planes by clustering two or three joints on a limb, each working in a different direction.\n\n“The limbs, which are tubular and jointed, are operated by internal muscles. These extend from the end of one section, along its length, to a prong from the next section which projects across the joint. When the muscle contracts between these two attachment points, the limb hinges. Such joints can only move in one plane, but crustaceans deal with that limitation by grouping two or three on a limb, sometimes close together, each working in a different plane so that the end of the limb can move in a complete circle.”"}, {"Source": "bird's feather", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "interlock hooks", "Function2": "renovate feather", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/feather-parts-reattach/", "Strategy": "Feather Parts Reattach\n\nFeather filaments of birds connect to each other with interlocking hooks.\n\n“A central shaft carries on either side a hundred or so filaments; each filament is similarly fringed with about a hundred smaller filaments or barbules. In downy feathers, this structure produces a soft, air-trapping fluffiness and, therefore, superb insulation. Flight feathers have an additional feature. Their barbules overlap those of neighbouring filaments and hook them onto one another so that they are united into a continuous vane. There are several hundred such hooks on a single barbule, a million or so in a single feather; and a bird the size of a swan has about twenty-five thousand feathers.” \n\n“Disarranged feathers are carefully repositioned. Those that have become bedraggled or have broken vanes are renovated by careful combing with the beak. As the filaments pass through the mandibles and are pressed together, the hooks on the barbules reengage like teeth of a zip-fastener to make a smooth and continuous surface again.”"}, {"Source": "flying squirrel's wing", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "provide lift force", "Function2": "decrease drag", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/wings-provide-lift-for-gliding/", "Strategy": "Wings Provide Lift for Gliding\n\nWings of flying squirrels provide lift and decrease drag due to being cambered and having a well-developed forewing.\n\nGliding is a form of locomotion that requires individual variation in rotations to restore equilibrium. “In a steady, non-accelerating glide, the glide ratio is determined by the ratio of lift to drag, the aerodynamic forces perpendicular to the direction of travel and parallel and opposite to the direction of travel, respectively. The lift-to-drag ratio can be increased by increasing lift, decreasing drag, and/or by producing thrust, defined as a force that opposes drag. Flapping has often been assumed to have evolved as a means to increase lift and thrust…thereby increasing the distance traveled.”\n\n“Flying squirrels generated more lift and less drag than sugar gliders…There are several possible reasons why flying squirrels tend to produce greater lift coefficients than sugar gliders. One is that their wings are more cambered in flight (Table·1). In addition, flying squirrels possess a well-developed forewing structure called a propatagium that is present, but much smaller, in sugar gliders… In the case of the squirrels, increasing the lift coefficient increased the forward acceleration, which in turn contributed to greater overall velocity. \n\n“Aerodynamic performance declines with increasing aspect ratio, particularly at the high angles of attack used by the gliders…But, at higher aspect ratios, aerodynamic performance increases with increasing aspect ratio. This may have presented a kind of adaptive barrier during the transition from a low aspect ratio glider wing to a high aspect ratio bat wing…Understanding the relationships between kinematics, force production and gliding performance across species in the context of disparate performance parameters, not only improves our understanding of and appreciation for gliding as a form of locomotion, but will also lead to more fruitful hypotheses regarding the origin of flight in bats.” "}, {"Source": "kelp fronds", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "float on the water surface", "Function2": "maximize exposure to sunlight", "Function3": "enhance photosynthesis", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/floats-keep-fronds-buoyant/", "Strategy": "Floats Keep Fronds Buoyant\n\nGas-filled floats help keep kelp fronds near the water surface to enhance photosynthesis.\n\nKelp (brown algae seaweed) possess gas-filled floats known as pneumatocysts that enable fronds to float on the water surface, maximizing exposure to sunlight and enhancing photosynthesis. The gas content of the pneumatocysts can vary, but are usually filled with a combination of oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide. Depending on the species, the kelp may contain one large pneumatocyst or several smaller pneumatocysts distributed throughout the kelp.\n\n"}, {"Source": "bird's wingtip feather", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "twist in the other direction", "Function2": "twist in the other direction", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/wingtip-feathers-increase-aerodynamic-efficiency/", "Strategy": "Wingtip Feathers Increase\nAerodynamic Efficiency\n\nWingtip feathers in birds are aerodynamically efficient because of their torsional flexibility.\n\n“Nature, by contrast, takes a less disdainful attitude toward torsion–in some applications adequate resistance matters, but in many others function depends on having sufficient torsional flexibility. A bird’s wingtip feathers must twist in one direction during the upstroke of the wings and in the other direction during the downstroke to keep the local wind striking the wing at an appropriate angle to generate lift and thrust…The turning could be done at the base, with a completely inflexible feather; the aerodynamics are improved and material saved if the local flow forces twist the feather by just the right amount.”"}, {"Source": "orb weaving spider web", "Application": "glues", "Function1": "have incredible adhesive strength", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/web-glue-is-strong-adhesive/", "Strategy": "Web Glue Is Strong Adhesive\n\nThe web glue that coats silk threads of orb weaving spider webs has incredible adhesive strength thanks to glycoproteins.\n\n“The various silks that make up the web of the orb web spiders have been studied extensively. However, success in prey capture depends as much on the web glue as on the fibers. Spider silk glue, which is considered one of the strongest and most effective biological glues, is an aqueous solution secreted from the orb weaving spider’s aggregate glands and coats the spiral prey capturing threads of their webs. Studies identified the major component of the glue as microscopic nodules made of a glycoprotein. This study describes two newly discovered proteins that form the glue-glycoprotein of the golden orb weaving spider Nephila clavipes. Our results demonstrate that both proteins contain unique 110 amino acid repetitive domains that are encoded by opposite strands of the same DNA sequence. Thus, the genome of the spider encodes two distinct yet functionally related genes by using both strands of an identical DNA sequence. Moreover, the closest match for the nonrepetitive region of one of the proteins is chitin binding proteins. The web glue appears to have evolved a substantial level of sophistication matching that of the spider silk fibers.”\n\n“Biological materials function in environments where seasonal and even daily changes in conditions have the potential to alter the properties and performance of these materials. This study is the first to examine how changes in environmental humidity affect the extensibility of droplets, which are responsible for the adhesion of viscous capture threads that are produced by over 4000 species of orb-weaving spiders in the Araneoidea clade. These threads form an orb web’s sticky prey capture spiral, which retains insects that strike the web, providing a spider with more time to locate and subdue their prey. Viscous threads are comprised of small, regularly spaced aqueous droplets that surround a pair of supporting axial fibers and are produced by a triad of spigots on each of a spider’s paired posterior spinnerets. The single flagelliform gland spigot of this triad produces an axial fiber and is flanked by two aggregate gland spigots, which coat this fiber with aqueous material. The coated axial fibers merge to form a contiguous pair of fibers surrounded initially by a sheath of viscous material. As a thread absorbs atmospheric moisture in the high humidity of the early morning hours, this material quickly condenses into a regular series of droplets whose size and spacing differ greatly among species.\n\n“The glycoprotein within each droplet that confers thread adhesion is encoded by two genes. The asg1 gene produces a 406-amino-acid protein, whose upstream region has a high proportion of charged amino acids, which are considered hydrophilic, and its repeating downstream region is similar to mucin, known to have adhesive properties. The asg2 gene produces a 714-amino-acid protein, whose upstream region is similar to known chitin-binding proteins, adapting it to adhere to insect exoskeleton, whereas its repeating downstream region has high proline content that resembles that of elastin and flagelliform spider silk, making it elastic. This combination of features confers adhesion, extensibility and hygroscopicity to the glycoprotein–crucial and complementary properties in the context viscous thread performance.” "}, {"Source": "amazon water lily's leaves", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "transport oxygen", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/underwater-roots-get-oxygen/", "Strategy": "Underwater Roots Get Oxygen\n\nThe leaves of Amazon water lilies transport oxygen to the plants' roots in swampy bottoms using long tubes that run down their stems.\n\n“The Amazon water-lily is able to produce such large and strong structures because it can collect an abundance of food through its roots from the mud at the bottom of the lake. But roots need to breathe and the mud at the bottom of Amazonian swamps and pools contains little or no oxygen. The lily, however, pipes air down to them through tubes running down the long stems of the leaves, which may be as much as 35 feet long.” "}, {"Source": "atlantic razor clam's valves", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "decrease drag", "Function2": "reduce burrowing energy expenditure", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/valves-reduce-burrowing-drag/", "Strategy": "Valves Reduce Burrowing Drag\n\nThe valves of the Atlantic razor clam reduce drag and the amount of energy required to reach burrow depth by contracting to locally fluidize the surrounding soil.\n\n“Numerous soft-bodied organisms that live in particulate substrates saturated with a pore fluid use a two-anchor system to burrow: one section of the animal expands to form an anchor while another section contracts and extends to progress forward in the burrow; once extension is exhausted, the roles of each section are reversed. In this paper, we show that the Atlantic razor clam, which burrows via the two-anchor method, uses motions of its valves to create a pocket of fluidized substrate around its body to reduce drag forces and burrowing energy expenditure.”\n"}, {"Source": "yellowfin tuna's tail", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "conserve energy", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/efficient-propulsion-system/", "Strategy": "Efficient Propulsion System\n\nTails of yellowfin tuna conserve energy by using thunniform swimming.\n\nSome ocean-dwelling fish, including tuna, mackerel, and sharks, have a form of swimming called thunniform. In thunniform swimming, most of the lateral movement occurs in the tail and adjacent area of the body with very little bending of the fish’s body. The tail or caudal fin is usually large and crescent shaped to increase the power of each sweeping motion. This form of swimming is ideal for species that cover long distances and swim fast because it conserves energy.\n\n"}, {"Source": "echinoderm tube feet", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "move", "Function2": "handle food", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/tube-feet-assist-locomotion-feeding/", "Strategy": "Tube Feet Assist Locomotion, Feeding\n\nThe tube feet of echinoderms move and handle food using a hydraulic system.\n\n“Something similar happens in echinoderm tube feet–small, soft, unjointed, and exceedingly numerous organs used for locomotion, handling food, and similar functions, noticeable when a starfish creeps up the glass wall of an aquarium. The walls of these organs have, like nematodes, longitudinal muscles and connective tissue fibers in crossed-helical arrays, as in figure 20.4. Their fiber angles are high–about 67 degrees for fully extended feet–so tube feet also lie on the left side of the curve of figure 20.2. Contraction of muscle tries to shorten a foot and increase that angle still further, pushing it downward on the curve. The high fiber angle minimizes fattening of the tube foot, so contraction should produce little actual shortening and considerable pressure rise. That is, unless the system can expel fluid.\n\n“But the system does expel fluid, so things get more complex than in nematodes. Above each tube foot is a bulbous chamber, the ampulla, equipped with circular muscles and reinforcing fibers at right angles to that muscle. So contraction of foot muscle forces fluid into the ampulla, extending its muscle. That couples the muscle of foot and ampulla in a hydraulically linked antagonism (McCurley and Kier 1995) much like muscles on opposite sides of a bending nematode…The whole thing hooks onto the water-vascular system of pipes, so its overall volume can vary. At the same time, a one-way flap valve prevents contraction of either foot or ampullary muscle from simply forcing water back into those pipes (Maerkel and Roeser 1992).” "}, {"Source": "harbor seal's whisker", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "reduce vortex-induced vibrations", "Function2": "sense small changes in water movement", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/whiskers-reduce-drag/", "Strategy": "Whiskers Reduce Drag\n\nThe highly sensitive whiskers of harbor seals reduce vortex-induced vibrations during swimming due to their undulating surface structure.\n\nWhiskers are tactile sensory hairs found in almost all mammals. They are typically longer and stiffer than normal body hairs and grow outward in an ordered grid-like arrangement. Each whisker is connected to many sensory nerve cells at its base beneath the skin. These nerve cells can detect small deflections in the whisker as it physically interacts with its surroundings, relaying this information to the brain. The harbor seal, and other aquatic mammals, can even sense and analyze changes in water flow caused by prey fish or other seals. With whiskers that are sensitive to displacements of 1μm or less, harbor seals need some way to reduce whisker vibrations that can occur as the hairs move through water. Remarkably, harbor seals accomplish this with the unique form of their sensitive whiskers.\n\nTaking a closer look at harbor seal whiskers shows that they have an undulating or wavy surface structure. The cross section of the whisker is an ellipse, but the size of it changes along the hair. This creates peaks and troughs every 1-3 mm along the hair. Normally, dragging a bluff object like a whisker through water creates vortices, or swirls of water, that would vibrate the whisker as they trailed off behind it. However, the shape of the whisker on its leading edge alters the flow of water over and behind the whisker as the seal swims. The whisker’s wavy leading edge creates a trail of swirling water behind the whisker (also called the wake) with equal pressure on either side and a gap between the whisker and vortices. This significantly lowers forces on the whisker and thus prevents vortex-induced vibrations. Having the whiskers as still as possible, even when swimming, enables harbor seals to sense small changes in water movement. This gives them the ability to search for and sense prey fish, other seals, or predators.\n\nCheck out this related strategy explaining how harbor seal whiskers are tuned to detect water movements generated by their fish prey.\nThis summary was contributed by Leon Wang."}, {"Source": "flypaper plant's adhesive", "Application": "durable adhesive", "Function1": "catch prey", "Function2": "water repellant", "Function3": "long lasting adhensive", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/durable-adhesive-traps-prey/", "Strategy": "Durable Adhesive Traps Prey\n\nTraps of the flypaper plant capture prey via a super sticky, superbly water repellant, long lasting, adhesive.\n\nThe adhesive substance produced by flypaper plants, Roridula gorgonias, is extremely sticky, long lasting, and water tolerant. They remain hydrated and functionally adhesive even after prolonged exposure to dry environments. Flypaper plants also cultivate populations of symbiotic insects within its traps that must be able to resist the adhesive. The insect’s shells are uniformly coated with a specific type of grease rendering the adhesive powerless to trap them. Other insects tend to produce more patchy grease layers that leave room for the adhesive to stick to their exposed cuticle.\n\n"}, {"Source": "polar bear's paw", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "grip ice", "Function2": "grip slippery ground", "Function3": "keep footing", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/paws-have-non-slip-grip/", "Strategy": "Paws Have Non‑slip Grip\n\nThe paws of polar bears grip ice well due to the rough surface of their pads.\n\n“A polar bear spends the winter living on sea ice—ice formed when the ocean freezes. But the bear has no trouble keeping its footing on slippery ground. Its paws are perfect for getting around on a slick, cold surface. Rough pads give it a nonslip grip, and thick fur between the pads keeps the bear’s feet warm. It uses the sharp, curved claws on its front paws like hooks to climb onto the ice from the water. Polar bears’ claws also help them dig in the ice when they hunt seals.”"}, {"Source": "sling-jaw wrasse's snout", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "shoot jaw out", "Function2": "snag prey", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/shooting-snout-snags-prey/", "Strategy": "Shooting Snout Snags Prey\n\nThe snout of the sling-jaw wrasse captures prey using multibar linkages to shoot its jaw out at high speed.\n\n“Nonetheless, the jaw mechanism of even a fancy snake looks simple next to what some fish do with multibar linkages in their heads . The most extreme must be the sling-jaw wrasse, Epibulus insidiator, which shoots out an otherwise unnoticeable snout to snag prey. According to Westneat and Wainwright (1989), who’ve analyzed the biomechanics of the system, this wrasse can protrude its jaw by a length equal to 65 percent of normal head length. Protrusion takes only about a thirtieth of a second; acceleration exceeds 100 meters per second squared, or 10 g; and snout speed hits 2.3 meters per second, or over 5 miles per hour. The components–bones, ligaments, and muscle–may be ordinary, but their arrangement is anything but.”"}, {"Source": "true frog's webbed back feet", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "swim by pushing water", "Function2": "create complex vortex rings", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/feet-used-for-powerful-swimming/", "Strategy": "Feet Used for Powerful Swimming\n\nThe webbed back feet of true frogs are used to swim by pushing back against the water creating vortex rings.\n\n“Frogs propel themselves by kicking water backwards using a synchronised extension of their hind limbs and webbed feet. To understand this propulsion process, we quantified the water movements and displacements resulting from swimming in the green frog Rana esculenta, applying digital particle image velocimetry (DPIV) to the frog’s wake.\n\n“The wake showed two vortex rings left behind by the two feet. The rings appeared to be elliptic in planform, urging for correction of the observed ring radii. The rings’ long and short axes (average ratio 1.75:1) were about the same size as the length and width of the propelling frog foot and the ellipsoid mass of water accelerated with it. Average thrust forces were derived from the vortex rings, assuming all propulsive energy to be compiled in the rings. The calculated average forces (Fav=0.10±0.04·N) were in close agreement with our parallel study applying a momentum–impulse approach to water displacements during the leg extension phase.\n\n“We did not find any support for previously assumed propulsion enhancement mechanisms. The feet do not clap together at the end of the power stroke and no ‘wedgeaction’ jetting is observed. Each foot accelerates its own water mantle, ending up in a separate vortex ring without interference by the other leg.”"}, {"Source": "nautilus's siphuncle", "Application": "smart buoys", "Function1": "control buoyancy", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/siphuncle-controls-buoyancy/", "Strategy": "Siphuncle Controls Buoyancy\n\nThe siphuncle of nautiloids controls buoyancy by active transport of ions and osmosis between the siphuncle and shell chamber.\n\nIntroduction \n\nThe nautilus is a free-swimming mollusk related to the squid or octopus, but with a hard, multi-chambered spiraling shell. Reaching through the interior of the shell is a tubular structure called the siphuncle. The nautilus uses this organ to control the volumes of water and gases within each of its shell chambers to regulate its buoyancy.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nThe movement of water into and out of the chambers is driven by osmosis, resulting from changes in the concentration of ions within the chamber fluid. Ions are actively pumped back and forth between chambers to control the movement of the fluids in the chamber. Pumping ions, usually sodium and chloride, out of a chamber makes the fluid within the chamber more dilute (more watery). This causes water to diffuse out of the chamber through the siphuncle in order to equalize the gradient.\n\nThe Potential \n\nMuch like the Nautilus, submarines use ballast tanks to control their buoyancy by filling them with either air (to surface) or water (to submerge). The Nautilus’s unique strategy of using osmosis gradients to move water and modulate buoyancy could have applications for new types of underwater vehicles for transportation, surveillance, and research. Smart buoys could also sense incoming traffic and submerge until boats cleared them.\n\n"}, {"Source": "dolphin's body", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "reduce friction", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/body-shape-reduces-friction/", "Strategy": "Body Shape Reduces Friction\n\nThe body of the dolphin has low friction in water by having an optimal length to diameter ratio.\n\n“The streamlined body of optimal shape has a length of 4.5 times its diameter. In this case the surface is smallest relative to the volume. This optimal numerical proportion has not remained a secret from nature: for dolphins (Tursiops gilli) the ratio is close to 5.” The author goes on to talk about the Reynolds number and how the shape of the dolphin shows high efficiency: “As a matter of fact, the maximal diameter of the dolphin is slightly back of center. Obviously, the above-mentioned effect was taken into consideration. Experiments have confirmed that this particular shape lowers friction drag in turbulent boundary layers to 65%.” "}, {"Source": "humpback whale's tail fluke", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "powerful swimming", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/tail-fluke-powers-swimming/", "Strategy": "Tail Fluke Powers Swimming\n\nThe tail fluke of the humpback whale breaks through the water as the tail is moved up and down, enabling powerful swimming.\n\n“The huge tail flukes of a humpbacked whale break water as the animal dives. One of the largest living mammals, the whale uses its tail for swimming. The tail with its horizontal flukes is moved up and down to drive the animal through the water, while its small flippers, the vestiges of its forelimbs, are used for balancing and steering.”"}, {"Source": "african freshwater electric eel's fins", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "smooth bidirectional movement", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/fins-allow-bidirectional-movement/", "Strategy": "Fins Allow Bidirectional Movement\n\nUndulations of the tail and dorsal fins of the African freshwater electric eel allow for smooth bidirectional movement through the water.\n\n“In addition to forward undulatory swimming, Gymnarchus niloticus can swim via undulations of the dorsal fin while the body axis remains straight; furthermore, it swims forward and backward in a similar way, which indicates that the undulation of the dorsal fin can simultaneously provide bidirectional propulsive and maneuvering forces with the help of the tail fin.”"}, {"Source": "parasitic copepod's attachment pad", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "use frictional mechanisms", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/ridges-enable-attachment/", "Strategy": "Ridges Enable Attachment\n\nThe attachment pads of parasitic copepods attach to sharks by use of frictional mechanisms.\n\n"}, {"Source": "fish's fins", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "control braking", "Function2": "control stability", "Function3": "control thrust", "Function4": "increase maneuverability", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/fins-enable-maneuverability/", "Strategy": "Fins Enable Maneuverability\n\nFish use their fins to control braking, stability, and thrust to increase maneuverability.\n\n“By flexing the pectoral and caudal fins the fish can turn up, down, or sideways. The pectoral fins are also used as brakes, being pushed forwards like the flaps on an aircraft wing. The positions of the paired fins, especially the pelvic fins, are constantly adjusted to keep the fish from pitching or rolling: the pectorals tend to produce lift, which is counteracted by the downward thrust of the pelvics.”"}, {"Source": "four-eyed fish's eyes", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "see above and below the surface of the water", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/eyes-see-above-and-below-water-surface/", "Strategy": "Eyes See Above and Below Water Surface\n\nSplit eyes of the four-eyed fish allow it to see above and below the surface of the water simultaneously due to varying thickness in the lens.\n“Native to Caribbean lagoons, Anableps anableps is commonly known as the four-eyed fish because its two eyes are split by horizontal partitions into two halves, each of which has its own iris and retina. This unique optical construction lets the fish swim at the surface of the water, with the upper half of each eye scanning the air for predatory fish-eating birds, and the lower half peering down below the surface, in search of small fish to feed on…Despite each eye being partitioned, there is only one oval-shaped lens per eye. Because vision through water requires a thicker lens than vision through air, the fish’s eye is ingeniously adapted to fulfill two purposes, with the lower portion of each eye’s lens (through which the fish sees underwater) thicker than the upper portion (through which the fish sees in air).”"}, {"Source": "cheetah's spine", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "increase running speed", "Function2": "lengthen stride length", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/flexible-spine-increases-speed/", "Strategy": "Flexible Spine Increases Speed\n\nThe spine of the cheetah increases its running speed because its flexiblity allows longer stride lengths.\n\n“They [plains predators] have effectively lengthened their limbs by making their spine extremely flexible. At full stretch, travelling at high speed, their hind and front legs overlap one another beneath the body just like those of a galloping antelope. The cheetah has a thin elongated body and is said to be the fastest runner on earth, capable of reaching speeds, in bursts, of over 110 kph. But this method is very energy-consuming. Great muscular effort is needed to keep the spine springing back and forth and the cheetah cannot maintain such speeds for more than a minute or so.”"}, {"Source": "mountain goat's feet", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "maintain traction", "Function2": "cloven hooves with hard outer shell and soft, flexible inner pads", "Function3": "slip-stopping dewclaws", "Function4": "special traction pad", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/feet-maintain-traction/", "Strategy": "Feet Maintain Traction\n\nThe feet of mountain goats maintain traction when climbing using cloven hooves with a hard outer shell and soft, flexible inner pads, as well as slip-stopping dewclaws.\n\n“The sides of a mountain goat’s toes consist of the same hard keratin found on the hoof of a horse or deer. Each of the two wrap around toenails can be used to catch and hold to a crack or tiny knob of rock…The mountain goat is shod with a special traction pad which protrudes slightly past the nail. This pad has a rough textured surface that provides a considerable amount of extra friction on smooth rock and ice. Yet it is pliant enough for any irregularities in a stone substrate to become impressed in it and thereby add to the skidproofing effect.”\n\n“Make a wide V with your index and middle fingers and try pressing down against something with their tips. Since walking on an artiodactyl hoof is anatomically similar to walking on the tips of two fingers, the mountain goat feels the muscles and tendons working against each other somewhat the way you do. It adjusts the tensions accordingly in order to fine-tune its grip on uneven surfaces…Now you will find that the more weight you put on your fingertips, the more they want to diverge sideways. In like fashion the mountain goat’s toes divide the downward force of the weight on a hoof. When your fingers, or the toes of the hoof, are placed on an incline surface, part of the weight continues to be directed sideways—a horizontal vector of force as distinct from the vertical vector. There is thus less net force being exerted in a singe downward line; hence there is less likelihood of overcoming the force of friction along that line and beginning to slide…What is going on here is a fanning out of forces. If all the downward force could be converted into sideways forces, it would in effect be canceled out…The third and final dimension is simpler to explain. Solid rock, talus, dirt or snow can become wedged in the crotch of the V and act as an additional brake.”"}, {"Source": "terrestrial slug's mucus", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "aid movement", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/mucus-aids-movement/", "Strategy": "Mucus Aids Movement\n\nThe mucus produced by terrestrial slugs aids movement due to its viscoelastic nature.\n\n“A terrestrial slug doesn’t so much crawl as slide across its world on its belly (technically its foot) leaving behind a trail of slime–its pedal mucus, consisting of water with some polysaccharide and protein. It’s neither a cheap nor a rapid way to go, a slug being the very paradigm of sluggishness. It is (or, strictly, was) a mysterious business. Slugs use neither cilia (as push the mucus lining our respiratory passages) nor peristaltic motion (as do, for instance, earthworms). How they propel themselves turns out to depend on that mucus, in particular on viscoelastic behavior more complex than anything we’ve seen so far.\n\nThe key can be seen if, with just the right lighting, one watches from beneath while a slug walks across a glass surface. Some kind of waves pass lengthwise; they’re about a millimeter or so in wavelength and travel at a couple of millimeters per second (fig. 17.7). It certainly looks as if the slug gets around by pushing back on its mucus, and that’s indeed what it does. But consider–that will work for one ‘step’ only. Any operating system that pushes needs to recover if it’s to push again…At strains above 5 or 6 (higher values at higher strain rates), the mucus abruptly yields, transforming in a flash into a gooey liquid with a viscosity of 3-5 pascal-seconds–three thousand to five thousand times the viscosity of pure water. Stress falls abruptly, dropping by half, and the stress-strain curve goes flat and horizontal–stress now depends only on strain rate, as befits a fluid. Thus, the mucus can be pushed upon, propelling the slug forward, but when nudged just beyond that yield stress it turns to liquid. Then a bit of slug can slide forward across it and be ready to push backward again. Meanwhile, and critically, the mucus has to recover, to ‘heal’ back into a viscoelastic solid, which it obligingly does forthwith. In life, a ‘step’ is about a millimeter in length and the mucus layer is about 10 micrometers thick, so the strain gets up to around 100 during the recovery phase of each pedal wave. Beneath a given slug at a given time, all stages of the operation are taking place, with mucus in different states under different points along the animal. All this from Denny and Gosline (1980) and Denny (1984).”"}, {"Source": "emperor penguin's plumage", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "release micro-bubbles", "Function2": "create lubrication layer", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/plumage-releases-air-to-propel-body-out-of-water/", "Strategy": "Plumage Releases Air to\nPropel Body Out of Water\n\nMicro-bubbles released underwater from the plumage of the emperor penguin reduce drag by creating a lubrication layer around its body.\n\nThe Emperor penguin has a unique strategy for exiting the ocean – one that enables it to launch from the water and land one to two meters away on an icy ledge. The penguin is able to “torpedo” in such a fashion because air lubrication increases its swimming speed prior to jumping from the water.\n\nBefore exiting the water, the penguin swims at the surface, where it is believed that it loads its dense coat of feathers with air via grooming. The bird then dives to a depth of 15 to 20 meters. During this dive or at the bottom, it depresses its feathers, thereby creating less space for the air to be stored and releasing micro-bubbles. Throughout its ascension, the penguin releases these bubbles in a controlled way, creating a layer of micro-bubbles over most of its body surface. This lubrication layer reduces drag, enabling the penguin to swim faster and to overcome gravity so that it can successfully launch from the water."}, {"Source": "ryegrass", "Application": "pollutants removal", "Function1": "absorb water and nutrients", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/cell-structures-absorb-and-store-pollutants/", "Strategy": "The Plant That Eats Pollution\n\nRyegrass sucks industrial chemicals from the soil and concentrates them in its cells.\nIntroduction \n\nThat grass you barely notice as you walk across a lawn or field may seem of little talent. But what you see above the surface is just the tip of the iceberg—or more precisely, the plant.\n\nBeneath the ground, grasses form an intricate lattice of roots that divide and subdivide like the branches of a tree. Weaving through and around particles of soil, these roots hold the plants in place and absorb water and nutrients from the soil around them. It’s like sucking a beverage through a straw—except through thousands of straws at the same time.\n\nThe Strategy \n\n“Like attracts like” can be true not only for dating but in the chemical world as well. Pretty much every compound fits into one of two broad categories. One type is made up of molecules that have a bit of a positive or negative charge. They are called “polar.” The other type lacks a charge and is called nonpolar. Water is polar, and other polar substances tend to hang out with it. Oil is nonpolar, and other nonpolar substances tend to hang out with oil instead. That’s why, if you pour olive oil and vinegar (which is made of water and a polar compound, acetic acid) into a jar to make salad dressing, they form layers rather than mixing together\n\nInteresting for salad dressing—but both interesting and useful for efforts to remove oily pollutants from soil and water. Around the world, industrial pollution and burning wood and other biofuels has  contaminated soil and water with compounds known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).\n\nThe Potential \n\nThe tendency of ryegrass roots to concentrate oily substances in cell walls and organelles can be used directly to remove pollutants from the ground (a process known as bioutilization rather than biomimicry). Knowing that the pollutants concentrate in the roots helps efforts to do so by pointing out the importance of collecting roots as well as shoots when removing and destroying contaminant-concentrating plants.\n\nThe knowledge that the pollutants concentrate in cell walls and organelles can inform efforts to breed or engineer varieties that are even better at sequestering pollutants. It also might serve as a model for artificial systems that concentrate pollutants in a collection space, making them relatively easy to remove or process into less harmful molecules.\n\n"}, {"Source": "sycamore maple seed", "Application": "designs of drones and ceiling fans", "Function1": "self-orientation", "Function2": "autorotation", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/seedpod-autorotates/", "Strategy": "Seedpod Spirals to Stay Aloft\n\nSeed shape and distribution of mass ensure self-orientation and autorotation.\n\nIntroduction \n\nThe sycamore maple (Acer pseudoplatanus), a large, spreading broadleaf tree growing to 115 feet (35 meters), has a deep, branched root system that provides stability in high winds. But maple trees aren’t just good at resisting the wind, they’re also ingenious in how they use it.\n\nThe trees produce winged seeds which spin as they fall. These are sometimes known as helicopter seeds or samaras, and similarly-behaving seeds have evolved in other plant species many times. No matter the orientation of the seed as it detaches from the tree, it quickly self-orients and begins autorotating. This slows the seed’s descent to the ground, giving the seed more chance to be carried away by a passing breeze.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nHow do sycamore maple seeds orient themselves and start spinning? It’s a balancing act. The seedhead (or achene) is heavier than the seed’s wing, while the wing is much broader, catching more air as the seed falls. In physics terms, the center of mass is different from the center of pressure.\n\nAs the seedhead falls slightly in advance of the wing, and the broadest part of the wing slows due to air resistance, the wing is forced to tilt with respect to the ground. As air rushes upward and encounters the tilted wing, it deflects away from the seed at an angle, pushing the wing in the opposite direction.\n\nThe falling seedhead, meanwhile, encountering little air resistance over its compact body, descends straight downward, functioning like an axle around which the wing now begins spinning. Gravity provides a steady diet of air as the seed continues to fall, while the rotating wing, resisting a quick return to Earth, keeps the opportunity alive for a passing breeze to shove the seed on a lateral journey, farther away from the mother tree.\n\nThe Potential \n\nSamaras have already inspired new designs of drones and ceiling fans. Designs which self-orient and autorotate (in water as well as in air) are especially interesting for use in renewable energy technologies involving turbines."}, {"Source": "durio tree's pungent odor", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "attract seed dispersers", "Function2": "dispersal of seeds", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/odor-attracts-seed-dispersers/", "Strategy": "Odor Attracts Seed Dispersers\n\nRipe fruit of Durio tree species can be detected by potential seed-dispersing animals up to a half mile away due to a pungent odor.\nThe strong smell of ripe durian fruit, which is extremely unpleasant to many human noses, can be detected half a mile from the source, and thus attracts the attention of a great number of animals that eat the fruit and aid in seed dispersal. "}, {"Source": "african lion's foot", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "move silently", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/feet-aid-silent-movement/", "Strategy": "Feet Aid Silent Movement\n\nThe feet of African lions allow them to move silently because large foot pads cushion the sound of their footfalls.\n\n“The paws of a lion resemble those of most of the cat family. Cats and dogs walk in what is called the digitigrade position: the heel and instep are raised off the ground, making locomotion quieter and more versatile. The large pads on the ball of the foot and on the toes provide a cushion when walking and also help silence the feet. The lion has retractile claws — it can retract them while at rest or when walking, so that they do not catch in the ground and reduce his speed.”"}, {"Source": "pine pollen grain", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "increase the total surface area", "Function2": "increase air resistance", "Function3": "slow down momentum", "Function4": "remain airborne", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/structures-facilitate-pollen-dispersal/", "Strategy": "Structures Facilitate Pollen Dispersal\n\nAir-filled sacs in the pollen grains of pine trees allow pollen to travel farther through the air\n\nOne mechanism by which conifers promote cross-pollination is by increasing the distance their pollen grains travel. Each pollen grain is attached to two or three air-filled sacs, or sacci, which develop from the outer layer of the pollen wall. These air sacs increase surface area but do not substantially increase the overall pollen mass. The increased surface area of the pollen grain by the addition of the sacci increases the amount of air resistance on the grains, so they fall down to the ground more slowly. This allows the grains to float in the air for longer and be dispersed farther.\n\nThe amount of time the pollen grain remains airborne is also correlated with the thickness of the sacci wall and the pattern on the surface of the sacci known as “ornamentation”. Similar to the dimples of a golf ball, ornamentation may provide lift and overcome inertia forces to slow momentum. The slowing down of momentum allows the pollen grain to remain airborne longer and to travel longer distances by the wind.\n\n"}, {"Source": "mosquito proboscis", "Application": "bmems", "Function1": "insert painlessly", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/needle-like-structure-inserts-painlessly/", "Strategy": "Needle‑like Structure Inserts Painlessly\n\nThe proboscis of the mosquito inserts painlessly because the jagged edge of the proboscis leaves only small points in contact.\n\n“In mosquitoes the proboscis is a marvelously intricate structure…consisting of six different stylets, each adapted for a particular purpose–for making the primary incision, inserting anti-coagulant and digestive enzymes contained in the insect’s saliva and, finally, withdrawing the blood itself. All the stylets are secreted within a protective sheath formed by the labium or lower lip, which, during blood extraction, is slid up out of the way into a loop form.” \n\n“The mouthparts of female mosquitoes have evolved to form a special proboscis, a natural biomicroelectromechanical system (BMEMS), which is used for painlessly penetrating human skin and sucking blood. Scanning electron microscope observations show that the mosquito proboscis consists of a small bundle of long, tapering, and feeding stylets that are collectively called the fascicle, and a large scaly outer lower lip called the labium. During blood feeding, only the fascicle penetrates into the skin while the labium buckles back to remain on the surface of the skin…[The mosquito] uses the two maxillas as variable frequency microsaws with nanosharp teeth to advance into the skin tissue. This elegant BMEMS enables the mosquito to insert its feeding fascicle into human skin using an exceedingly small force (average of 16.5 μN).” "}, {"Source": "boa's body", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "move in a worm-like fashion", "Function2": "use waves of shortening", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/waves-of-shortening-used-to-move/", "Strategy": "Waves of Shortening Used to Move\n\nBodies of boas and pythons can move in a worm-like extended fashion by passing waves of shortening down their bodies.\n“A few snakes, such as boas and pythons, can move forward when extended lengthwise in a wormlike fashion rather than with their bodies bent into curves. They’re not fast, and the behavior seems to be used for a stealthy approach to prey. With backbones fixing their lengths, they can’t work exactly like earthworms–they instead use waves of shortening that pass rearward along a powerful lengthwise band of ventral muscle. So the top of the snake moves steadily. Meanwhile, its bottom has a stop and start motion as successive segments are fixed to the ground while the ones behind the fixed ones are shortened and those in front of the fixed ones are lengthened. Moving segments are raised slightly above the fixed ones–it looks as if the snake is walking on its ribs, although it is not. Gray (1968) and Gans (1974) give good descriptions.”"}, {"Source": "puffin's beak", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "carry multiple small fish", "Function2": "control the degree of mouth opening", "Function3": "hold prey against denticles", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/beak-holds-multiple-fish-simultaneously/", "Strategy": "Beak Holds Multiple Fish Simultaneously\n\nThe beak of the puffin can carry numerous fish due to the structure of its jaw and serrations on the inside of its mouth.\n\nIn order to find food, puffins dive into the ocean and grasp fish between their jaws before flying away. When searching for a meal, puffins have to choose between a single large fish or multiple smaller fish. Larger fish can be difficult to hold because puffins grasp a fish around its gills, leaving the fish dangling to one side of the mouth, making it difficult to fly. Instead, puffins make numerous short, shallow dives to catch large numbers of small fish. Because each trip takes energy, it is important to maximize the number of fish the puffin can carry each time.\n\nThe jaws of the puffin enable it to carry multiple small fish simultaneously.  While the jaws of many other birds are hinged at one point, the puffin’s beak has a flexible hinge, allowing it to control the degree to which its mouth opens. In addition, the upper and lower jaws of the puffin are joined together with a soft and stretchy piece of flesh known as a “rosette”,  which allows the puffin to open its mouth even wider than the average bird. The inside of the upper jaw is also textured with a series of “spines” known as denticles, which point back towards the throat. The puffin can hold its prey against the denticles with its strong tongue, and can continue hunting for more prey while holding its previous catch in place.\n\nPuffins on average carry around 10 fish at a time, but have also been sighted carrying up to 60 fish simultaneously.\n"}, {"Source": "microorganisms", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "adhesive", "Function2": "protective qualities", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/polymers-provide-adhesion-protection/", "Strategy": "Polymers Provide Adhesion, Protection\n\nExopolysaccharides produced by many microorganisms confer adhesive and protective qualities to extracellular secretions by forming a hydrated architectural matrix.\n“Microalgae and bacteria living in aquatic ecosystems commonly secrete extracellular polymeric substances…A large proportion (40–95%) of this polymeric material is exopolysaccharide (EPS), but it may also include proteins, nucleic acids, and lipids [5]…EPS plays an important role in cellular attachment and adhesion to surfaces, increasing survival compared with growth in an unattached state [7,8]. It forms a highly hydrated matrix [9], which provides a layer of protection to cells against toxic compounds [10,11] or against digestion by other organisms [12]. EPS may also prevent cellular desiccation [13–15] or damaging ice-crystal formation [16]. Thus, EPS forms the architectural network of biofilms and aggregates, protecting cells and facilitating intercellular interactions [1,17]…The culture CS 566=01, identified as the alga Microcystis aeruginosa f. flos-aquae (Wittrock) Kirchner 1898, had the highest viscosity in the survey.”"}, {"Source": "squirrel's sharp claws", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "navigate arboreal homes", "Function2": "quickly change direction", "Function3": "run headfirst down trees", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/sharp-claws-increase-vertical-agility/", "Strategy": "Sharp Claws Increase Vertical Agility\n\nSharp claws on squirrel feet increase vertical agility by giving strategic points of attachment while other body structures shift direction.\n\nSquirrels can easily navigate their arboreal homes by coordinating two structures in their feet. They can quickly change direction and even run headfirst down trees by swiveling their back ankle joints. At the same time, well-developed claws in both the front and hind feet dig into the substrate as anchor points.\n\nFriction-based grip suffices on small tree branches. This is because the squirrel is light, and forces applied by the pads of its paws are at a wide enough angle that friction overcomes the competing downward force of gravity. As a tree branch or trunk gets thicker, however, the squirrel cannot reach around to get this same grip, and friction is not enough to keep from falling. At this point, the squirrel’s claws contribute to its ability to cling to structures that have a wide diameter.\n\nWhile it seems intuitive that a squirrel’s small size contributes to its agility, its claws also play a critical role as the animal traverses all the possible angles of a tree. As a squirrel moves in various directions on different surfaces, gravity interacts with its actual mass. To prevent falling, the squirrel must keep its mass oriented in a way to counter this downward force: a process known as finding its center of gravity. All forces associated with the squirrel’s weight and its position must be balanced. The squirrel’s sharp claws help by evenly distributing mass across the various diameters of the climbing surface.\n\nUpon digging into a surface, the force of gravity shifts from the squirrel’s paw pads to the underside of its claws. If the surface is porous enough to embed its claws at an angle of 90 degrees or greater, the squirrel can ensure a successful grip and evenly distribute its mass across its claws. This is true at any orientation–whether the squirrel is moving up, down, sideways, or at an angle across the surface. This, in turn, keeps the squirrel’s center of gravity close to the tree, preventing the squirrel from falling.\n\nSquirrels can quickly respond to the challenges they encounter as they move through wooded areas by instantly changing direction. This is a function of their claws’ ability to shift their weight to find the center of gravity, and a wide range of motion offered by their uniquely rotating back ankles. With these adaptations, squirrels are secure with only two points of attachment, whereas humans need no less than three as they climb. Because of this, squirrels can swing from their swiveling back feet while grabbing onto new surfaces at angles that would be impossible for most animals.\n\nIn essence, squirrels can deftly hug porous surfaces close enough to keep from sliding down or falling due to gravity. Compare the agility of a squirrel with a human utility pole climber. Even when fully outfitted with gaff hooks, a human cannot achieve the acrobatic agility of a well-adapted squirrel."}, {"Source": "cypris larvae of barnacles", "Application": "reversible adhesion system", "Function1": "temporarily adhere", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/larvae-adhere-temporarily-underwater/", "Strategy": "Larvae Adhere Temporarily Underwater\n\nFootprint proteins used by cypris larvae of barnacles allow them to temporarily adhere during pre-settlement exploration via hydrophobic chemical interactions.\n“Cypris larvae of the barnacle Semibalanus balanoides leave\nproteinaceous footprints on surfaces during pre-settlement exploration.\nThese footprints are considered to mediate temporary adhesion of cyprids\nto substrata and, as such, represent a crucial first step in the\ncolonization of man-made surfaces by barnacles, a process known as\nbiofouling. Interest in this system also stems from the potential for a\nsynthetic reversible adhesion system, based on the strategy used by\ncyprids…Footprint proteins adhered with\ngreater tenacity to the hydrophobic tip. This may suggest conformational\nchange and denaturing of the protein which would facilitate hydrophobic\ninteraction by enhancing contact forces between -CH3 functionalized tips and hydrophobic groups in the footprint molecule(s). Neither tip removed proteins from the -NH2\nsubstratum suggesting that specific chemical interactions, rather than\nsimple wetting phenomena, govern the adhesion of footprint proteins to\nthat surface.”"}, {"Source": "spoonbill's hydrofoil-shaped bill", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "generate force", "Function2": "draw prey closer", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/hydrofoil-shaped-bill-draws-prey-closer/", "Strategy": "Hydrofoil‑shaped Bill Draws Prey Closer\n\nThe hydrofoil-shaped bill of the spoonbill draws aquatic prey closer by generating swirling flows.\n\nSpoonbills are large wading birds with a distinct bill shape. As the name suggests, the bill is long with a wider rounded end. Spoonbills catch their food in shallow water, where they eat fish, crustaceans, and insects that can be floating in the water or on the muddy bottom. Like many birds, the spoonbill uses its bill to grasp directly at prey that is visible and within reach; however, it also appears to have a strategy for drawing prey that it might not even see closer.\nAs the spoonbill walks through shallow water, it dips its head down and sweeps its bill from side to side in an arc through the water. The top of the bill is rounded while the bottom is nearly flat. In cross section, this shape is called a hydrofoil (or airfoil if it moves through air–more commonly known as a wing). As a hydrofoil moves through the water, water flowing over the rounded top of the hydrofoil travels faster than water flowing under the flatter bottom. This occurs because the water has to meet at the end of the hydrofoil at the same time (law of conservation of mass). This difference in flow speeds above and below the hydrofoil generates an upward force much like an airplane wing generates lift in air. At the same time, the difference in flow results in areas of swirling water at the tips of the hydrofoil. This swirling water is called a tip vortex, and it’s what researchers believe the spoonbill uses to gather prey.\nAs the spoonbill’s hydrofoil-shaped bill sweeps through the water, it generates a force and a bill-tip vortex. This vortex can stir up and draw small prey off the bottom of the shallow water or stimulate mobile prey to move in the water column. Once near the spoonbill’s mouth, it can then sense and capture the prey with its bill.\n\n"}, {"Source": "whirligig beetle's leg", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "increase the total surface area", "Function2": "maximize efficiency", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/hair-extension-and-folding-prevents-speed-loss/", "Strategy": "Hair Extension and Folding Prevents Speed Loss\n\nHairs on the whirligig beetle's mid and hind legs prevent loss of speed by extending and folding during swimming strokes.\nThe mid legs and hind legs of the whirligig beetle contain numerous microscopic hairs (called laminae) that increase surface area while swimming, resulting in greater thrust and power. These laminae are dynamic, extending and folding throughout the beetle’s swimming motion to maximize efficiency.\n\nDuring the power stroke when the beetle swings its legs back against the water, the laminae extend, allowing for a greater push. During the recovery stroke when the beetle pulls its legs back against the water to its starting position, the laminae fold, thereby reducing drag. This enables the beetle to maximize speed during the power stroke while minimizing loss of speed during the recovery stroke.\n"}, {"Source": "wild wheat grass's awn", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "drill seed into soil", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/seeds-drill-into-soil/", "Strategy": "Seeds Drill Into Soil\n\nThe awn of wild wheat grass drills the seed into the soil by absorbing moisture, causing the awn to unwind.\n“The dispersal unit of wild wheat [Triticum turgidum] bears two pronounced awns that balance the unit as it falls. We discovered that the awns are also able to propel the seeds on and into the ground. The arrangement of cellulose fibrils causes bending of the awns with changes in humidity. Silicified hairs that cover the awns allow propulsion of the unit only in the direction of the seeds. This suggests that the dead tissue is analogous to a motor. Fueled by the daily humidity cycle, the awns induce the motility required for seed dispersal.”"}, {"Source": "whirligig beetle's leg", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "maintain speed", "Function2": "stabilize turning", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/mid-and-hind-legs-stabilize-high-speed-turning/", "Strategy": "Mid and Hind Legs Stabilize\nHigh‑speed Turning\n\nThe mid and hind legs of whirligig beetle stabilize turning while maintaining speed due to specialized lengths and points of attachment.\nThe whirligig beetle swims quickly atop water, yet it still excels in making sharp turns. This is due to a specialized leg structure that suggests the main role of its hind legs is propulsion. In contrast, the primary function of its middle legs is stability control, maintaining a given path during swimming.\n\nThe beetle’s hind legs are longer and have denser swimming hairs (called laminae) than its middle legs, providing the hind legs greater contact with the water that enables them to generate greater thrust. Additionally, the hind legs are attached lower on the beetle’s abdomen than its middle legs. This increases the distance between the beetle’s center of mass and the point at which the greatest force is generated against the water; in turn, the hind legs produce an increase in angular velocity, allowing the beetle to quickly change orientation in the water. To maintain a stable path, the middle legs balance out this angular velocity.\n\n\n"}, {"Source": "armored shrew's spine", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "remarkable strong", "Function2": "flexible", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/spinal-column-has-strength-and-flexibility/", "Strategy": "Spinal Column Has Strength and Flexibility\n\nThe spine of armored shrews is remarkable strong yet flexible, due to interlocking vertebral spines located laterally, dorsally, and ventrally on the spinal column.\n“Armored shrews (Scutisorex somereni) have a unique skeletal feature. Interlocking lateral, dorsal, and ventral vertebral spines create an exceptionally sturdy vertebral column. Despite this feature, these shrews still have considerable flexibility and can bend dorsoventrally and laterally.”"}, {"Source": "great white pelicans' v-formation flight", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "save energy", "Function2": "reduce energy expenditure", "Function3": "reduce power input", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/v-formation-saves-energy-2/", "Strategy": "V‑formation Saves Energy\n\nV-formation flight of great white pelicans conserves energy by each bird taking advantage of the upwake field made by the wings of the bird in front of them.\n\n“Our results provide empirical evidence that, compared with solo flight, formation flight confers a significant aerodynamic advantage which allows birds [great white pelicans, Pelecanus onocrotalus] to reduce their energy expenditure while flying at a similar speed. In birds flying in formation, each wing moves in an upwash field that is generated by the wings of the other birds in the formation. Modelling has shown that when birds are flying with optimal spacing, a maximal reduction in power can be achieved and total transport costs can be substantially reduced. However, field observations of V formations indicate that birds often shift from their optimal positioning, perhaps in an attempt to maximize the aerodynamic advantage of flight formation, thus reducing the energy saving— so geese, for example, may make an energy saving of only 2.4%.\n\n“In our study, pelicans often had difficulty staying within the formation, particularly when flying at the rear. But even though these birds were regularly adjusting their position, they still achieved a significant energy saving. This saving may be only partly due to effects of the wakes of other birds on the power input that results from formation flight itself. When flying in formation, pelicans appear to beat their wings less frequently and to glide for longer periods. A rough calculation based on our estimates of the proportion of time spent flapping and gliding in formation, and assuming that the overall costs of the glide–flap sequence is the sum of the gliding and flapping components, reveals an actual saving of 1.7–3.4% as a result of wake effects on power input — this value is comparable to that estimated for geese.\n\n“The main benefit of flight formation, which until now has not been recognized, could be that by flying in a vortex wake, pelicans are able to glide for a greater proportion of their total flight time, with the total energy savings of 11.4–14.0% being achieved primarily through this strategy.” "}, {"Source": "seals' fur and penguins' feathers", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "get a grip", "Function2": "help climb ice floes", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/fur-and-feathers-get-grip-on-ice/", "Strategy": "Fur and Feathers Get Grip on Ice\n\nFur and feathers of seals and penguins help them get a grip to climb ice floes and snow thanks to their stiffness.\n“For the seals of the icy seas and the penguins of the antarctic shore this gliding and braking mechanism is vital. When they leave the water to climb an ice floe, they get a grip with their stiff fur or feathers. They can scale 60° inclines in this manner. When they rush back into the water, they simply slide down on their stomachs. Numerous other animals that live in the snow have bristles on their running or creeping surfaces, for the same mechanical reasons.” "}, {"Source": "javan cucumber vine's seed", "Application": "aircraft design", "Function1": "glide up to hundreds of meters", "Function2": "stable gliding flight", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/seeds-with-efficiently-shaped-wings-glide-slowly-to-earth/", "Strategy": "Wide Wings Give Seeds a Soaring Advantage\n\nA thin plate and centered configuration help Javan cucumber seeds float long distances on the wind.\nThe Javan cucumber (Alsomitra macrocarpa) is a vine that climbs the trees of tropical forests toward the canopy and sunlight. At great heights it grows pods that contain hundreds of winged seeds called samara. As the wind blows against the opening of the pods, the samara are peeled away and released. Unlike many seeds that make a gliding flight using auto-rotation, the seed of the Javan cucumber vine exhibits a stable gliding flight with its paper-thin wings. The seed’s design is efficient enough to achieve a low descent angle of only 12 degrees and therefore it is able to achieve a slower rate of descent (0.41 meter per second) compared to that of rotating winged seeds (1 meter per second). This aerodynamic advantage allows the seed to be easily carried by the wind.\n\nThe construction of the seed and wing gives it this advantage. The seed itself is thin, about 1 millimeter in thickness, and positioned almost exactly at the structure’s center of gravity to give it balance. The wings are even thinner, about a few micrometer to some 10 micrometer. Because the wings are so thin, as the samara is angled up or down, the center of pressure from the wind will shift to reduce that angle. This effect stabilizes the seed and also prevents it from diving. When viewed from above, the wings are angled behind the center of the seed to give it more stability and are slightly tapered toward the tip to make it lighter with less drag. When viewed from the front, the wings are angled upward which helps it fly in a straighter path and prevents spiral instability. The wings also have a sharp leading edge and an aspect ratio (AR=3~4) that results in an appropriate lift-to-drag ratio (L/D= 3~4) to support their gliding flight.\n\nThe form of the samara allows it to travel long distances in the wind. It is possible for the seeds to glide up to hundreds of meters, ensuring that they spread far from each other as well as the parent pod. This wide dispersal prevents the seeds from competing for resources once they fall to the ground and begin growing."}, {"Source": "rock inhabiting fungi's hyphae", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "strengthen fungi", "Function2": "grow better", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/pigments-provide-strength/", "Strategy": "Pigments Provide Strength\n\nThe hyphae of rock inhabiting fungi are strengthened and better able to grow in crevices due to melanin pigments.\n\n“Melanin pigmentation of rock-inhabiting fungi confers extra-mechanical strength to the hyphae that are then better able to grow into crevices.”"}, {"Source": "echigo moles", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "move as much earth as possible per stroke", "Function2": "short, powerful limbs", "Function3": "sharp claws", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/limbs-dig-efficiently/", "Strategy": "Limbs Dig Efficiently\n\nEchigo moles and other digging animals break the soil surface and move as much earth as possible per stroke with short, powerful limbs and sharp claws.\n“Quite different in character are the feet of the diggers, animals that habitually burrow into the earth. The friction drag of moving through the ground is potentially enormous, so the size of the limbs and the area through which they move must be kept to an absolute minimum; but at the same time, great strength is needed. The limbs of animals that lead an almost completely subterranean life, like the mole, are short and thick, and their feet are broad and powerful. Each short stroke of a foot must move as much earth as possible, and the mole’s feet are spade-like with widely spaced digits. In addition, the claws of digging animals are usually large, sharp and strong, to do the work of a pickaxe in breaking the soil surface. The aardvark of South Africa (its Afrikaans name, ‘earth-pig’, refers to its rather pig-like head) is a curious animal that digs for food in termite’s nests. Its feet are short and massive with large, almost hoof-like claws on each toe. It is said that one aardvark can dig a hole faster than six men with shovels. Not only does it dig into termite nests to eat the insects, the aardvark digs burrows 4m or more in length in which to hide during the day.\n\nThe armadillos of Central and South America are also powerful diggers, able to conceal themselves at amazing speed; they too have short, strong legs with daunting claws. The feet of the giant anteater, another excavator of ant and termite nests, are not massive as those of the aardvark. They are long and curved — so much so that the anteater is forced to walk on the sides of its feet with an ungainly bow-legged gait. The anteater is a scratch-digger, not a maker of burrows, so its claws do not need to be as large.”"}, {"Source": "limpets", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "resist shearing load", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/resisting-shearing-forces/", "Strategy": "Resisting Shearing Forces\n\nMany organisms, including limpets, resist shearing loads temporarily in part thanks to Stefan adhesion, which occurs when a thin layer of viscous liquid separates two surfaces.\n“Stefan adhesion. This particular form of adhesion works best against shearing loads…I know of no demonstrated case in which Stefan adhesion is the exclusive mode of attachment, but one suspects its involvement when, as Crisp (1960) showed, a steady force will slowly slide barnacles (some at least) across smooth surfaces. Wigglesworth’s (1987) observations of flies clinging beneath glass sheets raises a similar suspicion. He noticed that the legs slowly slide centripetally across the glass, periodically detaching and swinging outward again. But shear of two surfaces isn’t the only way to load the liquid in shear–a tensile stress between two objects with fluid between will force inward flow between the surfaces, and the no-slip conditions at the liquid-solid interfaces will ensure the occurrence of shear. Thus, Stefan adhesion can play a role in resisting the initial tensile separation of two smooth and well-mated surfaces. It’s of course a player in the mucus locomotion of slugs, snails, and such…”"}, {"Source": "beetle's feet", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "grip hard on waxy leaves", "Function2": "have thousands of contact points wetted with oil", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/feet-grip-waxy-leaves/", "Strategy": "Feet Grip Waxy Leaves\n\nThe feet of the beetle Hemisphaerota cyanea grip hard on waxy palmetto leaves by having thousands of contact points (bristles) wetted with oil.\nThe author noticed that when he tried to pick this beetle off of a palmetto leaf, he had to exert considerable force to pry them loose. “What the beetle does have on its feet is bristles, thousands of bristles, sticking out from the sole of each foot–the ventral tarsal surface–like hairs on a brush. Bristles are a common feature of beetle tarsi generally, but I had never seen them in such quantity per foot…Each tarsus was subdivided into three bristle-bearing subsegments, called tarsomeres. We counted the bristles and found that there were about 10,000 per tarsus, making a total of 60,000 per beetle. Each bristle was forked at the tip, which means, if we assumed the bristle endings to be the contact points with the substrate, that the beetles had the option of relying on 120,000 such points…The bristle endings of H. cyanea did indeed turn out to be padlike, and they were wetted…We now know that fluid is an oil, consisting of a mixture of long-chain hydrocarbons (specifically C22 to C29 n-alkanes and n-alkenes). An oil is ideally suited to secure adhesion to a leaf, since the outermost surface of leaves is waxy (palmetto fronds are no exception), and waxes make good contact with hydrocarbons.”"}, {"Source": "lamprey and eel", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "conserve energy", "Function2": "long distance swimming", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/energy-efficient-long-distance-swimming/", "Strategy": "Energy‑efficient Long Distance Swimming\n\nEels and lampreys swim long distances but conserve energy by using a lateral wriggle.\n\n“The most primitive and ancient method of locomotion among water dwellers was probably the lateral wriggle, whereby a wave travels from head to tail and increases in amplitude. Many primitive invertebrate swimmers use this kind of locomotion. In many aquatic animals (lampreys, eels), wriggling is aided by vertical stabilizer fins that extend the sides of the body and thus facilitate power transmission to the water. Cat sharks, some true sharks, lungfish, and sturgeon also swim with this lateral slithering motion. How efficient and energy-saving this method of locomotion is can best be seen by taking a look at the eels, which cover thousands of kilometers on their wanderings through the oceans. Slow-motion pictures of their movements disclose the principles of physics on which they are based. The essential prerequisite for getting ahead by wriggling through the water is for the body wave to travel rearward faster than the fish travels forward. The wriggling animal thereby exerts pressure on the water along the wave loops moving backward. While the laterally directed components cancel each other out over the entire fish, the forward- and backward-directed components add up to the propelling force.”"}, {"Source": "lamprey's swimming motion", "Application": "wave-power device", "Function1": "adjust swimming motion", "Function2": "produce signals to drive muscle contraction", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/adapting-swimming-technique/", "Strategy": "Adapting Swimming Technique\n\nLampreys adjust their swimming motions as the current changes by using skin sensors.\n“Leena Patel and her colleagues at the University of Edinburgh in the UK are using a genetic algorithm computer program, which mimics the way natural selection breeds fitter creatures, to improve the way their virtual lamprey swims in different sea conditions. They want to use these swimming motions to boost the efficiency of a novel type of wave-power device – a long, thin, eel-like machine called the Pelamis. However, oscillating machines like this cannot adapt when the wave speed changes. To overcome this, she turned to the lamprey, which uses skin sensors to adjust its swimming motion as the current changes. Lampreys have a cluster of neurons in their spinal cord called a central pattern generator (CPG), which produce signals that drive the muscles to contract rhythmically and make them swim.”\n\n"}, {"Source": "leaf beetle's setae", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "enhance adhesion", "Function2": "multiple contact points", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/setae-enhance-temporary-adhesion/", "Strategy": "Setae Enhance Temporary Adhesion\n\nThe thousands of setae of leaf beetles enhance their ability to adhere to various, sometimes irregular surfaces thanks to the resulting multiple contact points.\n“Second, devices for intermittent adhesion in animals make extraordinary use of multiple contacts. The billion contacts of the gecko’s feet may not be exceptional. Each of Stork’s (1980) 5-microgram chrysomelid beetles had over ten thousand setae. William Kier found that even octopus suckers turn out to use tiny projections, pegs about 3 micrometers in diameter (Pennisi 2002). Using a lot of contacts must give some useful redundancy; more important, probably, are an improved fit to unpredictably irregular surfaces, easy ability to adjust adhesive strength, better resistance to shear forces, and (with interconnected space between them) useful pressure equalization. When attachment projections get down to the micrometer range, leakage of air between them (for suction, for instance) can’t be too much of a worry–with a little moisture, either viscosity or surface tension ought to provide an effective seal.”"}, {"Source": "bromeliad's leaf", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "capture water", "Function2": "gather and shuttle water", "Function3": "hydrophobic leaf surfaces", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/leaves-capture-water-2/", "Strategy": "Leaves Capture Water\n\nThe leaves of some bromeliads capture water and nutrients in a storage tank via hydrophobic leaf surfaces.\n\nSome plants included in the family Bromeliaceae, such as pineapples, have a unique surface on their leaves that enables them to collect water in a central tank where it can be absorbed and utilized. This adaptation does not occur in all bromeliads, but just those that grow in areas where there may be less access to nutrients (such as hanging on trees where they rely on nutrients dissolved in rainwater).\n\nThe leaves of these types of bromeliads have a convex shape, meaning that they form a curved arch away from the surface they grow on. This shape allows water to drip downward into the central tank, pulled by the force of gravity. The interior, concave shape of the leaf also aids in the gathering and shuttling of water. The edges of the leaf bend upward, creating a structure that looks like a miniature half-pipe. This water collection is helpful for the bromeliad because it enables the plant to collect life-sustaining nutrients from the standing water over a longer period of time.\n\nThe leaves of bromeliads are also coated in small surface cells that are raised like bumps, known as trichomes. These “bumpy” cells have tiny hairs that catch water as it drops. The hairs increase in number as the water moves closer toward the base of the leaves, where the tank is formed. The small hairs on the leaves are coated in tiny, hydrophobic (i.e., water-repelling) wax crystals. Because the wax crystals do not absorb any water, the water rolls off of them until it collects in the central tank. The hairs are several millimeters higher than the outer surface of the leaf and thus hold the water above the leaf itself, keeping water from contacting the leaf surface proper. This is important because the surface proper is not necessarily covered in the same hydrophobic wax as the hairs, and thus water could “stick” to this surface if it came in contact with it.\n\nAs the hydrophobic properties of the leaves direct water downward to the plant’s center, a pool forms, acting as a water reserve of dissolved nutrients.\n\n"}, {"Source": "green dock beetle's foot", "Application": "waterproof surface", "Function1": "enhance foot grip", "Function2": "provide dry area", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/foot-bubbles-provide-dry-surface/", "Strategy": "Foot Bubbles Provide Dry Surface\n\nAir bubbles on the foot of the green dock beetle enhance foot grip by providing a dry area on underwater surfaces.\nStrongly adhesive oils secreted by microscopic hairs on the green dock beetle’s feet improve grip while the beetle is on land. However, these oils lose effectiveness when they are in contact with water. To compensate, the beetle traps air bubbles between these hairs to create a dry surface for the oils and hair to grip normally, enabling the beetle to walk or climb underwater.\n"}, {"Source": "squid spermatophore", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "attach for evagination", "Function2": "anchor and perforation", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/sperm-cap-physically-attaches/", "Strategy": "Sperm Cap Physically Attaches\n\nSpermatophore of squid attaches for evagination using a spiral filament anchor and perforation.\nRecent reports of oral stinging after consuming cooked squid has led to inquiry of the reproductive mechanisms of the Teuthida order of cephalopods. The “stinging” was found to be attributed to the sperm carrier, or spermatophore, of the squid. What initially confounded scientists was the durability of the spermatophore to survive having been cooked. The spermatophore is encased in a membrane, i.e., cement body. It is believed that the free-floating spermatophore is able to attach to the surface of a female squid through a spiral filament on its side. This filament has stellate particles that scar the surface of the squid’s skin, i.e., causes perforation. This is a new discovery; apart from chemical attachment, as found in most external reproduction, the spermatophore creates a mechanical form of attachment all on its own. The spiral filament also serves as an anchor in the perforated surface until the cement body is ejected into the deeper layers of the skin. Once ejected, the sperm is released and able to impregnate the female. Please see the attached page for better understanding of the spermatophore and its parts.\n\n"}, {"Source": "whirligig beetle's leg", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "transition from swimming to diving", "Function2": "create a large wave in front of the beetle", "Function3": "reduce the force to break through the water's surface tension", "Function4": "reduce overall energy use", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/leg-position-initiates-dive/", "Strategy": "Leg Position Initiates Dive\n\nThe legs of the whirligig beetle initiate a dive by transitioning from beating beside the body to under the body.\nWhirligig beetles transition from swimming to diving by changing the plane in which their legs beat. As they prepare to dive, they move their legs from beside their body to beneath their body. The resulting up-and-down oscillations create a large wave in front of the beetle that brings its body closer to the water surface.\n\nThis change in beating plane reduces the force that would otherwise be required to create an appropriate angle to break through the water’s surface tension, thereby reducing the beetle’s overall energy use.\n\n\n"}, {"Source": "whirligig beetle's forelegs", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "reduce loss of speed", "Function2": "enhance fluid-resistant body shape", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/forelegs-fold-to-prevent-speed-loss/", "Strategy": "Forelegs Fold to Prevent Speed Loss\n\nThe forelegs of the whirligig beetle reduce loss of speed by folding during swimming to enhance a fluid-resistant body shape.\nWhile the mid and hind legs of the whirligig beetle paddle and steer, its forelegs fold up under its body. Given that the forelegs are much larger than both the mid and hind legs, this folding is especially useful in maintaining an ellipsoid body shape, which minimizes fluid resistance. This enables the beetle to coast longer between strokes while losing less speed because of minimized drag.\n\n"}, {"Source": "elephants' low-frequency vibrations", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "alert others to danger", "Function2": "sense vibration", "Function3": "travel rapidly", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/vibrations-alert-others-to-danger/", "Strategy": "Vibrations Alert Others to Danger\n\nElephants alert others to danger with low-frequency vibrations created by stomping their feet.\n“Thus, if an elephant is alarmed or disturbed by something, it stomps the ground in order to alert others to the danger. The vibrations produced by its feet travel rapidly through the ground and are sensed through the feet of other elephants as far away as 31 miles (50 km).”"}, {"Source": "australian frog's skin", "Application": "skin glue", "Function1": "rapid hardening", "Function2": "adhesive", "Function3": "porous structure", "Function4": "encourage healing", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/glue-protects-from-insect-bites/", "Strategy": "Glue Protects From Insect Bites\n\nThe skin of Australian frogs of the genus Notaden protects from insect bites via a secreted glue, which gums up insect mouthparts.\n\n“Two species of Australian frogs secret a sticky substance over their skin to protect themselves from biting insects. The glue jams up the insects’ jaws, causes them to stick to the frogs’ skin, and the frogs can later eat the stuck insects. Mike Tyler, an environmental biologist from the University of Adelaide who discovered the skin glue, teamed up with orthopaedic surgeon George Murrell of the University of New South Wales to test the glue in sheep with torn knee cartilage. They found that the glue hardens within seconds and sticks well, even in moist environments. When set, it is flexible and has a porous structure that should make it permeable to gas and nutrients, which would encourage healing. When used on the sheep, it worked well at holding damaged knee cartilage together. Working with colleagues at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation in Melbourne, the scientists have characterized a key component of the glue and are now developing a genetically engineered version of this protein.”\n\n"}, {"Source": "birds' eyes", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "detect ultraviolet and/or infrared light", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/eyes-see-in-various-wavelengths/", "Strategy": "Eyes See in Various Wavelengths\n\nEyes of some birds, insects, and fish see better than humans because they can detect ultraviolet and/or infrared light.\n“The eyes of some birds, insects, and fish respond to ultraviolet wavelengths. Other animals have a spectral response that includes red or near-infrared. This response is helpful in penetrating cloudy or murky conditions.”\n\n"}, {"Source": "saturniid gum moth's egg", "Application": "biotechnological mimicry", "Function1": "bind egg", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/secretion-attaches-eggs/", "Strategy": "Secretion Attaches Eggs\n\nEggs of the saturniid gum moth attach using a protein-based secretion that sets to form a highly elastic hydrogel.\n“Biochemical and electrophoretic screening of 29 adhesive secretions from Australian insects identified six types that appeared to consist largely of protein. Most were involved in terrestrial egg attachment…The strongest (1–2 MPa) was an egg attachment glue produced by saturniid gum moths of the genus Opodiphthera. ”\n“[W]e focused on the protein-based egg attachment glue produced by saturniid gum moths of the genus Opodiphthera. Stored as a treacle-like liquid in the accessory reproductive gland (colleterial gland) reservoirs of gravid females, the viscous fluid sets quickly to form a highly elastic hydrogel that binds newly laid eggs to the substratum and, in some circumstances, to each other. For the 7–10-day interval that normally separates the laying and hatching of eggs, the attachment glue must withstand environmental insults such as heat, wind and rain…The macroscopic properties of this material could make it an attractive target for biotechnological mimicry and subsequent commercial exploitation.”"}, {"Source": "whirligig beetle's leg", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "maximize swimming speed", "Function2": "minimize energy use", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/hind-legs-maximize-swimming-efficiency/", "Strategy": "Hind Legs Maximize Swimming Efficiency\n\nThe hind legs of the whirligig beetle maximize swimming speed and minimize energy use by beating in an alternating stroke pattern.\nThe whirligig beetle can swim quickly atop water. Although it can attain its highest speeds by simultaneously beating its hind legs together, this movement is too energetically costly to maintain over great distances. In comparison, alternately beating its hind legs allows the whirligig beetle to reach comparable, though slightly slower, speeds while conserving enough energy to maintain those speeds over longer distances.\n\nThis alternate beating causes the beetle to move in an S-shaped trajectory instead of a linear one, which also helps it avoid predators due to its unpredictable pattern of movement.\n\n\n"}, {"Source": "insects' wings", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "perform high-quality flight", "Function2": "produce a stable region of vorticity", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/wings-perform-high-quality-flight/", "Strategy": "Wings Perform High‑quality Flight\n\nWings of insects of different size perform high-quality flight by producing different flow structures as they flap.\n\n“The elevated aerodynamic performance of insects has been attributed in part to the generation and maintenance of a stable region of vorticity known as the leading edge vortex (LEV). One explanation for the stability of the LEV is that spiraling axial flow within the vortex core drains energy into the tip vortex, forming a leading-edge spiral vortex analogous to the flow structure generated by delta wing aircraft…The results suggest that the transport of vorticity from the leading edge to the wake that permits prolonged vortex attachment takes different forms at different Re [Reynolds numbers – mostly affected by insect’s size].”"}, {"Source": "dragonfly", "Application": "aircraft construction", "Function1": "efficient flight", "Function2": "lightweight characteristics", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/microstructure-offers-efficient-flight/", "Strategy": "Microstructure Offers Efficient Flight\n\nWings of dragonflies offer highly efficient flight and lightweight characteristics due to a series of adaptive materials that form a very complex composite structure.\n“[D]ragonfly wings are made of a series of adaptive materials, which form a very complex composite structure. This bio-composite fabrication has some unique features and potential benefits.”\n\n“[F]light performance of dragonflies is one of the examples of nature’s efficiency. Dragonflies can fly forwards, backwards and sideways. They can also hover in midair and then instantly reverse the direction of their flight or rapidly accelerate. They are extremely fast and agile. Some of the dragonflies can fly at speeds up to 50 kilometers per hour.”\n\n“All mentioned characteristics in this paper indicate a highly efficient and reliable wing system with unique features for twisting, flexibility, improved speed and lift balance, as well as lightweight and small size. In fact, the wing has been adapted to yield the highest possible loads during flight…Our numerical results showed that the fundamental natural frequency of dragonfly wings is about 168 Hz. Bending is the dominant deformation mode in this frequency.”"}, {"Source": "shark's hydroskeleton", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "fast, efficient swimming", "Function2": "produce lift", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/swimming-efficiently/", "Strategy": "Swimming Efficiently\n\nSharks are efficient swimmers in part due to their complex hydroskeleton.\n“It came as more of a surprise than it should have when Wainwright, Vosburgh, and Hebrank (1978) showed that sharks utilized a hydroskeleton. Sharks, after all, have conventional skeletons, albeit somewhat less calcified ones than that of most other vertebrates. Shark skin is sturdier stuff than fish skins generally…and it has the crossed helical fiber array typical of these hydrostatic arrangements, shown in figure 20.5b. The system, though, is more complex than those described previously–muscles attach directly to the skin, which thus acts both as external, pressure-resisting membrane and as an external, whole-body tendon. Fiber angles, not unreasonably, vary with location on the fish–the unstretchy skin must transmit the forces generated by the body musculature back toward the tail. During locomotion, the pressure inside the body of a shark rises to as much as 200 kilopascals–twice atmospheric and as high as that inside an automobile tire. So sharks are just shark-shaped balloons with teeth.\n\n“In sharks, the peculiar resistance of crossed helical fibers to torsion may have functional significance, at least of a negative kind. Sharks lack swimbladders and thus sink if inactive. Swimming must produce a little lift in addition to thrust, and a shark gets that lift, in part, by beating a tail fin that extends farther dorsally than ventrally, as you can see in the figure. That asymmetry might make a shark uselessly twist lengthwise, reversing twist twice during each full tailbeat–were it not for a torso that, while flexible in bending, resists twisting.”"}, {"Source": "aquatic bacterium's holdfast", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "adhere under water", "Function2": "powerful adhesive", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/adhesive-works-under-water/", "Strategy": "Adhesive Works Under Water\n\nHoldfast of aquatic bacterium adheres under water using powerful adhesive.\n“‘It’s three to four times stronger than superglue,’ says Indiana University bacteriologist Yves Brun. Its strong enough, he adds, that a quarter-size patch could conceivably suspend a 5-ton elephant. In quantitative terms, the sticking power of the bacterium’s adhesive approaches 70 Newton/mm2, reports Brun, Brown University biophysicist Jay X. Tang, and their coworkers. The Caulobacter crescentus cells of the study are everywhere in aquatic settings. In one of their two forms, they grow stalks capped with a footlike structure known as a holdfast. There, an adhesive concoction, based in part on polysaccharides of N-acetylglucosamine, enables the cell to stick to surfaces. Once in place, the ‘stalk’ cells bud off a series of mobile ‘swarmer cells’ that seek out their own little dots of real estate, to which they stick by growing their own stalks and holdfasts.”"}, {"Source": "hunting spider's leg", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "adhesive bristle", "Function2": "grasp and hold struggling prey", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/sticky-hairs-on-leg-aid-in-prey-capture/", "Strategy": "Sticky Hairs on Leg Aid in Prey Capture\n\nHairs on the legs of hunting spiders aid in capturing and holding prey using adhesive bristles.\n\nAlthough spiders are often known for the intricate webs they create to capture prey, more than half of them do not build webs. In fact, a number of spiders actively hunt. To facilitate hunting, a variety of spider species possess small hairy pads (called scopulae) on their legs that enable the spiders to better grasp and hold struggling prey. These scopulae minimize energy use beyond what is required for locomotion by making the spiders more efficient at capturing prey.\n\n"}, {"Source": "giardia's flagella", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "facilitate swimming", "Function2": "facilitate attaching", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/flagella-facilitate-swimming-and-attaching/", "Strategy": "Flagella Facilitate Swimming and Attaching\n\nFlagella of Giardia facilitate swimming and attaching by having each of the four pairs of flagella conduct different functions.\n\n“…we discovered that, during rapid swimming of Giardia trophozoites, undulations of the caudal region contributed to forward propulsion combined with the beating of the flagella pairs… the anterior and posterolateral flagella beat with a clearly defined power stroke and not symmetrical undulations. During the transition from free swimming to attachment, trophozoites modified their swimming behavior from a rapid rotating motion to a more stable planar swimming. While using this planar swimming motion, the trophozoites used the flagella for propulsion and directional control…The results from this study indicate that Giardia is able to simultaneously generate both ciliary beating and typical eukaryotic flagellar beating using different pairs of flagella.” "}, {"Source": "colorado potato beetle's tarsal structure", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "adhere to plant surfaces", "Function2": "interact with the climbing surface", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/thin-liquid-film-allow-adhesion/", "Strategy": "Thin Liquid Film Allow Adhesion\n\nTarsal structures of beetles adhere to plant surfaces by secreting lipids that are liquid at normal temperatures.\n\nThe Colorado potato beetle must defy gravity when climbing up vertical stems of its host plant. It solves this challenge with the help of specialized tarsal structures coated with a thin film of liquid wax similar to the protective wax on other parts of the beetle’s body that keep it properly hydrated. The protective wax is solid at ambient temperatures to form a more stable coating, but liquid on the adhesive structures to more effectively interact with the climbing surface.\n\n"}, {"Source": "northern leopard frog's tendons", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "store elastic energy", "Function2": "release elastic energy", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/tendons-store-elastic-energy/", "Strategy": "Tendons Store Elastic Energy\n\nTendons of the northern leopard frog store elastic energy which is rapidly released during a jump.\n“The catapult-like mechanism that has been hypothesized for frog jumping requires pre-storage of elastic energy, followed by the rapid release of this energy during the jump. The pattern of muscle length change and joint motion observed in the plantaris confirms this hypothesis. Early in the jump, the plantaris longus muscle shortened without joint movement (figures 1 and 2), showing that the tendon stretched to store work done by muscle contraction. This was followed by a period of high angular acceleration of the joint and minimal muscle shortening (table 1), indicating a substantial contribution of tendon recoil to powering ankle extension. Although we did not measure tendon length directly, the observed pattern of decoupling of muscle fascicle and joint motion would be difficult to explain by mechanisms other than tendon stretch and recoil…Since elastic energy storage occurs even in frog jumps which do not show exceptional distance, takeoff velocity or power output, it is likely that elastic energy storage is far more common in accelerations than indicated by prior indirect methods of detecting it. The presence of elastic energy storage and recoil in submaximal jumps may also be informative in future investigations into the nature of the catch mechanism in anuran jumping.”"}, {"Source": "salmonella bacteria's adhesive proteins", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "grip more tenaciously", "Function2": "change structure", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/catch-bonds-hold-on-tighter-when-pulled-apart/", "Strategy": "Catch‑bonds Hold on\nTighter When Pulled Apart\n\nSalmonella bacteria grip their host more tenaciously when pulled apart because complex adhesive proteins change their structure as stronger force is applied.\nPathogens must adhere to host tissue in order to survive and reproduce. They produce many adhesive proteins on their surface most of which exhibit slip-bond type binding with host compounds; in other words, the bonds slip and let go when pulled apart. Salmonella bacteria have evolved special binding proteins that exhibit catch-bond type adhesion to host cells—these bonds actually become stronger when pulled apart, up to a certain threshold. FimH is one of Salmonella’s multi-domain adhesive proteins. The binding domain is a lectin pocket that binds to mannose on the surface of the host cell. This domain is linked to another part of the adhesive protein (a long pilin domain) which anchors FimH to the bacteria. When the bonds between the bacteria and its host are pulled apart by weak forces, the pilin domain holds tightly to the binding domain which in turn binds mannose with low force. But when the bonds between the bacteria and its host are pulled apart by stonger forces, the pilin domain is stretched away from the binding domain causing the structure of the binding pocket to shift so that it binds mannose with 100 times more force. In short, strong mechanical forces pull a binding inhibitor away from the binding domain increasing adhesion: a catch-bond. There is an optimum range within which catch-bonding occurs; when that range is exceeded, catch-bonds revert to slip-bonds."}, {"Source": "pike's sculling fins", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "compensate for tiny variations", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/fins-provide-stability/", "Strategy": "Fins Provide Stability\n\nSculling fins of pike allow fish to compensate for tiny variations in current by rotating from within the body.\n“Not all fish have adopted a life of speed. Those living in mid-water or along the shores have different problems and requirements, but for them too, the acquisition of a swim-bladder has had a potent effect on structure, for it has freed their body fins for all kinds of purposes. Those of a pike have become elegant filmy sculls, rotating slowly back and forth from a joint within the body, so that the fish can compensate for the tiniest variation of current and hang above a rock as though it were suspended from an invisible wire."}, {"Source": "rough fileclam's shell", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "aid movement", "Function2": "dart through the water", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/clapping-used-for-underwater-movement/", "Strategy": "Clapping Used for Underwater Movement\n\nThe shells of the rough fileclam aid movement through water via jet propulsion.\n“When danger threatens, this scallop claps its shells together and darts through the water, like a pair of castanets with a life of their own.”"}, {"Source": "locust's footpad", "Application": "biomimetic robotics", "Function1": "grasp small particles", "Function2": "increase lateral force", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/claws-grip-rough-surfaces/", "Strategy": "Claws Grip Rough Surfaces\n\nThe footpads of locusts help increase their ability to grip the surface by including claws that are activated on rough or non-horizontal surfaces.\n“Claw mechanical interlocking and pad adhesive secretion as well as deformation are the common methods by which locusts come in contact with sloping substrates. Their claws would grasp small particles on rough surfaces to generate force…The grasping ability of locusts is mainly related to the relative size of the diameters of the claw tips and particles.”\n\n“Locusts (Locusta migratoria manilensis) are characterized by their strong flying and grasping ability. Research on the grasping mechanism and behaviour of locusts on sloping substrates plays an important role in elucidating the mechanics of hexapod locomotion. Data on the maximum angles of slope at which locusts can grasp stably (critical angles of detachment) were obtained from high-speed video recordings at 215 fps. The grasping forces were collected by using two sensors, in situations where all left legs were standing on one and the right legs on the other sensor plate. These data were used to illustrate the grasping ability of locusts on slopes with varying levels of roughness. The grasping morphologies of locusts’ bodies and tarsi were observed, and the surface roughness as well as diameters of their claw tips was measured under a microscope to account for the grasping mechanism of these insects on the sloping substrate. The results showed that the claw tips and part of the pads were in contact with the inverted substrate when the mean particle diameter was in the range of 15.3-40.5 µm. The interaction between pads and substrates may improve the stability of contact, and claw tips may play a key role in keeping the attachment reliable. A model was developed to explain the significant effects of the relative size of claw tips and mean particle diameter on grasping ability as well as the observed increase in lateral force (2.09-4.05 times greater than the normal force during detachment) with increasing slope angle, which indicates that the lateral force may be extremely important in keeping the contact reliable. This research lays the groundwork for the probable design and development of biomimetic robotics.”"}, {"Source": "spear grass awn's hair", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "self-planting", "Function2": "hygroscopically-active", "Function3": "high establishment", "Function4": "avoid seed predators", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/awns-cause-self-planting/", "Strategy": "Awns Cause Self‑planting\n\nHairs on spear grass awn's result in the grass being able to self-plant into the soil by being hydrophilic and hydrophobic.\n“Many plants have been described as self planting seeds (Zohary 1937). Seedling survivorship of such awned seeds has been shown to be higher than that of de-awned seeds (Simpson 1952; Peart 1979). Also, self planting species have higher establishment than seeds without accessory structures for burial in particular microhabitats, such as areas devoid of litter due to burning (Tothill 1968)…Both the self-planting grasses and Erodium seeds are characterised by hygroscopically-active awns [hairs at the base of the awn increase surface area in contact with the environment]. The seeds move by the decreasing tension (during wetting) [as the awn hairs swell] and increasing tension (during drying) of these awns [as the awn hairs lose moisture].”\n \n“The advantages of burial for these seeds may be numerous and complex. Young, Evans & Kay (1975) suggested that for Erodium botryx seeds, which colonize bare areas, burial was important to avoid seed predators, extreme temperatures at the soil surface during the summer and fluctuations in soil moisture during germination in late autumn. Sheldon (1974) found that burial insured radicle penetration, especially in compacted soil. Self-planting Heteropogon contortus seeds had an advantage over other species by avoiding fire, which destroyed the ground litter, and by establishing themselves early, a consequence of increased soil surface temperature after the fire, which the temperature in other areas was unfavourable to germination.”"}, {"Source": "marine invertebrate's secretions", "Application": "polyphosphoproteins", "Function1": "gain adhesive and cohesive qualities", "Function2": "contain specialized proteins", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/secretions-gain-adhesivecohesive-qualities/", "Strategy": "Secretions Gain Adhesive/cohesive Qualities\n\nSecretions of several marine invertebrates may gain adhesive and cohesive qualities in part via phosphorylation of certain proteins.\n“Protein phosphorylation is an important regulator of both cellular and extracellular events. Recently, protein phosphorylation has also emerged as an important process in biological adhesives. During the last decade, Herbert Waite and his group have indeed characterized several polyphosphoproteins from the adhesive secretions of two different marine organisms, mussels and tube-building worms. This suggests the possibility that polyphosphoproteins could be important components of several bioadhesives and may, therefore, be widely distributed throughout the animal kingdom…These findings bring to three the number of animal groups in which adhesive processes involve polyphosphoproteins and raise interesting questions about the convergent evolution of these adhesives.\n\n“In the marine environment, attachment mechanisms developed by animals usually rely on highly viscous or solid adhesive secretions, which all contain specialized proteins. Functional convergences are noted among marine animals, particularly in terms of the type of adhesion used: permanent, temporary, or instantaneous. Although marine adhesive proteins from non-related organisms do not present any sequence homologies, molecular convergences have been recognized, and some adhesive motifs have been found to be shared by phylogenetically different animals. DOPA has long been known as one such motif. Now, another modified amino acid, phosphoserine (pSer), is emerging as an important motif in biological adhesives. Indeed, our findings bring the number of polyphosphoprotein-containing marine adhesives to three. The occurrence of high levels of pSer in adhesive systems from totally unrelated animals, which moreover use different types of adhesion, raise questions about the convergent evolution of these adhesives.”"}, {"Source": "ostrich's leg", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "increase maneuverability", "Function2": "decrease torque loads", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/gait-increases-speed-efficiency/", "Strategy": "Gait Increases Speed, Efficiency\n\nThe legs of the ostrich increase maneuverability while decreasing torque loads to their joints due to biomechanical efficiency.\n“It is easy to appreciate an antelope’s grace as it bounds across the savannah, but how about an ostrich? At first glance they seem to be unlikely runners, with their huge egg-shaped torsos and skinny legs. However, these birds have evolved to run and manoeuvre at speed to shake off predators…while humans decelerate to prevent over-rotation, on average ostriches generate fewer deceleration forces. In individual cases the birds generated both acceleration and deceleration forces to control their body orientation, but these are reduced because of their body shape with its higher inertia…[The authors] found that as the leg hits the ground, the angle of the leg is very close to the angle of the force. This reduces the torque and produces similar forces to those recorded during straight running. So rather than twisting at the joints, the torque is maintained and ostriches change direction by simply rolling their body into the turn. It is this combination of body shape and behaviour that allows running ostriches to change direction so gracefully.”\n\n“Our analysis revealed that the majority of the segment motion during running in the ostrich occurs in flexion/extension. Importantly, however, the alignment of the average flexion/extension helical axes of the knee and ankle are rotated externally to the direction of travel (37 degrees and 21 degrees , respectively) so that pure flexion and extension at the knee will act to adduct and adbuct [sic] the tibiotarsus relative to the plane of movement, and pure flexion and extension at the ankle will act to abduct and adduct the tarsometatarsus relative to the plane of movement. This feature of the limb anatomy appears to provide the major lateral (non-sagittal) displacement of the lower limb necessary for steering the swinging limb clear of the stance limb and replaces what would otherwise require greater adduction/abduction and/or internal/external rotation, allowing for less complex joints, musculoskeletal geometry and neuromuscular control. Significant rotation about the joints’ non-flexion/extension axes nevertheless occurs over the running stride. In particular, hip abduction and knee internal/external and varus/valgus motion may further facilitate limb clearance during the swing phase, and substantial non-flexion/extension movement at the knee is also observed during stance.”"}, {"Source": "banana slug's foot", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "facilitate transfer of adhesive force", "Function2": "transmit mechanical force", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/viscoelastic-mucus-enables-locomotion/", "Strategy": "Viscoelastic Mucus Enables Locomotion\n\nThe foot of a banana slug generates a propulsive force against surfaces via mucus secretions that act as both a lubricant and an adhesive.\nSnails and slugs only have one body part in contact with the ground at any one time, which raises the question: how do they develop a net force to produce propulsion? Most animals have multiple legs with some functioning as stationary supports while others move forward to act as future stationary supports. Initially, it may seem that using only one structure to both hold onto the ground and move over it is a paradox; however, snails and slugs evolved the answer long ago. Though the precise physical mechanism has yet to be revealed, snail and slug mucus is apparently used to both lubricate the snail’s movement over surfaces and to facilitate the transfer of adhesive force to the surface. Only a “viscoelastic” fluid could have both properties since ordinary fluids are either viscous or elastic. Snails and slugs move by producing a pedal wave that travels from one end of the body to the other (depending on the species of snail). The interwave regions are stationary (relative to the ground) and exert force against the mucus layer which is then transmitted to the ground; for the interwave region, the mucus acts as an elastic or adhesive material capable of transmitting mechanical force. On the other hand, wave regions travel over the ground and do not exert force on it; in this case, the mucus acts as a viscous lubricant. There is mounting evidence that the mucus is of great importance when the snail/slug is crawling across vertical or inverted surfaces, but that it may not be entirely necessary for motility on flat, level surfaces.\n\n"}, {"Source": "bacteria's flagella", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "propel", "Function2": "set up relative motion", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/flagella-aid-locomotion/", "Strategy": "Flagella Aid Locomotion\n\nThe flagella of bacteria propel using a wheel and axle mechanism.\n“In electron micrographs, bacterial flagella look suspiciously like rigid, rotating propellers, driven by rotary engines in the bacterial surface beneath, as in figure 22.6. In a sense, they’re not engines at all, leaving that to their basal motors. The combination consists of the only true rotary engine and propulsive unit known in the living world–a proper wheel and axle mechanism.\n\n“They’re far more efficient, at least in terms of power relative to weight, than ordinary flagella or even muscle, but they don’t scale up, and nature hasn’t used them elsewhere. Or at least she hasn’t manufactured them elsewhere, since some higher organisms symbiotically appropriate bacteria for use as locomotory organelles.”\n\n“Eukaryotic flagella and cilia have a remarkably uniform internal ‘engine’ known as the ‘9+2’ axoneme. With few exceptions, the function of cilia and flagella is to beat rhythmically and set up relative motion between themselves and the liquid that surrounds them. The molecular basis of axonemal movement is understood in considerable detail, with the exception of the mechanism that provides its rhythmical or oscillatory quality. Some kind of repetitive ‘switching’ event is assumed to occur; there are several proposals regarding the nature of the ‘switch’ and how it might operate.…\n\n“V. CONCLUSIONS\n“(1) There are at least sixteen distinct circumstances that result in changes in the frequency of flagellar oscillation.Most of them appear to operate by affecting inter-doublet sliding velocity or by modulating the elasticity of flagellar structures.\n“(2) Proposed explanations for the mechanism of the oscillation are presented under six headings. All the explanations have serious limitations.\n“(3) Nevertheless, a provisional synthesis can been made, drawing on key experimental results. It proposes that the direction of sliding is the primary controlling factor for flagellar oscillation.\n“(4) In detail, the provisional synthesis is that oscillation emerges from an effect of the direction of passive inter-doublet sliding on (a) the force-generating cycles of dynein (perhaps the ATPase rate) and (b) dyneinto- dynein synchronisation along a doublet. Dyneins actively generate force when sliding in one direction is detected, and are inhibited from doing so by the detection of sliding in the other direction. The direction of the initial, passive sliding oscillates because it is regulated hydrodynamically by the direction of the propulsive thrust. However, a supplementary mechanism seems to exist, namely a mechanically induced reversal of sliding direction due to the recoil of elastic structures deformed in response to the preceding active sliding displacement.” "}, {"Source": "portuguese man-of-war's float and tentacles", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "catch prey", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/structures-catch-prey/", "Strategy": "Structures Catch Prey\n\nThe float and tentacles of the Portuguese man-of-war capture prey using synergy for efficient sail-driven trawling.\n“The most conspicuous results of this study can be summarized in three points as follows: (i) The tilt angle (from vertical) of a trailing tentacle increases with the sailing velocity and decreases with the tentacle diameter. Since the tentacles are of different diameters, trailing causes them to spread fan-like in the vertical plane. The spread angle vanishes both at small and at large trailing speeds. Using plausible figures for the diameters, densities and drag coefficients of the tentacles, the spread angle is estimated as 10–15º at the same speeds the Portuguese man-of-war were observed sailing. (ii) The force needed to trail a tentacle at a given speed decreases as the tilt angle of the tentacle increases. The tentacles bud from the float in such a way that this change in drag sheets out the sail as the tentacles lift up, which serves to keep the sailing speed in that particular range where the tentacles spread best. The Portuguese man-of-war were observed sailing with their sails aligned with the wind in strong winds. (iii) The trim of the sail is very delicate and a minute increase in camber may luff the sail. We believe that these results can be rationalized by adopting a hypothesis that the Portuguese man-of-war has evolved for efficient sail-driven trawling: the tentacles’ spreading obviously increases the likelihood of catching the prey, whereas the Portuguese man-of-war ‘does’ all it possibly can to keep them spread.”"}, {"Source": "limpet's foot", "Application": "temporary adhesives", "Function1": "cling tightly to surface", "Function2": "withstand water, salt, buffeting", "Function3": "switch from strong attachment to stuck but mobile", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/adhesion-occurs-in-varying-conditions/", "Strategy": "Tiny Mollusk Makes Adjustable Glue\n\nThe foot of a limpet varies how tightly it attaches to tidal zone surfaces by changing its mucus composition and muscle action.\nIntroduction \n\nTo stick or not to stick? That’s the dilemma a limpet (Lottia species in this case) faces every day as the tide rolls in and out across the tidal zones in which it lives.\n\nIf a limpet clings tightly with its single gel-coated foot to the rocks beneath, it can protect itself from being washed out to sea or tipped over and scooped out of its half-shell by predators such as birds and seals. But if it remains mobile, it can avoid other dangers and forage for food on its own.\n\nThe solution? Different kinds of stickiness for different situations.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nLimpets are a group of single-shelled mollusks that can grow up to 4 inches (10 centimeters) long. They have a flat, flexible muscular surface on the bottom and a bowl-shaped shell on the top.\n\nWhen a limpet is underwater nibbling bits of vegetation off rocks at high tide, it secretes a slime from the surface cells on its underside. That gel is 93% water with a variety of small proteins and a few carbohydrates mixed in. Together with muscle action that gently presses the foot against the surface and also propels it forward, the slime creates some stabilizing adhesion while  allowing the limpet to slide slowly along the surface.\n\nThe Potential \n\nLimpets’ exemplary ability to cling tightly to surfaces in the ocean’s intertidal zone offers inspiration for developing powerful adhesives that can withstand water, salt, and buffeting. In addition, their capacity for switching from “strong attachment” to “stuck, but mobile” over the course of a day—and then back again—could prove valuable for designing temporary adhesives, developing mobility strategies for underwater robots, constructing seafloor mining facilities, and more."}, {"Source": "polychaete worm's mucus", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "crawl quickly", "Function2": "secrete mucus", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/mucus-enhances-mobility/", "Strategy": "Mucus Enhances Mobility\n\nPolychaete worms travel quickly on trails of mucus.\n“Phyllodoce mucosa is attracted in large numbers by dead mollusks, crabs or worms on the sediment surface. Within 10 s worms emerged to the surface, crawled as far as 15 m on mucus trails towards the carcass, sucked in tissue up to one-third of their own weight, and then quickly retreated to below the surface…\n\n“P. mucosa massively secretes mucus when crawling, and conspecifics tend to follow existing trails, sometimes forming ‘roads’ with several parallel trails directed towards a carcass. No interference between worms aggregating at a common food source was observed…\n\n“Presumably, P. mucosa gets some protection from the mucus it produces in masses…\n\n“High crawling speed, mucus trailing (as a mutual benefit to conspecifics leading to the food source) and the ability to locate a carcass from a distance, all may contribute to the success of P. mucosa as a carrion-feeder.”"}, {"Source": "atlantic surf clam's gills", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "reduce frictional drag", "Function2": "lubrication", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/gills-reduce-drag/", "Strategy": "Gills Reduce Drag\n\nThe abfrontal surface of Atlantic surf clam gills may reduce frictional drag using lubricating mucus.\n“Mucus in molluscs serves many purposes, one of which is lubrication (Prezant 1985; Simkiss 1988; Davies and Hawkins 1998). In the context of bivalve gills, the secretion of mucus on the abfrontal surface might be adaptive if it reduces friction between water and the epithelium, in a manner similar to the drag reduction produced by fish epithelial mucus (Hoyt 1975; Daniel 1981). Abfrontal surface lubrication could be of particular importance in eulamellibranchs because water pumped through their gills is directed into abfrontal chambers of reduced volume, where frictional drag between water and the epithelium is probably important.\n\n“In the species studied, abfrontal mucocyte density was greatest in the eulamellibranch Spisula solidissima…The presence of residual mucus shows that AMPS are secreted on the abfrontal surface of the gills of these eulamellibranchs. Acidic mucus is highly viscous and is a good lubricant because it is not easily hydrated or removed from the epithelium.\n\n“It is therefore possible that mucus on the abfrontal surface of eulamellibranch gills is important in lubrication.” "}, {"Source": "aye-aye's eyes", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "perceive color", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/eyes-improve-foraging-abilities/", "Strategy": "Eyes Improve Foraging Abilities\n\nThe eyes of aye-ayes aid in nocturnal foraging because they may be able to perceive color at night.\n“While color vision perception is thought to be adaptively correlated with foraging efficiency for diurnal mammals, those that forage exclusively at night may not need color vision nor have the capacity for it. Indeed, although the basic condition for mammals is dichromacy, diverse nocturnal mammals have only monochromatic vision, resulting from functional loss of the short-wavelength sensitive opsin gene. However, many nocturnal primates maintain intact two opsin genes and thus have dichromatic capacity. The evolutionary significance of this surprising observation has not yet been elucidated. We used a molecular population genetics approach to test evolutionary hypotheses for the two intact opsin genes of the fully nocturnal aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis), a highly unusual and endangered Madagascar primate. No evidence of gene degradation in either opsin gene was observed for any of 8 aye-aye individuals examined. Furthermore, levels of nucleotide diversity for opsin gene functional sites were lower than those for 15 neutrally evolving intergenic regions (>25 kb in total), which is consistent with a history of purifying selection on aye-aye opsin genes. The most likely explanation for these findings is that dichromacy is advantageous for aye-ayes despite their nocturnal activity pattern. We speculate that dichromatic nocturnal primates may be able to perceive color while foraging under moonlight conditions, and suggest that behavioral and ecological comparisons among dichromatic and monochromatic nocturnal primates will help to elucidate the specific activities for which color vision perception is advantageous.”"}, {"Source": "mosquito's legs", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "float", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/scales-allow-floating/", "Strategy": "Scales Allow Floating\n\nLegs of mosquitoes allow it to float due to scales that structurally maximize trapping of air.\n“We found that the mosquito’s legs are covered by numerous scales consisting of the uniform microscale longitudinal ridges (nanoscale thickness and microscale spacing between) and nanoscale cross ribs (nanoscale thickness and spacing between). Such special delicate microstructure and/or nanostructure on the leg surface give a water contact angle of ~153° and give a surprising high water-supporting ability. It was found that the water-supporting force of a single leg of the mosquito is about 23 times the body weight of the mosquito, compared with a water strider’s leg giving a water-supporting force of about 15 times the body weight of the insect.” "}, {"Source": "moon jellyfish", "Application": "propulsion models", "Function1": "move efficiently through water", "Function2": "create complex vortex rings", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/vortex-rings-propel/", "Strategy": "Vortex Rings Propel\n\nMoon jellyfish move efficiently through water by creating complex vortex rings in the wake of their motion.\n“Through his research, Dabiri has observed that moon jellyfish don’t move through water simply by using jet propulsion. Instead, they create complex vortex rings in the wake of their motion that allow them propel themselves forward. Cracking the code to how jellyfish create these currents has the potential to inform the development of future propulsion models. On the horizon are possible advances in underwater transportation or medical technologies administered through the blood stream.”"}, {"Source": "filaree seed", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "curl and uncurl with moisture", "Function2": "move across or into soil", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/spring-like-seed-drills-into-ground/", "Strategy": "Spring‑like Seed Drills Into Ground\n\nSpring-like awn of filaree seed drills itself into the ground by curling and uncurling with changes in moisture.\n“The ability of seeds to…bury themselves can improve their chances of germinating and surviving…Self-burial can be accomplished using awns, hair-like appendages that launch seeds by storing elastic energy and subsequently move them across or into the soil using hygroscopically powered shape changes…Once on the ground, humidity changes cause the awns to unwind straight when wet, or rewind back to their helical shape when dry. The resulting motor action, combined with hairs on the seed and along the length of the awn, moves the seeds across the surface, eventually lodging them into a crevice and causing them to drill themselves into the ground (self-burial).”"}, {"Source": "alabama cavefish's body", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "interpret slight air-pressure or temperature changes", "Function2": "sense object moving or still", "Function3": "ambush prey", "Function4": "judge the size and suitability of prospective mates", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/blind-cave-dwellers-have-super-senses/", "Strategy": "Blind Cave‑dwellers Have Super Senses\n\nThe bodies of Alabama cavefish allow them to survive without vision via elaborate appendages and beefed-up nerve centers.\n\n“Instead of vision, many [troglobites] have elaborate appendages and beefed-up nerve centers to interpret slight air-pressure or temperature changes, sounds, and smells. This sensory equipment lets them travel, sense objects moving or still, ambush prey, and according to a recent study of troglobitic fish, judge the size and suitability of prospective mates, sight unseen.”"}, {"Source": "nematodes", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "leap from one soil particle to another", "Function2": "catapult upward and laterally", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/catapulting-transports-worms/", "Strategy": "Catapulting Transports Worms\n\nNematodes leap from one soil particle to another using built up surface tension to catapult themselves.\n“Surface tension gets put to use by a nematode, which leaps from one soil particle (through air) to another. It holds itself in a U-bent spring with a drop of water; failure of the droplet to stay together straightens it suddenly enough to catapult the nematode upward and laterally.”\n“The mechanism enabling entomopathogenic [insect parasitic] nematodes (Steinernemaspp.) to jump is described. Jumping performance is measured and thecontribution of jumping to host finding is estimated. We used theentomopathogenic nematode Steinernema carpocapsae as a model species for the genus. Nematodes jump using a two-step process of forming and contracting a loop. During loop formation, the nematode bends the anterior half of its body until the head region makes contact with the side of the body. The two body regions are held fast by the surface tension of the water film covering the nematode. When the loop is contracted, the body becomes contorted so that the cuticle kinks.\n\nThis extreme bending generates and stores sufficient energy that when the surface-tension force is broken the nematode is propelled through the air. The nematode (0.558 mm in length) can jump a distance of 4.8 ± 0.8 mm (mean ± SEM) and a height of 3.9 ± 0.1 mm. The contribution of jumping to host finding varies among species and is related to the foraging strategy used by each species.”"}, {"Source": "flesh-eating bacteria's protein", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "bind to human cells", "Function2": "stabilize 3d structure", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/protein-binds/", "Strategy": "Protein Binds\n\nA protein in the flesh-eating bacteria binds to human cells to allow invasion by having a 3D structure stabilized by an additional covalent bond.\n“While many people carry Streptococcus pyogenes in their throat without any problems, the bacteria can cause infections. Some are mild, like impetigo in infants or a sore throat, but some can kill, like toxic shock syndrome or flesh-eating disease.\n\n“What attracted the biochemists’ [Mark Howarth and Bijan Zakeri from Oxford University] interest was a specific protein which the bacteria use to bind and invade human cells.\n\n“‘The protein is special because it naturally reacts with itself and forms a lock,’ says Mark.\n\n“All proteins consist of amino acids linked together into long chains by strong covalent bonds. The long chains are folded and looped up into three-dimensional structures held together by weaker links and associations.\n\n“The protein FbaB from S. pyogenes has a 3D structure that is stabilised by another covalent bond. This strong chemical bond forms in an instant and binds the loops of the amino acid chain together with exceptional strength.”"}, {"Source": "pelicans", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "adjust their spacing", "Function2": "minimize wind resistance", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/group-minimizes-wind-resistance/", "Strategy": "Group Minimizes Wind Resistance\n\nPelicans flying in groups adjust their spacing to minimize wind resistance.\n“Then, as they bend their flight in the direction of their quest, one or two pelicans at one end of their formation will bump up, bounced higher by the spinning air column. Those birds will dip their wingtip away from the rest of the formation and roll toward the rising impetus. The other birds follow along in trail, pealing off one behind the next, the entire group rolling into the rising thermal and closing together to conform to the narrow cylinder of spinning wind at the center.\n\nAs they spiral higher, the air cushioning their ascent chills around them, expanding with the height. Near the apex of the rising column the birds feel an abrupt loss of buoyancy where the vertical currents flare apart like the bell of an upturned trumpet. Still, the birds stay with the spiral bloom of wind for a final half turn, until they are pointed once again toward their chosen destination–a pass through the mountains just now coming visible on the far horizon. Finally, they drop off the top of the virtual carousel and fall behind one another. They adjust their spacing to minimize the wind resistance by riding close behind each other. Buoyed by the central updrafts of floating ring vortices, the pelicans can glide in a gentle descent across hundreds of miles of terrain each day.”"}, {"Source": "fruit fly", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "recover flight path", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/flight-path-maintained/", "Strategy": "Flight Path Maintained\n\nFruit flies recover their flight path after wind gusts and other disturbances with an automatic stabilizer reflex.\n“Observing the aerial maneuvers of fruit flies, Cornell University researchers have uncovered how the insects — when disturbed by sharp gusts of wind — right themselves and stay on course. Fruit flies use an automatic stabilizer reflex that helps them recover with precision from midflight stumbles…”"}, {"Source": "skimmer bird's bill", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "decrease drag", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/bill-reduces-drag/", "Strategy": "Bill Reduces Drag\n\nThe bill of a skimmer bird reduces drag because it is laterally flattened.\n“To compensate for the wear caused by friction with the water, the skimmer’s lower mandible grows faster than the upper one, and in adult birds it is usually longer. The bill is laterally flattened, which reduces drag to a minimum.” "}, {"Source": "cheese plant's roots", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "climb host trunks", "Function2": "cling to any tiny rugosity", "Function3": "hook themselves on to any support", "Function4": "wrap around the trunk", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/stem-sends-out-climbing-gear/", "Strategy": "Stem Sends Out Climbing Gear\n\nRoots of the cheese plant help it climb host trunks by issuing from nodes on the stem and wrapping around the trunk.\n“Almost every element of plant anatomy, it seems, can be turned into some kind of climbing device. The cheese plant climbs with its roots, sending them out from its nodes, the places on its stem from which leaves normally spring, and wrapping them around the trunk of its host. European ivy sprouts roots all along the underside of its stems. They are so thin that they can cling to any tiny rugosity. Honeysuckle uses its own stem, winding it around the thicker stem of others. The glory lilies of tropical Africa and Asia have elongated the tips of their leaves into little mobile wires with which they hook themselves on to any support they can find.”"}, {"Source": "flame lilies", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "climb with curly leaf", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/leaves-modified-for-climbing/", "Strategy": "Curly Leaf Tips Help Lilies Climb\n\nLong, curling points at the ends of leaves give flame lilies a leg up as they reach for the sun.\n“Almost every element of plant anatomy, it seems, can be turned into some kind of climbing device. The cheese plant climbs with its roots, sending them out from its nodes, the places on its stem from which leaves normally spring, and wrapping them around the trunk of its host. European ivy sprouts roots all along the underside of its stems. They are so thin that they can cling to any tiny rugosity. Honeysuckle uses its own stem, winding it around the thicker stem of others. The glory lilies of tropical Africa and Asia have elongated the tips of their leaves into little mobile wires with which they hook themselves on to any support they can find.”"}, {"Source": "lamprey's jawless mouth", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "attach to prey", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/suction-used-to-attach-to-prey/", "Strategy": "Suction Used to Attach to Prey\n\nThe jawless mouth of a lamprey attaches to prey using suction.\n“The lamprey uses a sucker-like jawless mouth to cling to the trout, and has a vicious abrasive tongue with which to gorge a hole in its host’s body. There it laps up the body fluids oozing from the wound.”"}, {"Source": "echinoderm tube feet", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "attach to surface", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/tube-feet-attach-in-marine-environment/", "Strategy": "Tube Feet Attach in Marine Environment\n\nThe tube feet of echinoderms attach to surfaces via suction adhesion.\n“Besides mollusks, echinoderm tube feet make use of suction adhesion, as do a wide variety of other aquatic systems–either as the only attachment mechanism or in combination with others. Among terrestrial systems one thinks first of wet ones–frogs for instance. But the mechanism finds use even in arboreal mammals.”"}, {"Source": "cone snail's teeth", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "attack prey", "Function2": "release nerve poison", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/poisonous-tooth-shoots-into-prey/", "Strategy": "Poisonous Tooth Shoots Into Prey\n\nThe teeth of cone nails are used to attack prey, detaching and shooting like a harpoon, releasing nerve poison into their victim.\n“A cone shell’s attractive yellow and black coloration should be taken as a warning: this is one of the most poisonous shellfish in the world. A bite from the hollow teeth of its radula can inject enough venom to kill a man. The tooth is detached and shot into the prey like a harpoon, armed with a powerful nerve poison.”"}, {"Source": "polyxenid millipede's caudal tufts", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "immobilize predators", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/detachable-bristles-immobilize-ants/", "Strategy": "Detachable Bristles Immobilize Ants\n\nCaudal tufts of bristles on the Polyxenid millipede immobilize predators (ants) because the detachable bristles have grappling hooks on the end and barbs along the shaft that promote entangling.\n“Unlike most millipedes, whose body surface is smooth, P. fasciculatus is densely beset with bristles. These are neatly arranged in transverse rows along the back, and in sets of flower-like clusters along the flanks. Projecting from the rear and glistening conspicuously in the light was a tuft of bristles much finer than those on the body. There appeared to be something special about that tuft, in that the animal seemed to make use of it when provoked…the polyxenid’s caudal tuft is really a pair of tufts, which the animal usually holds closely appressed. The tufts’ bristles are slender, and consist individually of a shaft densely beset with barbs and a tip fashioned as a grappling hook. The bristles are loosely anchored. Give them the slightest tug and they detach.”\n\nThe authors then exposed ants to the millipedes and watched as the millipede swiped the tufts on the ants. The grappling hooks fastened to the ants’ hairs and thoroughly entangled them.\n\n“The bristle tips are the functional units that ensure that the bristles become anchored to the ant. As grappling hooks they become fastened to the hairs (setae) that project from the ant’s surface, with the result that the bristles are then torn from the tufts. Also of importance are the barbs that project from the bristle shafts, for these act as hooks by which the bristles become cross-linked. Fastened to one another, the detached bristles form a loose meshwork by which the ant is muzzled and its legs are strung together. The ant is literally tied up.” "}, {"Source": "shortfin mako shark's body", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "fast, efficient swimming", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/body-designed-for-fast-efficient-swimming/", "Strategy": "Body Designed for Fast, Efficient Swimming\n\nThe bodies of shortfin mako sharks and some tuna are designed for fast, efficient swimming thanks to internalized red muscle associated with a force-transmission system.\n“Through distinct evolutionary pathways lamnid sharks and tunas have converged on the same mechanical design principle, that of having internalized red muscle associated with a highly derived force-transmission system, two features that form the basis for their thunniform swimming mode. Our study shows that not only have the physical demands of the external environment sculpted the body shapes of large pelagic cruisers, but also the internal physiology and morphology of their complex locomotor systems has been finetuned over the course of their evolution.”"}, {"Source": "shark's tail", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "create double jets", "Function2": "change the tail's rigidity", "Function3": "smooth out the thrust", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/tail-creates-double-jets/", "Strategy": "Tail Creates Double Jets\n\nTail of a shark creates double jets by actively changing the tail's rigidity in mid swing.\n“Researchers have discovered that as a shark’s tail swings from side to side, it creates twice as many jets of water as other fishes’ tails, smoothing out the thrust and likely making swimming more efficient. Sharks do this by stiffening the tail midswing, a strategy that might one day be applied to underwater vehicles to improve their performance.”"}, {"Source": "marine salp", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "move through water", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/jet-propulsion-as-transportation-mechanism/", "Strategy": "Jet Propulsion As Transportation Mechanism\n\nMarine salps move through water by drawing in water through one end of their bodies and forcing it out through the opposite end, a technique known as jet propulsion.\n“Also called thaliaceans, salps are small free-swimming marine creatures with gelatinous, semitransparent bodies that move around by means of jet propulsion, drawing in water through an aperture at one end of the body, and then forcing it out through another aperture at the opposite end. The water drawn in is also used for feeding, because while inside the body it is strained through a baglike net of mucus, which traps any tiny algae present. The salp feeds on the algae.” "}, {"Source": "bushcricket's footpad", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "walk on smooth vertical surfaces", "Function2": "achieve maximum contact", "Function3": "walk upside down", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/footpads-stick-to-vertical-surfaces/", "Strategy": "Footpads Stick to Vertical Surfaces\n\nPads on bushcricket feet stick to vertical surfaces due to angled rods and a secreted viscous fluid.\n“Like the gecko, the great green bushcricket (Tettigonia viridissima) is endowed with ‘sticky’ feet. It can walk on smooth vertical surfaces, and even upside down, with no trouble. Unlike the gecko, the bushcricket has smooth footpads. It relies not on van der Waals forces between the footpad and the substrate, but on design of the footpad itself. The cuticle of an insect’s footpad is comprised of the soft material found just below the exoskeleton elsewhere in the body. In the bushcricket, this soft material covers another cuticle layer: a thicket of fine, branching rods that slope forwards at an angle of around 60 degrees. As the foot presses down, the rods bend and the pad molds itself around the irregular surface below, achieving the maximum contact. As a final adhesive measure, the bushcricket secretes a viscous fluid onto its pads. It actually leaves footprints when it walks. This design has an advantage over the hairy-sole system used by geckos in that the bushcricket can easily lift its legs. It does not need to ‘peel’ its feet off the substrate.”"}, {"Source": "honeysuckle's stem", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "help climbing", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/stem-used-for-climbing/", "Strategy": "Stem Used for Climbing\n\nThe stems of honeysuckles help them climb by winding around the thicker stems of plants competing for the same light.\n“Almost every element of plant anatomy, it seems, can be turned into some kind of climbing device. The cheese plant climbs with its roots, sending them out from its nodes, the places on its stem from which leaves normally spring, and wrapping them around the trunk of its host. European ivy sprouts roots all along the underside of its stems. They are so thin that they can cling to any tiny rugosity. Honeysuckle uses its own stem, winding it around the thicker stem of others. The glory lilies of tropical Africa and Asia have elongated the tips of their leaves into little mobile wires with which they hook themselves on to any support they can find.”"}, {"Source": "mount lyell salamander's body", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "roll over the slope", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/rolling-locomotion-used-for-hilly-terrain/", "Strategy": "Rolling Locomotion Used for Hilly Terrain\n\nThe body of the Mount Lyell salamander is protected from impacts by acting rubbery.\n\n“On the steep slopes of California’s Sierra Nevada mountain range, the Mount Lyell salamander achieves a similar rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle. When disturbed, or when it needs to descend, the amphibian curls its head under its back legs, wraps its tail along its body, and tucks its legs in. It not only looks like a black tire, it behaves like one. Rolling over and over, it bowls down any slope with ease, its rubbery body absorbing the impact of bounces.”"}, {"Source": "anisoptera tree seed", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "spin when released", "Function2": "travel far", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/seeds-dispersed-over-long-distances/", "Strategy": "Seeds Dispersed Over Long Distances\n\nThe two spear-shaped wings of Anisoptera tree seeds enable long-distance dispersal because they are asymmetrical.\n“Anisoptera, one of the tallest of the trees in the same Asiatic forests, also has two wings, but they are spear-shaped and curve upwards and outwards. As its name suggests, they are also unequal in length. This asymmetry causes them to spin when they are released, and the seed resembles a tiny whirling helicopter, which may travel even further than a double-winged glider.” "}, {"Source": "blackfly larva's leg", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "anchor to silk pad", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/hooks-aid-underwater-attachment/", "Strategy": "Hooks Aid Underwater Attachment\n\nThe legs of blackfly larvae anchor them to silk pads attached to the substrate via numerous hooks.\n“Blackfly larvae, even when very small, produce large amounts of silk which serves several purposes. First, silk is used for anchorage and explains the extraordinary capacity of blackfly larvae to remain attached or move in fast-flowing microhabitats. The larvae have numerous hooks, arranged in characteristic rows, encircling the tips of the anterior (thoracic) and abdominal prolegs. These help larvae to anchor firmly onto silk pads attached to the substrate. In species dwelling in particularly fast flow, the number of hooks on the abdominal proleg may exceed 8000, compared to only 500 in species living at slow velocity.”"}, {"Source": "mousebird's low-energy perching", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "perch without energy use", "Function2": "engage anatomical locking device", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/low-energy-perching/", "Strategy": "Low‑energy Perching\n\nMousebirds are able to perch without energy use thanks to an anatomical locking device.\n“Mousebirds have an unusual perching manner in which they hang with their abdomen down between their legs and their feet at the upper thorax. They generally use their tails or lower abdomen to prop themselves against a small branch or another mousebird. When suspended like this, they can engage an anatomical device similar to that of chiropterans that permits them to perch without additional energy expenditure.”"}, {"Source": "bucket orchid", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "capture pollen", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/orchids-capture-pollen/", "Strategy": "Orchids Capture Pollen\n\nBucket orchids complete their complicated pollination process by snagging pollen bundles from carrier bees with an internal hook.\nEach of twenty or so species of bucket orchid that grows in Central America is pollinated by a unique species of male bee. In the final step of an elaborate process of pollination, a bee carrying two lumps of coagulated pollen, called the pollinia, struggles through a tight tunnel inside the orchid. As it does so, a hook on the roof of the tunnel latches onto the pollinia and removes them."}, {"Source": "coddling moth's egg", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "attach eggs", "Function2": "concealment", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/eggs-glued-to-leaves/", "Strategy": "Eggs Glued to Leaves\n\nThe coddling moth attaches its eggs to leaves using glue.\n\n“A European moth that is a serious pest in orchards, lays its eggs in spirals glued together around the twigs of fruit trees. When they hatch, the young caterpillars, while sustaining themselves by eating the leaves immediately around them, spin a large silken shroud around the branch so big that it can accommodate them all. They spend the day within it, concealed from the sight of hungry predatory birds. But when night comes they set out in long columns to demolish more leaves.\n\n“After they have eaten everything in their immediate neighbourhood, a single scout sets out to prospect for more. As it explores new parts of the tree, it lays down behind it a trail of scent that exudes from glands on its rear end. This enables it to find its way back to shelter before dawn. The next night, its companions inspect the trail. If it has a single track, as might happen if the caterpillar was taken in the night by some hunter, they will ignore it. But if there is a double track, indicating that the scout returned and if, furthermore, its smell indicates that the scout had a good meal, then the whole colony of several hundred will set off in procession to strip the leaves from yet another part of the fruit tree.” "}, {"Source": "remora's sucker-like structure", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "attach to sharks", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/sucker-like-structure-used-to-attach/", "Strategy": "Sucker‑like Structure Used to Attach\n\nA sucker-like structure on top of the head of a remora allows it to attach to sharks by creating a partial vacuum.\n“The remora is a relative of the perch which habitually attaches itself to the belly of a shark using a specialized, corrugated, suckerlike structure on top of its head; this in fact develops from its dorsal fin. The remora is thus carried like a hitchhiker as the shark swims through the sea.”"}, {"Source": "moth", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "avoid predation", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/abrupt-flight-patterns-help-evade-predators/", "Strategy": "Abrupt Flight Patterns Help Evade Predators\n\nMoths detect bat calls and avoid predation using sudden drops and weaving flight patterns.\n“Many species of moth can hear bats coming by listening in to their ultrasonic echolocation calls. They can therefore escape before being caught. Once the bat is within approximately 20 feet (6m), moths take abrupt evasive action, either by folding up their wings and dropping down out of the bat’s flight path, or by embarking on a random, weaving flight that the bat cannot follow.”"}, {"Source": "harlequin beetle's belly", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "retain a toehold", "Function2": "fight for mating privileges", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/multitasking-on-the-move/", "Strategy": "Multitasking on the Move\n\nOne species of pseudoscorpion fights for mating privileges while emigrating to a new tree on a harlequin beetle.\n“A beetle’s belly may seem an unlikely place for a sexual playground, but that is precisely what it is for the pseudoscorpions of Central and South America. These creatures make their homes in the wood of decaying fig trees. They travel to fresh trees by hitching a ride under the wings of a giant harlequin beetle. But a free ride is by no means all that pseudoscorpions get from their beetle host. In flight, they use the beetles as a mobile mating ground, pursuing the objects of their desire back and forth across the beetle’s abdomen.\n\n“David Zeh and Jeanne Zeh of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama have studied this peculiar relationship between beetle and pseudoscorpion (Cordylochernes scorpioides). They discovered that as harlequin beetles (Acrocinus longimanus) emerge from the rotting wood of fig trees, they attract scores of pseudoscorpions eager to be flown to newly rotting trees (Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, vol 30, p 135). ‘Both males and females compete to board the beetles,’ say the researchers.\n\n“Most of the emigrating females are sexually receptive, so males are intensely keen to retain a toehold on the beetle’s belly. As the beetle flies towards its destination, in search of mates or trees suitable for egg-laying, the male scorpions on its belly fight among themselves to establish ‘mobile mating territories’. The bigger males fare best in the competition, shoving smaller males off the beetles before mating, say the Zehs.”"}, {"Source": "dragonfly larva's water jet", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "lunge forward", "Function2": "squirt water", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/lunging-after-prey/", "Strategy": "Predatory Larva Uses Water Jet for Rapid Strike\n\nThe larvae of dragonflies squirt water out their anuses to lunge forward after prey thanks to hydraulic linkages.\n“Hydraulic linkages occur in a wide variety of biological systems…In addition, one can point to the predatory strike of dragonfly larvae, which lunge forward by squirting water out their anuses (Tanaka and Hisada 1980)…”"}, {"Source": "roridula plant's leaf hair", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "capture insect prey", "Function2": "entangle insect", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/sticky-hairs-capture-insects/", "Strategy": "Sticky Hairs Capture Insects\n\nSticky secretions from leaf hairs of Roridula plants help capture insect prey via a multi-step adhesive capture process.\n“Curious to find out exactly how R. gorgonias leaves ensnare their prey, Dagmar Voigt and Elena and Stanislav Gorb from the Max Planck Institute for Metals Research and Kiel University, Germany, decided to take a closer look at the hierarchy of hairs on R. gorgonias leaves…Voigt and her colleagues suspect that hapless insects fall foul of the plant’s sticky leaves in a cascade of events. First, the insect brushes against, and sticks to, a long hair. As it begins to thrash around, it contacts more of the long hairs, becoming entangled in their sticky secretions. Next, it contacts the stiffer medium length hairs with intermediate strength adhesive and is finally trapped by the rigid short hairs with the strongest glue. Eventually the struggling insect runs out of energy and is immobilised.”"}, {"Source": "marine slime mold", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "glide", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/communal-slime-ways-used-to-glide/", "Strategy": "Communal Slime‑ways Used to Glide\n\nAt least one marine slime mold glides around using communal membrane-bound slime trails.\n“A variety of microscopic algae (diatoms, desmids, and others) engage in gliding motion across surfaces; the motion is usually associated with the secretion of slime, but the source of the shearing force between organism and substratum is unclear; it’s certainly different from any of the mechanisms we’ve considered so far (Halfen 1979; Melkonian 1992). Leaving a slime trail may push up the cost of transport, as the work on slug locomotion suggests.\n\n“One kind of marine slime mold, Labyrinthula, restricts its slime to communal membrane-bound ‘slime ways,’ through which its autonomous cells glide (Dusenberry 1996). The engine involves interactions between the same two proteins, actin and myosin, as does that of muscle.”"}, {"Source": "desert creatures' feet", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "move on loose sand", "Function2": "braking mechanism", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/hairy-footpads-aid-walking-on-loose-sand/", "Strategy": "Hairy Footpads Aid Walking on Loose Sand\n\nHairy pads or bristles on the feet of desert creatures help them move on loose sand by providing a braking mechanism as the feet push backwards.\n“Soles equipped with bristles or hairy pads are also suitable for locomotion over loose sand. Many desert and steppe dwellers walk on such soft and comfortable soles; notable examples are the tarsiers, Tenebrionidae (darkling beetles) and Asilidae, the Eligmodontia mouse, the sand cat, and the fennec fox.”"}, {"Source": "male bee's head", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "descend from the top of the flower", "Function2": "glue pollen to bee's head", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/pollen-fastens-to-a-bees-head/", "Strategy": "Pollen Fastens to a Bee's Head\n\nThe column of some orchids descends from the top of the flower when a male bee lands and deposits pollinia on its head.\n\nWith European orchids, “If and when a male bee finds the flower, he settles upon the lip, grasping it in exactly the same way as he grasps a female bee, and tries to copulate, thrusting the tip of his abdomen into the fringe of long hairs at the end of the lip. He fails, of course, but in the process, a curved column that houses both male and female organs, descends from the top of the orchid and glues a pair of pollinia to his head. If the next orchid he visits has already despatched its pollinia, then the column will pick up the one he carries and the orchid is fertilised.” "}, {"Source": "spookfish's eyes", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "increase photosensitivity", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/special-eyes-increase-photosensitivity/", "Strategy": "Special Eyes Increase Photosensitivity\n\nThe eyes of spookfish increase photosensitivity in deep water via accessory eyes.\n\n“The six-eyed spookfish (Bathylychnops exilis) has an optical system that is unique in the animal kingdom. Unknown to scientists until as recently as 1958, and dwelling at depths of 330-3280 feet (100-1000 m), this slender pike-like fish has paired, downward-pointing, spherical organs housed within the lower half of its large eyes. These were once believed to be light-producing organs – bioluminescence is a common phenomenon among deep-sea fishes. Closer examination, however, exposed their much more extraordinary, true identity. In reality, these organs, now referred to as secondary globes, are accessory eyes. Each of these globes possesses its own lens and retina and probably serves to increase the spookfish’s sensitivity to light (photosensitivity) within its dimly lit undersea realm.\n\n“But this is not the only anomaly of its optical system. Scientists subsequently unfurled a further surprise associated with the fish’s accessory eyes. Behind them is a third set of ‘eyes,’ even tinier than the secondary globes, but less sophisticated. These ‘eyes’ lack retinae. Instead, they serve merely to direct incoming light into the spookfish’s principal pair of eyes, thereby enhancing these latter organs’ powers of vision.”"}, {"Source": "mayfly larva's body", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "decrease lift", "Function2": "increase drag", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/shield-and-spoilers-decrease-lift-in-water/", "Strategy": "Shield and Spoilers Decrease Lift in Water\n\nBody of Ecdyonurus (mayfly) larvae decreases lift in flowing water by having a lowered head shield position and using its lower leg segments (femora) as spoilers.\n“Not only does flow separate above a flattened animal, but it is also much more complex than was first thought. Flow separation reduces lift, but at a cost of increased drag which, however, is a price that may well be worth paying to stay attached. For the heptageniid larvae, certain features of its body design may in fact lead to negative lift in flowing water. This is accomplished by lowering its head shield and by using its femora as spoilers.”"}, {"Source": "springtail's abdominal tail-like appendage", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "cause high jumps", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/appendage-causes-high-jumps/", "Strategy": "Appendage Causes High Jumps\n\nThe abdominal, tail-like appendage of springtails (furcula) is a pronged fork device causing high jumps when stored tension is released.\nSpringtails “possess a pronged fork device which is doubled beneath the body and held in place by terminal catches when not in use; when released under tension, the fork strikes the substrate with considerable force, sending the springtail spinning high into the air.”"}, {"Source": "camel spider's suctorial organs", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "catch prey", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/organs-serve-multiple-adhesive-functions/", "Strategy": "Organs Serve Multiple Adhesive Functions\n\nSuctorial organs at the tips of special appendages on camel spiders serve multiple adhesive functions, including prey capture, via dry adhesion.\n“Camel spiders have evolved a unique way to capture their insect prey.\n\n“The arachnids catch insects by sticking to them, using adhesive patches on the ends of their pedipalps, tube-like organs on either side of their mouth…\n\n“Some camel spiders are known to be able to use these organs to stick to, and climb, vertical surfaces such as walls, although it is unlikely they climb much in the wild, where they tend to cover sand and prefer to hide under rocks.\n\n“Anecdotal observations have also suggested that they strike at or try to grasp prey with their mouthparts, but the action happens too fast to be certain about how they capture their victims.\n\n“So Dr Rodrigo Willemart of the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, US and colleagues based in Ireland and the UK decided to use high speed video to record the action.”"}, {"Source": "microbes", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "attach to target cells", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/receptors-adhere-selectively/", "Strategy": "Receptors Adhere Selectively\n\nMicrobes attach to target cells via site-specific receptors.\nIn humans, unique molecules are present on cell surfaces and are used for everyday cellular processes and communication. To cause disease, microbes can recognize many of these molecules, and use them to attach to the cells they want to invade or colonize.\n\nThe above video depicts microorganisms attaching to a cell surface. As the immune system functions, Y-shaped antibodies may also attach to the microbial receptors, targeting them for destruction by immune cells.\n\n"}, {"Source": "cephalotini ant's body", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "glide and steer through the air", "Function2": "long, flattened legs", "Function3": "flanged head", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/body-parts-used-to-glide-and-steer/", "Strategy": "Body Parts Used to Glide and Steer\n\nThe bodies of some Cephalotini ants enable them to glide and steer through the air when falling thanks to long, flattened legs and flanged heads that may act as a rudder.\n“Researchers from the Univ. of California at Berkeley, Univ. of Texas Medical Branch, and Univ. of Oklahoma Norman have discovered that some ants can glide through the air, even though they lack wings. So far, they’ve found some form of gliding in 25 species representing five separate genera. It is the norm in only two groups, however: the Cephalotini tribe, which includes Cephalotes atratus, and the arboreal Pseudomyrmecinae ants. The ants drop at a relatively fast velocity, turn 180 degrees in mid-air, and glide back to the tree trunk rear-end first, where they grab on. If they miss, they can do it again. What allows the ants to change direction so quickly is still a mystery. They have long, slightly flattened hind legs which, when combined with abdominal movements, might allow the ants to reorient in midair. They also have an unusual flattened head with flanges that could act as a rudder, Dudley said. ‘My guess is that, by gliding backwards and using their legs and also their flat head with flanges, they could steer,’ according to Stephen P. Yanoviak of UTMB who discovered them while conducting research in Peru, though more studies are needed before the question can be answered.”"}, {"Source": "hard tick", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "detect ruminant hosts", "Function2": "attract to cud", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/receptors-detect-ruminant-hosts/", "Strategy": "Receptors Detect Ruminant Hosts\n\nSome hard tick species detect ruminant hosts via olfactory receptor cells for the carboxylic acid, phenol and indole endproducts they expel.\n“Hard ticks spend most of their life isolated from passing vertebrates but require a blood meal to proceed to the next life stage (larva, nymph or adult). These opportunist ectoparasites must be capable of anticipating signals that render suitable hosts apparent. Large ungulates that tolerate a high ectoparasite burden are the favoured hosts of adult hard ticks. Ruminants, comprising the majority of ungulate species, must regularly eruct gases from the foregut to relieve excess pressure and maintain a chemical equilibrium. Through eructations from individuals, and particularly herds, ruminants inadvertently signal their presence to hard ticks. Here, we report that all adult hard tick species we tested are attracted to cud and demonstrate that these acarines possess olfactory receptor cells for the carboxylic acid, phenol and indole endproducts of the rumen bioreactor. Compounds from each of these classes of volatiles attract ticks on their own, and mixtures of these volatiles based on rumen composition also attract. Appetence for rumen metabolites represents a fundamental resource-tracking adaptation by hard ticks for large roaming mammals.”"}, {"Source": "weaver ant's larva", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "generate silk", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/squeezing-larvae-provides-glue/", "Strategy": "Squeezing Larvae Provides Glue\n\nWeaver ants glue their nests together using silk squeezed from their larvae.\n“Another insect tool user is the weaver ant (Oecophylla smaragdina), which makes nests by rolling up leaves and then gluing the sides together with silk. Although it is the adult ants that do this, only the larvae produce silk, so how is the process of leaf gluing achieved? In fact, the adults carry larvae in their jaws and squeeze them gently so that the larvae secrete a drop of silk on one end of the leaf edges. The ants then carry the larvae along the entire length of the leaf edges, squeezing as they go, using the larvae like living bottles of glue, until the edges of the leaves are stuck together from end to end.”"}, {"Source": "palm leaf beetle's feet", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "prevent capture", "Function2": "avoid predation", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/foot-adhesion-prevents-capture/", "Strategy": "Foot Adhesion Prevents Capture\n\nThe feet of the palm leaf beetle protect it from predation by capillarity-based adhesion.\nThe author noticed that when he tried to pick this beetle off of a palmetto leaf, he had to exert considerable force to pry them loose. “What the beetle does have on its feet is bristles, thousands of bristles, sticking out from the sole of each foot–the ventral tarsal surface–like hairs on a brush. Bristles are a common feature of beetle tarsi generally, but I had never seen them in such quantity per foot…Each tarsus was subdivided into three bristle-bearing subsegments, called tarsomeres. We counted the bristles and found that there were about 10,000 per tarsus, making a total of 60,000 per beetle. Each bristle was forked at the tip, which means, if we assumed the bristle endings to be the contact points with the substrate, that the beetles had the option of relying on 120,000 such points…The bristle endings of H. cyanea did indeed turn out to be padlike, and they were wetted…We now know that fluid is an oil, consisting of a mixture of long-chain hydrocarbons (specifically C22 to C29 n-alkanes and n-alkenes). An oil is ideally suited to secure adhesion to a leaf, since the outermost surface of leaves is waxy (palmetto fronds are no exception), and waxes make good contact with hydrocarbons.”"}, {"Source": "green mussel's byssus thread", "Application": "adhesive", "Function1": "attach to wet, solid surface", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/proteins-help-organisms-adhere-to-wet-surfaces/", "Strategy": "Proteins Help Organisms\nAdhere to Wet Surfaces\n\nByssus threads of the green mussel attach to a wet, solid surface due to glycosylated hydroxytryptophan in one of its adhesive proteins.\nSome mussels adhere to rocks and other ocean substrates using a protein that contains an amino acid called Dopa (3,4-dihydroxyphenyl-L-alanine). However, the invasive green mussel, Perna viridis, has a more complcated adhesive chemistry based on a protein with an elaborate modification of the amino acid tryptophan.\n\nThe stickiness of the green mussel’s foot, especially how it works in wet environments could be mimicked to form new adhesives, including use for teeth, bones, and for repairing ships at sea that have developed cracks."}, {"Source": "helical spiroplasma bacteria", "Application": "micromachines", "Function1": "fast, efficient swimming", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/corkscrew-swimming-is-efficient/", "Strategy": "Corkscrew Swimming Is Efficient\n\nHelical spiroplasma bacteria swim efficiently in a micro scale medium by moving their body in a corkscrew motion.\n“The ‘kinky’ motion of a primitive spiral-shaped bacterium swimming could help design efficient micromachines, suggests a new modelling study.\n\n“The motion of Spiroplasma swimming through fluid by sending kinks down its body has been described perfectly by a new computer model by physicists in Germany. They believe their results could be important for one day designing micromachines that might be used for microscale manufacturing or for medical procedures.\n\n“The bacterium moves through water rather like a corkscrew in a cork of a wine bottle, reveal calculations by Netz and Hirofumi Wada also of the Technical University Munich. Such a swimming style only makes sense on the micro scale because if scaled up, Spiroplasma would be much less efficient than bacteria with flagella, since most of its swimming energy would be wasted in friction.\n\n“On the micro scale, however, Spiroplasma‘s helical shape seems to be optimised for fast swimming and for efficiently converting energy into motion. It moves by sending a pair of kinks down its body as it switches its body from a right-handed spiral to a left-handed one, and vice versa. The net effect is a zig-zagging forward motion.”"}, {"Source": "spittle bug's hind legs", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "jump high", "Function2": "accelerate rapidly", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/legs-power-high-jumps/", "Strategy": "Legs Power High Jumps\n\nThe hind legs of spittle bugs help them jump high and accelerate rapidly using energy stored in an elastic protein called resilin.\n“British researchers say experiments show the spittle bug — a tiny, green insect that sucks the juice from alfalfa and clover — can leap more than 2 feet in the air. That’s more than twice as high as the flea, and equivalent to a man jumping over the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, scientists said. ‘We’ve all been brought up on fleas as being the best performers. It turns out that, really, they’re not,’ said Malcolm Burrows, a zoologist at the University of Cambridge and the study’s lead researcher…Burrows said the finding is remarkable because the 6-millimeter-long spittle bug — about the size of a pencil eraser — is bigger and heavier than the bloodsucking flea, yet still able to outjump its tiny rival by accelerating faster. The spittle bug reaches its heights by unleashing the large amount of stored energy in its muscular hind legs. When it is not jumping, it uses its smaller forelegs to move around while dragging its hind legs, which are constantly poised for liftoff. During takeoff, the spittle bug accelerates at more than 400 times the force of gravity, versus 135 times for a flea.”"}, {"Source": "parasitic wasp's wing", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "create lift", "Function2": "project vortex ring", "Function3": "concentrate jet", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/vortex-provides-lift/", "Strategy": "Vortex Provides Lift\n\nThe wings of one parasitic wasp generate lift by clapping together at the top of a stroke and then peeling off, creating a vortex that provides lift.\n“As an example, some types of small parasites, Encarsia, make use of a method called ‘clap and peel.’ In this method, the wings are clapped together at the top of the stroke and then peeled off. The front edges of the wings, where a hard vein is located, separate first, allowing airflow into the pressurised area in between. This flow creates a vortex helping the up-lift force of the wings clapping.”\n\nIn a flight mechanism called the clap and peel, “the wings clap together and peel apart serially from the leading to the trailing edge. The near-clap and partial peel differs in that the wings approach each other at the top of the stroke, but do not clap together.\n\n“The clap and peel is characteristic of many insects with particularly broad wings, and has been recognized in some mantids and Orthoptera, Phasmida, chrysopid Neuroptera, and butterflies. The radiating veins and flexible cross-veins of the vannus of orthopteroids and dictyopteroids seem particularly to favor the peel, and also the partial peel. The relative breadth of the thorax may principally determine which of the two techniques is adopted: a broad thorax may effectively prevent a full clap.\n\n“The clap itself appears to project a vortex ring, corresponding to a jet of air, and the broad wings of some butterflies at least seem to concentrate this jet by forming a hollow tunnel at the top of the upstroke.”"}, {"Source": "earthworm", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "burrow efficiently", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/small-structures-burrow-efficiently/", "Strategy": "Small Structures Burrow Efficiently\n\nSmaller earthworms exert more force relative to body mass because of the scaling limitations governing hydrostatic structures, thus allowing them to burrow more efficiently.\n“From the work of Quillin (2000), we have some information on the forces that earthworms can exert against the walls of their burrows. The worms push hard, with radial forces running about seven times the anchoring forces involved in crawling in preexisting burrows or in resisting extraction by a robin. We noted that if membrane thickness remains constant, tolerable pressure (still assuming constant breaking stress) will vary inversely with radius. Pressure, of course, is force divided by area, and thus is proportional to force divided by radius and cylinder length. So outward force per unit body length should be independent of size or, put in the usual terms, it should scale with body mass to the zero power–F [is proportional to] Mb0.4. If, by contrast, membrane thickness scales with radius, then tolerable pressure remains constant. That implies that outward force should vary directly with radius or with body mass to the one-third–F [is proportional to] Mb0.33.\n\n“So what does happen? For earthworms ranging from 0.01 to 8 grams, Quillin found that F [is proportional to] Mb0.4, reasonably close to the assumptions of a thickness proportional to radius and constant material strength. The bigger is the more forceful, but more closely proportional to diameter than to mass, so relative to mass, big worms are wimps. Earthworm hatchlings can push at a monumental 500 times their weight; large adults can push at (only) a still impressive ten times their weight.”"}, {"Source": "jellyfish", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "deliver deadly toxins", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/toxins-protect-from-predators/", "Strategy": "Toxins Protect From Predators\n\nJellyfish deliver deadly toxins to enemies and prey via special stinging cells, called nematocysts.\n“Only coelenterates, such as jellyfish, know how to make certain special stinging cells, their nematocysts. Contact with a big coelenterate (the Portuguese man-of-war is especially vicious) is extremely unpleasant for a person and often fatal for a fish.”"}, {"Source": "spines of blackberries", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "catch on the ground", "Function2": "snag on vegetation", "Function3": "clamber over logs", "Function4": "hook onto other plants", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/adhering-to-multiple-substrates/", "Strategy": "Adhering to Multiple Substrates\n\nSpines of blackberries adhere to multiple substrates by having a sharp, backward-pointed structure.\n“One of the most mobile of plants…is the blackberry. An individual, once established, immediately starts to seek new territory for itself. It puts out exploratory stems…They begin to advance directly and purposefully…Each stem is armed with sharp backward-pointing spines which catch on the ground and snag on vegetation. They clamber over logs and up the faces of rocks. They reach up, hook onto the stems of other plants and scramble over them, overwhelming them.”"}, {"Source": "velvet worms' two nozzles", "Application": "adhesive", "Function1": "ensnare prey", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/adhesive-glues-prey/", "Strategy": "Adhesive Glues Prey\n\nTwo nozzles next to the mouth of velvet worms help ensnare prey via an ejectable adhesive liquid that dries in seconds.\n“They shoot at prey with an adhesive liquid ejected by two nozzles next to the mouth. The nozzles move from side to side as they fire, causing the stream of glue to crisscross in a lasso-like motion. The glue travels nearly 3 feet (1 m) and dries in seconds, ensnaring the prey in multiple strands.”"}, {"Source": "insect's legs", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "stop without falling over", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/multiple-legs-allow-sudden-stops/", "Strategy": "Multiple Legs Allow Sudden Stops\n\nInsects can stop dead without falling over because three legs are always on the ground while moving.\n“Extra legs do not help an animal to move faster. The millipede is slow for all its legs – in fact, if it hurries it is liable to trip over its own feet! Insects have six legs and tend to have three of them on land at any given moment while moving; they can therefore stop dead without falling over.” "}, {"Source": "sticholonche zanclea", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "move by rowing motion", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/microscopic-oars-move-organism/", "Strategy": "Microscopic Oars Move Organism\n\nBundles of microtubules projecting from the microscopic Sticholonche zanclea move the protozoans along through a rowing motion.\n\n“At least one odd actinopod, heliozoan protozoan, Sticholonche, rows along with oars made of bundles of microtubules that emerge from the nuclear membrane through microfibrillar oarlocks. These form the central axes of external cytoplasmic protrusions–oars of a sort.” "}, {"Source": "african biting flies", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "pierce tough hippopotamus hides", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/mouthparts-pierces-through-hippo-hides/", "Strategy": "Mouthparts Pierce Through Hippo Hides\n\nThe mouthparts of African biting flies can pierce tough hippopotamus hides due to their ultra-strong, needle-like structure.\n“Tabanids (horseflies and deerflies) have large heads, large eyes, and especially large and sharp piercing mouthparts – in some African species, strong enough to pierce through tough hippopotamus hide.”"}, {"Source": "octopus suckers", "Application": "suction cups", "Function1": "hold objects", "Function2": "grip object", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/suckers-allow-fine-attachment/", "Strategy": "Suckers Allow Fine Attachment\n\nSuckers of the octopus hold objects smaller than the suckers by having tiny projections called denticles, 3-micrometer-diameter pegs.\n“William Kier of the University of North Carolina is studying the rows of muscular suckers along the arms and tentacles of octopi. Octopus suckers’ tiny projections called denticles are 3-micrometer-diameter pegs that provide more intimate contact with the surface underneath. The denticles allow the suckers to grip a range of objects, including objects smaller than the suckers. This could be useful information for creating stronger human-made suction cups.”"}, {"Source": "rails and grebes' feet", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "swim without webbed feet", "Function2": "walk on wetland vegetation and mud", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/feet-move-efficiently-through-water/", "Strategy": "Feet Move Efficiently Through Water\n\nFeet of rails and grebes move efficiently through water thanks to toes with lobes that fold back on the forward stroke.\n“American coots and other rails, and species of grebes are able to swim without webbed feet because their toes have lobes that open on the down stroke but fold flat on the recovery stroke. These lobes also help the birds walk on wetland vegetation and mud.” "}, {"Source": "ocean-going fish's fin", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "provide streamlined shape", "Function2": "serve as rudders, stabilizers or brakes", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/fins-provide-streamlined-shape/", "Strategy": "Fins Provide Streamlined Shape\n\nFins of ocean-going fish such as tuna are streamlined because they fit close to the body in depressions and grooves when not needed.\n\n[Referring to high-speed ocean-going fish such as tuna, bonito, marlin, and mackerel] “The pectoral and pelvic fins and the dorsal along the crest of the back play no part in propulsion. They serve only as rudders, stabilisers or brakes. When the fish is moving at speed and they are not required they are clamped to the fish’s side, fitting exactly into depressions and grooves on the surface. And along the top and bottom edge of the body, on either side of the tail, are tiny triangular blades that serve as spoilers to prevent turbulence.”"}, {"Source": "fishing spider's leg", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "row across water", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/legs-row-across-water/", "Strategy": "Legs ‘row’ Across Water\n\nThe legs of the fishing spider enable it to 'row' across the surface of water using the horizontal propulsive forces generated by the drag of the legs and their associated 'dimples.'\n“What happens is that the leg and dimple (the latter from the downward weight transferred by the leg) act as a unit. Both move rearward as the animal pushes, and the rearward drag of the unit generates the forward thrust. (Moving a dimple backwards forces water to move forwards, hence this nonobject has perfect ordinary drag.)”\n\n“Fishing spiders live throughout the United States, although they’re particularly abundant in the South. They lurk along the edges of ponds and streams, and when insects drop to the water, these spiders rush across the surface to attack. They can also dip their legs underwater and grab swimming tadpoles and small fish.\n\nThe first order of business for animals with this lifestyle is to stay on top of the water. Fishing spiders do so by taking advantage of surface tension. Water molecules are more attracted to one another than they are to molecules in the air. This molecular pull makes the surface of water act like a sheet of rubber. When a spider sets a leg on the water, a dimplelike depression forms around it, and the water pushes back up to regain a smooth surface… Although surface tension can keep fishing spiders afloat, it makes it hard for them to go anywhere. On land they can push their legs against solid ground, generating an opposing force that carries them forward.\n\nTheir waxy legs can’t get a purchase on the surface of the pond, however; the water is, in effect, too slippery to permit the spiders to move.\n\nBut move they do, and for the past few years Robert Suter, a biologist at Vassar College, has been studying just how they do it. What he has found is that the spiders row across the water’s surface by using the dimples their legs make in it. When a fishing spider moves one of its legs  from front to back, it draws that dimple back with it.\n\nAs the dimple moves, it acts like an oar, pushing against the surrounding water and creating a force that propels the spider forward. A fishing spider rows with the middle two of its four pairs of legs. First it swings back its third pair, then the second pair, and when both pairs are extended as far back as they can go, the spider raises them from the water and brings them forward again. Meanwhile, it keeps its front and rear pairs of legs motionless, using their surface tension to keep itself afloat while it prepares for the next stroke… There’s a limit to how fast fishing spiders can travel this way, however. To speed up, a spider can either make deeper dimples (giving itself bigger oars) or push them back faster.”"}, {"Source": "shark's tail", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "prevent sinking", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/tail-prevents-sinking/", "Strategy": "Tail Prevents Sinking\n\nTails of sharks and sturgeons keep these heavy-bodied animals from sinking because they are assymetrical and produce an upward-directed torque.\n“A number of good swimmers among the shark and sturgeon families are heavier than water. If they did not mobilize vertical forces, they would slowly but inevitably sink to the bottom. Since they are continuously in motion, nature was able to solve their weight problem in a very elegant way: The sickle-shaped tail is asymmetrical. Because the upper half is larger than the lower, its resistance produces upward directed torque. In addition, the pectoral fins are shaped like small wings and function as elevators, producing and controlling vertical forces”.\n\n“During steady horizontal swimming, the sturgeon tail generates a lift force relative to the path of motion but no rotational moment because the reaction force passes through the center of mass. For a rising sturgeon, the tail does not produce a lift force but causes the tail to rotate ventrally in relation to the head since the reaction force passes ventral to the center of mass. While sinking, the direction of the ?uid jet produced by the tail relative to the path of motion causes a lift force to be created and causes the tail to rotate dorsally in relation to the head since the reaction force passes dorsal to the center of mass. These data provide evidence that sturgeon can actively control the direction of force produced by their tail while maneuvering through the water column because the relationship between vortex jet angle and body angle is not constant”."}, {"Source": "diving gannet's body", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "spin for stabilization", "Function2": "streamline body", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/spinning-makes-safe-dive/", "Strategy": "Spinning Makes Safe Dive\n\nThe body of a diving gannet enters the water safely at high speeds by spinning.\n“Depending on the altitude of the attack and on the wing effort during the first phase of the nosedive, gannets hit the water with speeds of 40-120 kilometers per hour… How does the gannet avoid veering off course and tumbling over during the dive and the dangerous moment of penetration? At 100 km/h, a slight gust, one wrong move, or rough seas could seal its fate. The secret was revealed by slow-motion photography: While diving, the gannet puts itself into a spin with a deliberate tail movement. The spin increases toward the point of impact as the bird lays back its wings like a figure skater bringing her arms close to her body. In a fast dive, this movement usually turns the body once or twice around its axis, acting like a gyroscopic stabilizer in a rocket. In the language of physics, the bird is kept on course by the conservation of angular momentum. This elegant mechanical stabilization notwithstanding, the moment of impact on the water surface is critical because of the powerful forces involved. But the gannet has been well primed by nature for this moment. Its body can stretch into an ideally streamlined spindle. Any unevenness about the head is eliminated. At the moment of immersion, the gannet draws in its neck slightly so that the pointed beak and the flat top of the head form a straight continuous line with the body, creating a cone which combines low resistance with high stability. The maze of air cells between the skin and the muscles, directly or indirectly connected with the lungs, receive and distribute whatever pressures occur.”"}, {"Source": "true rose of jericho branch", "Application": "orifices", "Function1": "furl and unfurl branches", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/dead-branches-release-seeds/", "Strategy": "Branches Passively Furl and Unfurl\n\nTrue rose of Jericho branches furl and unfurl depending on water content.\nIntroduction \n\nIn the desert, it’s often feast or famine when it comes to water: Some areas can go weeks or months without rain, then all of the sudden the skies let loose. Many flowering plants that grow under such conditions have adaptations that allow them to sequester their seeds in pods or other enclosures and release them only under wet conditions. This helps ensure they have the moisture they need to sprout when they fall while protecting them from seed-eating animals in the meantime.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nOne of the most remarkable of the organisms using this process is the true rose of Jericho (Anastatica hierochuntica). Found in northern Africa and western Asia, this annual flowering plant blooms and produces seeds during the wet season. But rather than releasing the seeds right away, it hangs on tight.\n\nAs the plant wilts and dies, its branches curl inward, forming a cage that tightly encases the seedpods. The seeds remain hidden—and avoid becoming a meal—until a reviving rainstorm arrives, months or even years later.\n\nWhen the rains finally do come, after about an hour of exposure, the moisture causes the branches to unfurl. In the new configuration, raindrops can dislodge and scatter the now-accessible seeds.\n\nHow does all of this happen? The secret, it turns out, has to do with the distribution of different kinds of cells in the branches of the plant. The side of the branch that faces down in the growing plant has a greater number and density of wider water-conducting conduits than the side that faces upward. As the plant withers at the end of the growing season, the upper side dries out more quickly than the lower side, causing the branches to curl upward. Alternatively, when rain comes and the dead plant tissue absorbs water through its stem, the denser and wider conduits on the lower side send water toward the tips of the branches faster and more efficiently, causing the branches to asymmetrically expand and unfurl.\n\nThe Potential \n\nThe ability to change shape and function with the addition or removal of moisture has numerous potential applications to meet human needs both for using water and avoiding it. For example, it might be applied to deactivating an irrigation system when precipitation obviates the need for it, to opening new channels to keep excess water from flooding an area, or to deploying umbrella-like shelters to protect people or objects from rain. It could also be used to remotely detect the presence of moisture or to activate the release of drugs or other materials under specific conditions.\n\n"}, {"Source": "fly's olfactory system", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "detect decomposition", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/olfactory-system-detects-decomposition/", "Strategy": "Olfactory System Detects Decomposition\n\nThe olfactory systems of some flies help them find food due to their extreme sensitivity to the smell of rotting meat.\n“The sense of smell is vital to most insects for finding food. Flies are particularly sensitive to the chemical odour given off by rotting meat…”"}, {"Source": "grass tree's leaves", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "glue leaves", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/leaves-glued-together/", "Strategy": "Leaves Glued Together\n\nThe leaves of the grass tree are glued together at their bases by a large quantity of gum.\n“This country [southwestern Australia] is also one of the headquarters of the grass tree…It is neither a grass nor is it a tree. It is a distant relative of the lilies. But it does have very long narrow leaves that resemble grass, and they are born in a great shock on the top of a stem that looks like the trunk of a tree and may be up to ten feet high. However the core of this trunk is not timber but fibre and what seems to be bark is, in fact, the tightly compacted bases of the leaves which are shed annually from beneath the crown as the plant grows higher. These bases are glued together by a copious flow of gum and they form a very efficient heat insulation. Since the plant sheds one ring of leaves annually, counting the rings of bases in this fire-proof jacket gives an indication of age and reveals that the grass trees not only grow only a foot or so in a decade but that a mature one may be about five hundred years old and therefore be the survivor of dozens of fires.”"}, {"Source": "bacteria's pili", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "move around", "Function2": "secrete carbohydrate slime", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/hairlike-extensions-responsible-for-movement/", "Strategy": "Hairlike Extensions Responsible for Movement\n\nSome bacteria move by attaching and then retracting pili through their outer membranes.\n“Gliding motion across surfaces, usually with slime–whether or not by the same scheme–occurs in procaryotic organisms (bacteria and their kin) as well. It’s based on either of two mechanisms. Bacteria are often covered with tiny hairs, pili; retraction of one type (designated IV) through their outer membranes can move them around. Alternatively, they can secrete carbohydrate slime rearward to get a push.”"}, {"Source": "riffle beetle's legs", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "retain position", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/claws-hold-on-at-high-current-velocities/", "Strategy": "Claws Hold on at High Current Velocities\n\nThe legs of riffle beetles hold onto underwater substrates in fast currents using large, strong terminal claws.\n“The tarsi of aquatic insects all have terminal claws. In riffle beetles, the claws are large and stout. This enables them to retain their position even at high current velocities.”"}, {"Source": "bacteria's body", "Application": "shape-shifting aids swimming", "Function1": "maximize the forward movement", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/shape-shifting-aids-swimming/", "Strategy": "Shape‑Shifting Aids Swimming\n\nBody of bacteria moves through water by shape-shifting.\n“On the scale of a bacterium, water is as viscous as treacle. This makes swimming difficult because a simple symmetrical stroke gets you nowhere: the recovery stroke pushes you as far back as the first part of the stroke pulled you forward. So these bacteria adopt different geometrical shapes during the first and second parts of the stroke to maximise the forward movement. Swimming robots and moving parts in nanomachines are already engineered in this way.”"}, {"Source": "mammals' white blood cell", "Application": "drug-delivery system", "Function1": "roll along blood vessel walls", "Function2": "anchor themselves where needed", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/white-blood-cells-roll-and-stick/", "Strategy": "White Blood Cells Roll and Stick\n\nWhite blood cells of mammals roll along blood vessel walls, and anchor when they find an infection or cell damage via cell-adhesion molecules (CAMs) with variable affinity.\n“Dan Hammer of the Univ. of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia is studying how white blood cells roll their way through the bloodstream, yet are able to anchor themselves where they are needed. He hopes that if he can devise materials that mimic the cells’ roll-and-stick ability, he’ll be able to devise a new targeted drug-delivery system. White blood cells have surface proteins called selectins that stick out of the cell surface. Fluid pushes the cell along–bonds form in front and are broken in the back, resulting in the cartwheeling motion.”\n\n"}, {"Source": "sea cucumber's sticky threads", "Application": "marine adhesives", "Function1": "adhere underwater", "Function2": "cure quickly", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/threads-adhere-underwater/", "Strategy": "Threads Adhere Underwater\n\nSticky ejectable threads of sea cucumbers adhere underwater and cure quickly because as the outer cell layer is shed, the inner cell layer springs open, elongates, and secretes granules of insoluble proteins that stick together.\n“Patrick Flammang of the University of Mons, Belgium, is studying the sea cucumber. The sea cucumber, a relative of the starfish, protects itself from predators by ejecting, in a matter of seconds, fine, sticky threads that entangle an attacker and enable the sea cucumber to sneak away. Before they are ejected, the threads, which consist of an outer and inner layer of cells, are quite short and not sticky. But as they are ejected, the emerging threads shed their outer cell layer, enabling the inner cell layer to spring open and elongate. At the same time, the inner cells secrete granules of insoluble proteins that stick together and adhere to whatever they come in contact with in the water. Such quick-drying, underwater glues may be alternatives to existing marine adhesives which take longer to cure.”\n\n"}, {"Source": "marine worm's sand tube", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "cement together sand and rock", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/mucus-glues-sand-and-rock/", "Strategy": "Mucus Glues Sand and Rock\n\nSand tubes created by marine worms are glued together with mucus.\n“The colonies built by Sabellaria worms on seashore rocks look like very untidy honeycombs. The worms construct tubes of sand grains stuck together with mucus.\n\n“This surface of a colony of Sabellaria tubeworms (above and left) looks like an untidy and somewhat squashed honeycomb. Sabellaria worms are marine worms about 30 mm long which build tubes by cementing together particles of sand and rock. When not covered by the tide, the worms remain hidden inside the tube, but once covered with water, they protrude from its mouth and extend their tentacles to feed. Sabellaria colonies can form extensive reefs made up of millions of tubes.”"}, {"Source": "pork tapeworm's headlike segment", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "attachment to host's intestinal wall", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/attachments-cling-to-intestinal-wall/", "Strategy": "Attachments Cling to Intestinal Wall\n\nThe headlike segment of a pork tapeworm attaches to a host's intestinal wall using suckers and sometimes hooks.\n“A typical species, such as the pork tapeworm (Taenia solium), consists of an anterior region known as the scolex, armed with suckers and sometimes hooks, too, for attachment to its host’s internal intestinal wall…”"}, {"Source": "human ear's cochlea", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "helps hear deep vibrations", "Function2": "translate reverberations into neurological signals", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/cochlea-aids-hearing/", "Strategy": "Cochlea Aids Hearing\n\nThe cochlea of the human ear helps us hear deep vibrations by directing low-frequency waves into the tightest turns of its spiral.\n“Deep inside your ear, the pea-size, spiral-shaped cochlea helps translate reverberations from the outside world into neurological signals that we perceive as sound. The cochlea’s coil has traditionally been regarded as little more than the body’s way of packing a lot of membrane into a small space—a mechanical adaptation that did not affect hearing. Not any more. \n\nLast March a team of engineers found a function for the cochlea’s shape. Using a mathematical model, they determined that the tight coil at the cochlea’s center steers low-frequency waves into its tightest turns, helping us hear deep vibrations. Previous models had treated sound waves as if they traveled in a straight line, an assumption that failed to take into account how the cochlea’s shape affects the waves’ path. ‘It’s the curvature that’s critical,’ says biophysicist Richard Chadwick at the National Institutes of Health, a collaborator on the project. ‘The more the curvature changes, the more focused the energy gets. It’s behaving something like a whispering gallery, but even better.'”"}, {"Source": "butterfly's wing", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "two pairs of wings", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/wings-work-in-unison/", "Strategy": "Wings Work in Unison\n\nInsects with two pairs of wings have them work in unison by attaching the wings in various ways, with hooks, folds, or catches.\n“In those insects with two pairs of fully operative wings, both are commonly linked together so that they work in unison. Linking devices vary widely. In butterflies and some moths, the upper and lower wings perform as one because of an overlapping fold on the hind edge of the forewing, which thus pushes the hindwing with it on the down stroke. In others there is a more elaborate coupling device consisting of a spine, or frenulum, on one wing which is held by a catch or a group of bristles (retinaculum) on the other. Bees and wasps have an even more elaborate series of hooks and catches on their wing margins.”"}, {"Source": "octopi's siphon", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "jet propulsion", "Function2": "direction control", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/siphon-directs-underwater-movement/", "Strategy": "Siphon Directs Underwater Movement\n\nSiphons of octopi, squid, and cuttlefish jet through the water with directional control via jet propulsion.\n“Octopuses, squid, and cuttlefish have a more sophisticated version of jet propulsion. They expel water through a moveable tube called a siphon, which combines power with directional control.”"}, {"Source": "nematode's body", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "move via strong external cuticle", "Function2": "longitudinal muscles", "Function3": "pressurized core", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/body-designed-for-burrowing/", "Strategy": "Body Designed for Burrowing\n\nThe body of nematodes dictates their movement techniques via a strong external cuticle, longitudinal muscles, and pressurized core.\n“Nematodes, or roundworms, contrast sharply with the various sorts of flatworms. They have a strong external cuticle, a normally round cross section, and longitudinal muscles only. A grotesquely large species, the intestinal parasite Ascaris, was studied by Harris and Crofton (1957). Ascaris has a normal fiber angle of about 75 degrees; being unflattened, it lives just on the curve of figure 20.2, part way down the left-hand slope. Contraction of its muscles can only shorten it further. But shortening can only happen if it decreases in volume to move down the slope, which it can’t, or if the fibers stretch, which they do very little. Mainly, muscle contraction makes it much stiffer, generating internal pressures up to 30 kilopascals–around a third of an atmosphere. The hypertensive worms do get shorter, but only by about 10 percent. Nematodes can bend by contracting muscles on one side only; and this, too, increases internal pressure. Circumferential muscles are quite superfluous–the resilience of the cuticle antagonizes the action of the longitudinals. Or, looked at another way, with a pressurized core as strut, muscle on one side can antagonize muscle on the other side just as do the biceps and triceps muscles of our upper arms. The scheme permits nematodes some unpleasant life-styles such as burrowing through our flesh.”"}, {"Source": "strong gripping claws and flat bodies", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "strong gripping claws", "Function2": "flat bodies", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/design-features-aid-efficient-attachment/", "Strategy": "Design Features Aid Efficient Attachment\n\nLice adhere to their hosts' skin using strong claws and flat bodies.\n“Lice are much more sedentary, clutching onto their host’s skin with strong gripping claws. They have flattened bodies that rebuff attempts by the host to dislodge them.”"}, {"Source": "sandfish skink's skin", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "low friction", "Function2": "abrasion resistance", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/skin-exhibits-low-friction/", "Strategy": "Skin Exhibits Low Friction\n\nSkin of the sandfish skink exhibits abrasion resistance and low friction when moving through sand due to proteinaceous scales.\n“The sandfish is a lizard having the remarkable ability to move in desert sand in a swimming-like fashion. The most outstanding adaptations to this mode of life are the low friction behaviour and the extensive abrasion resistance of the sandfish skin against sand, outperforming even steel. We investigated the topography, the composition and the mechanical properties of sandfish scales. These consist of glycosylated keratins with high amount of sulphur but no hard inorganic material, such as licates or lime.”"}, {"Source": "fairy fly's wings", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "move in relatively viscous solutions", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/wings-allow-movement-in-viscous-solutions/", "Strategy": "Wings Allow Movement in Viscous Solutions\n\nWings of fairy flies allow them to move in relatively viscous solutions by being feathery rather than solid structures.\n“It’s a whole solar-powered flotilla, majestic in the soaring hot air currents…And there are breast-stroke straining fairy flies–creatures so small that ordinary garden air is as thick as water to them, and they maneuver in the up-blast not with wings, but with sticking-out feathery oars.”"}, {"Source": "otter's ear", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protect from water", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/ear-flaps-keep-water-out/", "Strategy": "Ear Flaps Keep Water Out\n\nThe ears of otters protect from water via ear-flaps.\n“Among aquatic mammals such as the otter, the ear-flap can be pressed down to close the ear to water.”"}, {"Source": "duck's webbed foot", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "decrease drag", "Function2": "provide power", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/feet-reduce-drag-provide-power/", "Strategy": "Feet Reduce Drag, Provide Power\n\nThe webbed foot of a duck reduces drag when folded as the foot is brought forward, and provides power when stretched taut and pushed against the water on a backward stroke.\n“Swimming animals often have webbed feet specially tailored to their chosen method of locomotion, though the bone structures vary considerably…The skin on a duck’s foot, though quite leathery, is flexible enough to be folded when the foot is brought forward through the water, causing minimal drag; but it is strong enough to be stretched taut and pushed against the water on the backward stroke. The duck has four toes, arranged like those of most other birds into three forward-pointing toes and one pointing backwards; the forward three toes are joined by a web of skin, but the back toe is free so they can perch.”"}, {"Source": "body lice's egg", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "attach to hair", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/eggs-attached-securely-to-hairs/", "Strategy": "Eggs Attached Securely to Hairs\n\nThe eggs of body lice are attached to the hairs of their host with a cement-like substance.\n“Eggs of body lice, commonly called ‘nits’, are attached to the body hairs of the host by a cement-like substance.” "}, {"Source": "rove beetle's abdominal gland", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "skim across water", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/reducing-surface-tension-to-travel-on-water/", "Strategy": "Reducing Surface Tension to Travel on Water\n\nAbdominal glands of the rove beetle help it skim quickly across water via secreted chemicals that locally reduce surface tension.\n“A small beetle, Stenus, normally walks slowly on the surface. When speed is desired, through, it secretes a substance from its last abdominal segment that locally reduces the surface tension. The result is an asymmetrical force on the beetle, which moves forward at up to 0.7 meters per second (Chapman 1982).”\n\n“Perhaps the most unusual way of getting around is demonstrated by the semiaquatic rove beetle. Jumping onto the surface of the pond, this beetle excretes a chemical which reacts so violently with water that the insect is sent skimming across the pond at high speed.”"}, {"Source": "sea turtle's shell", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "shape change", "Function2": "alter buoyancy", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/shell-alters-buoyancy/", "Strategy": "Shell Alters Buoyancy\n\nThe shell of some sea turtles allows for different levels of buoyancy for juveniles and adults by changing shape.\n“Sea turtles sometimes swim on the surface; Jeanette Wyneken tells me that the flared, V-shaped bottom is characteristic of buoyant baby sea turtles, which are obligatory surface swimmers. With maturity and the shift to submerged swimming, the hull shape changes to one more characteristic of submarines.”"}, {"Source": "midwife toad's egg", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "stick to the male toad's legs", "Function2": "adhere to him", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/eggs-adhere-in-and-out-of-water/", "Strategy": "Eggs Adhere in and Out of Water\n\nThe eggs of the midwife toad stick to the male toad's legs in and out of water via sticky egg strings.\n“After the pair lays and fertilizes strings of twenty to sixty eggs, the father thrusts his legs through the egg mass. The sticky egg strings adhere to him, and he stumbles around for the next few weeks with the eggs entwined around his thighs and waist. Periodically he dips into shallow water, ensuring the eggs don’t shrivel up and die. When the tadpoles are nearly ready to hatch, they flip about in their egg capsules. The wriggling of the twenty to sixty embryos likely tickles the male’s body and stimulates him to hop to a pond.”"}, {"Source": "giant water bug's female", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "glue eggs", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/glue-sticks-underwater/", "Strategy": "Glue Sticks Underwater\n\nFemales of giant water bug species glue eggs to their mates' backs via bodily secretions that act as a type of waterproof glue.\n\n“Using bodily secretions, the female [giant water bug] glues the eggs to her mate’s back.”"}, {"Source": "frog's back feet", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "slow landing", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/feet-used-to-slow-landings/", "Strategy": "Feet Used to Slow Landings\n\nThe back feet of some frogs provide a slower landing following a leap due to webbing that may give the frog some gliding ability.\n“Caught in mid-air by the camera, this leaping frog has webbed feet which it uses for swimming. Like the duck, the frog is pushed forward from behind: compare the powerful back legs and their webbed feet with the slender front legs and webless front feet. When landing after a leap through the air, the webbing may also serve as a parachute to slow the descent.”"}, {"Source": "insect's foot", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "engage claws", "Function2": "retract claws", "Function3": "deploy footpads", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/foot-adaptations-climb-rough-and-smooth-surfaces/", "Strategy": "Foot Adaptations Climb\nRough and Smooth Surfaces\n\nFeet of insects adjust to rough or smooth surfaces by engaging either claws or adhesive foot-pads.\n“Researchers Bert Holldobler and Walter Federle have studied how insects can adhere to both rough and smooth surfaces. They discovered that when an insect walks, two claws at the front of each foot grip the surface and then begin to retract. If the surface is rough, the claws engage and the insect scrabbles along. If the surface is smooth, the hinged claws retract further and adhesive foot-pads protrude between the claws. A miniature hydraulic system helps deploy the footpads.”"}, {"Source": "mantle of the spanish dancer", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "help swim", "Function2": "undulating motions", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/undulations-used-for-swimming/", "Strategy": "Undulations Used for Swimming\n\nThe mantle of the Spanish dancer helps it swim through water via undulating motions.\n“The Spanish dancer acquired its exotic name from its startling appearance and graceful movement.”"}, {"Source": "male narwhal's tusks", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "detect chemicals", "Function2": "sense prey", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/tusks-sense-chemicals/", "Strategy": "Tusks Sense Chemicals\n\nThe tusks of male narwhals may detect chemicals related to ice formation, salinity, or prey using a vast network of fluid-filled tubules connected to the tusk's central nerve.\n\n“It could be a jousting tool or an ice-breaker. It has even been attributed to the legendary unicorn. But the true purpose of the narwhal’s spectacular spiral tusk has remained a mystery.\n\n“Now Martin Nweeia at Harvard School of Dental Medicine and his colleagues have come up with another explanation. They believe the tusk, which can measure up to 2.75 metres, could act as a sensor, helping the narwhal to survive in its Arctic home by detecting chemicals associated with prey, ice formation and salt concentrations.\n\n“Two tusks taken from recently caught narwhals were examined under an electron microscope. This revealed a vast network of around 10 million fluid-filled tubules connecting the tusk’s central nerve to the surrounding water. Such tubules exist in human teeth, but are only exposed at areas of gum recession, where they cause extreme sensitivity. ‘The last place you would expect to have something so sensitive is a cold Arctic environment,’ says Nweeia. A further surprise came when a laser was used to map the chemical composition of the tusk, a technique called reflectance microspectroscopy. It revealed that the narwhal’s tusk is ‘inside out’. Most teeth are hard on the outside and soft inside, but the narwhal’s tusk has a soft protein-rich exterior, while the inside is more mineralised. ‘Everything about these findings is counter-intuitive,’ says Nweeia.”"}, {"Source": "flowerpiercer bird's beak", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "snag and steady flowers", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/hooked-beak-snags-flowers/", "Strategy": "Hooked Beak Snags Flowers\n\nThe beak of the flowerpiercer bird is used to snag and steady nectar-filled flowers with a hook on the top half of the beak.\n“It is called, accurately enough, a flower-piercer. The upper half of its beak is notched along its edge and hooked at the end. The lower half is rather shorter and very sharply pointed. The bird lands on or beside a tubular flower and snags it with its hook. Holding the flower steady in this way, it then stabs it with the lower part of its beak and flicks its tongue inside to steal the honey.”"}, {"Source": "earthworm's body", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "grab the ground", "Function2": "slide easily forward", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/bristles-facilitate-movement/", "Strategy": "Bristles Facilitate Movement\n\nShort rearward-pointing bristles on the body of an earthworm make rectilinear motion possible by grabbing the ground as the worm slides.\n“The basic worm trick consists of stretching and squeezing alternate parts of a long, cylindrical trunk, moving each region of stretch or squeeze rearward, as in figure 24.7a. Despite the rearward progression, the scheme can’t do much without one more component. Thus, a worm on a smooth and lubricated surface makes negligible progress–we’re not looking at an analog of anguilliform (eel-like) swimming. The trunk needs some device so it slides more easily forward than rearward. For earthworms, setae, short rearward-pointing bristles, provide that crucial asymmetry.”"}, {"Source": "piping plover and the wilson’s plover", "Application": "digital defense strategies", "Function1": "drive predators away", "Function2": "protect nest", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/birds-feign-injury-to-draw-away-predators/", "Strategy": "Birds Feign Injury to Draw Away Predators\n\nPlovers fake having a broken wing in order to lead predators away from their nest and protect their young.\nIntroduction \n\nThe natural world is full of organisms with tricks up their sleeves—insects that fool predators with their camouflage, wildcats that imitate the calls of baby monkeys to attract prey, and many others. Shorebirds could possibly top the list of cleverest creatures, due in part to a very peculiar distraction behavior they exhibit in order to drive predators away from their nests.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nPlovers, such as the piping plover and the Wilson’s plover, are small, sparrow-sized birds that live along coasts and make their nests on sandy beaches. These are not nests like you’d find woven in a tree, but merely small depressions in the sand, sometimes hidden among light grasses but other times completely out in the open—in either case, extremely vulnerable to predators.\n \n\nThe Potential \n\nHumans already make extensive use of false signaling to protect each other or our assets. As we investigate the nuances of plover distraction performances, we could discover and apply adaptive techniques to make such displays more effective or versatile.\nOn a basic level, this could involve the development of more elaborate mechanical “scarecrows” to protect crops and airplanes from detrimental bird activity.\n\nThinking more expansively, applications could be found to improve digital defense strategies working against malicious software.\n\n"}, {"Source": "insects' mouthpart", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "hold food steady", "Function2": "pass food forward", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/mouthparts-manipulate-food/", "Strategy": "Mouthparts Manipulate Food\n\nThe mouthparts of insects hold food steady during mastication with accessory jaw-like structures, called maxillae.\n\n“Behind the mandibles is another pair of jaw-like structures, the maxillae. These may be simple in shape but often they bear soft lip-like appendages, and projections like tiny antennae, called palps. These bear many sensilla…sensitive cells for tasting, smelling, and touching the food. The maxillae are not usually designed for cutting or chewing food, but they may be used to hold it steady and pass it forwards through the chopping mandibles.”"}, {"Source": "barracuda's mucus", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "reduce turbulence", "Function2": "increase viscosity", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/mucus-reduces-turbulence/", "Strategy": "Mucus Reduces Turbulence\n\nMucus on barracuda reduces turbulence by increasing the viscosity of the boundary layer on the skin.\n“We keep discovering refinements of fluid mechanics in the animal kingdom. Recently Rosen and Cornford investigated the effect of the mucous secretions of fish on turbulent friction drag in seawater and found that 5 percent of barracuda slime reduced the turbulent friction of seawater by 66 percent. The slime of halibut was found to have a similar effect. These results indicated that slime in the flow boundary layer of rapid swimmers can effectively subdue turbulence and thus prevent energy loss…Assuming that mucous secretions (such as castor oil) are about a thousand times more viscous than water, it is simple to estimate that a few percent of the stuff in the boundary layer can easily lower the Reynolds number to a tenth or less. In this way the danger of turbulence can be considerably diminished.”"}, {"Source": "porpoise's dorsal fin and tail flukes", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "decrease amount of metabolic energy", "Function2": "maintain a stable, triangular cross-sectional shape", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/blubber-structure-stores-and-releases-energy/", "Strategy": "Blubber Structure Stores and Releases Energy\n\nBlubber between the porpoise's dorsal fin and tail flukes decreases amount of metabolic energy needed to swim because it is crosshatched with elastic fibers.\n“This study investigated the functional morphology of the blubber that forms the caudal keels of the harbor porpoise (Phocoena phocoena). Blubber is a pliant biocomposite formed by adipocytes and structural fibers composed of collagen and elastic fibers. Caudal keels are dorsally and ventrally placed triangular wedges of blubber that define the hydrodynamic profile of the porpoise tail-stock. Mechanical tests on carcasses demonstrate that when keels are bent, they strain nonuniformly along their lengths, with highest strains just caudal to the dorsal fin and lowest at the insertion of the flukes. Therefore, caudal keels undergo nonuniform longitudinal deformation while maintaining a stable, triangular cross-sectional shape. Polarizing and transmitted light microscopy techniques were used to investigate blubber’s 3D fiber architecture along the length of the dorsal keel. The triangular cross-sectional shape of the keel appears to be maintained by structural fibers oriented to act as tensile stays. The construction of the blubber composite is regionally specific: structural fiber densities and diameters are higher in the relatively stiff caudal region of the keel than in the more deformable cranial keel region. The orientations of structural fibers also change along the length of the keel. Cranially, no fibers are oriented along the long axis, whereas a novel population of longitudinally oriented fibers reinforces the keel at the insertion of the flukes. Thus, differences in the distribution and orientation of structural fibers contribute to the regionally specific mechanical properties of the dorsal keel.”"}, {"Source": "locust's ovipositor", "Application": "digging system", "Function1": "bore deep holes", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/ovipositor-drills-holes/", "Strategy": "Ovipositor Drills Holes\n\nOvipositors of locusts drill deep holes by use of two reciprocating rotating elements.\n“When females of locust species such as Locusta migratoria, Schistocerca gregaria (Forskal), S.peregrina (Olivier), Anacridium aegyptium and a number of other Acrididae dig oviposition holes, they stretch the intersegmental membranes between abdominal segments IV, V, VI and VII and thus make a hole considerably deeper than could otherwise be achieved. The ovipositor valves provide the force for this extension. The ovipositor is a boring machine which, once set in motion with its prongs against the soil, must automatically bury itself and in doing so it will stretch the easily extended abdomen to its full length, so long as the insect maintains it hold on the ground. The findings of the study provide an insight to the functioning of the locust apparatus, and suggested the possibility to develop an innovative digging system composed by two reciprocating rotating elements.”"}, {"Source": "virginia creeper's tendrils", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "stick to various surfaces", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/tendrils-stick-to-various-surfaces/", "Strategy": "Tendrils Stick to Various Surfaces\n\nThe tendrils of Virginia creeper stick to various surfaces using small, strongly adhesive pads at their tips.\n“The tendrils of Virginia creeper end in small adhesive pads which stick firmly to stone or bark.”"}, {"Source": "penicillate jellyfish's bell", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "increase amplitude of movement", "Function2": "decrease energy use", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/moving-in-tune-with-body-size/", "Strategy": "Moving in Tune With Body Size\n\nThe bell of the penicillate jellyfish increases amplitude of movement by 40% and decreases energy use by around 25% by moving at resonant frequency to body size.\n\n“The bell of the hydromedusan jellyfish Polyorchis penicillatus (Eschscholtz, 1829) was modelled as a harmonically forced, damped oscillator. The robustness of the model was tested and verified by comparing estimates of the work done during the contraction phase predicted by the model with analogous values measured in completely independent experiments. Data suggest that the animals swim at a frequency that is at or near the resonant frequency of the locomotor apparatus. The implications of this phenomenon for the mechanics and physiology of the system are discussed. If the swimming muscles force the bell at its resonant frequency, as opposed to a single contraction at the same rate of deformation, the amplitude of the oscillation will be increased by about 40%, and the energetic requirement for the cycle will be reduced by about 24-37% of the total cost of the cycle. The advantages of forcing the structure at its resonant frequency seem quite remarkable.”"}, {"Source": "seal's fur", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "maintain laminar flow", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/fur-decreases-water-turbulence/", "Strategy": "Fur Decreases Water Turbulence\n\nThe fur of seals may help them swim efficiently by maintaining laminar flow.\n“…the short wiry hair or feather coats of such good swimmers as seals and penguins seem to be a great advantage for the maintenance of laminar flows. This is borne out by technical experiments with fine wire on surfaces in a flow field, as well as by indirect clues. The splendid fur of the seal, for instance, provides no protection against getting wet; it gets soaked through in the water. And, when exposed to the air, wet fur presents a considerable risk of a chill. We must assume that wet fur represents an advantage for swimming. And, like the seal’s coat of hair, the feathers of birds may have a favorable effect on the boundary layer.”"}, {"Source": "ribbon worm's movement", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "movement governed by hydrostatic skeleton", "Function2": "shape change", "Function3": "stiffness and shape interrelated", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/hydroskeleton-changes-shape/", "Strategy": "Hydroskeleton Changes Shape\n\nThe movement of ribbon worms is governed by the fiber arrangement of their hydrostatic skeleton.\n“Cowey (1952) seems to have been the first to recognize the importance of fiber arrangement in hydroskeletons, looking at a nemertean worm–a long, flat, and unsegmented creature. (A more general treatment followed a few years later, as Clark and Cowey [1958].) Normally these worms form severely flattened cylinders; the fibers in their surface layers lie at angles to their long axes somewhere in the 40-70 degree range. Since they’re not circular cylinders, they contain less volume than they might, and they live beneath the curve of figure 20.2, in the region labeled ‘flaccid.’ If such a worm contracts longitudinal muscles it will get shorter, moving to the left along a horizontal line. Sufficient contraction will bring it up against the curve, where it finds itself circular in section and more turgid to boot. If the worm contracts circumferential muscles it gets longer, moving to the right, but again it gets more nearly circular and more turgid. Not all of these worms can change shape enough to hit the limiting line, but they all use this curious scheme in which shape and stiffness are predictably interrelated. Internal pressures, though are never very high–even when actively locomoting, these creatures are a limp lot.”"}, {"Source": "spix's disk-winged bat's disklike structures", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "adhere to smooth surfaces", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/disklike-structures-adhere-to-smooth-surfaces/", "Strategy": "Disklike Structures Adhere to Smooth Surfaces\n\nDisklike structures on the wrists and ankles of Spix's disk-winged bat adhere to smooth leaves using suction adhesion.\n\n“Several of the smallest bats, for instance, use [suction adhesion] to cling to smooth leaves, with disklike structures on wrists and ankles. In the 3.5-gram Thyroptera tricolor of Central America, suction provides the main mechanism; these bats’ minimal reliance on other schemes such as the two kinds of wet adhesion that follow [Stefan and capillary] limits their ability to cling to anything but smooth surfaces (Riskin and Fenton 2001).”"}, {"Source": "caddisfly larvae", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "hold their place", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/hooks-attach-in-water-currents/", "Strategy": "Hooks Attach in Water Currents\n\nThe larvae of caddisflies hold their place in flowing currents by use of hooks or hooklets.\n“The posterior prolegs of the caddis Rhyacophila, the megalopteran Corydalus, and lotic chironomid midges, in addition to blackfly larvae, have hooks or hooklets that likewise help to stop larvae from being swept away when they move over exposed surfaces.”"}, {"Source": "malarial mosquitoes' olfactory system", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "detect carbon dioxide", "Function2": "locate host", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/mosquitoes-detect-carbon-dioxide/", "Strategy": "Mosquitoes Detect Carbon Dioxide\n\nThe olfactory system of malarial mosquitoes detects carbon dioxide from potential hosts via a sensory mouth appendage, called a maxillary palp.\n“Blood-feeding insects, including the malaria mosquito Anopheles gambiae, use highly specialized and sensitive olfactory systems to locate their hosts. This is accomplished by detecting and following plumes of volatile host emissions, which include carbon dioxide (CO2). CO2 is sensed by a population of olfactory sensory neurons in the maxillary palps of mosquitoes and in the antennae of the more genetically tractable fruitfly, Drosophila melanogaster.” "}, {"Source": "firefly's lantern", "Application": "energy-efficient artificial light sources", "Function1": "produce light", "Function2": "release photon", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/light-generated-chemically/", "Strategy": "What Lights a Firefly’s Fire?\n\nThe common eastern firefly produces light through a chemical reaction that energizes a molecule so it can release a photon.\nIntroduction \n\nFew natural phenomena can match the magic of fireflies flashing in the tall grass on a summer’s night.\n\nAs dusk falls on grassy meadows and forest edges of the eastern and central United States, males of the species Photinus pyralis flit about, flicking on and off bioluminescent lanterns in their abdomens. On the ground, females flash in response, attracting the males for a reproductive rendezvous.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nThe romantic function of the flash has long been known. What’s more recently been uncovered is a clear understanding of exactly how it happens. Scientists have tracked the trait down to a set of five molecules located in light-producing cells called photocytes that line a firefly’s lantern: luciferin, luciferase, adenosine triphosphate (ATP), nitric oxide (NO), and oxygen.\n\nInsects do not have lungs like humans do, but instead transport oxygen into their bodies through tubes called tracheoles. Oxygen travels through the tracheoles and enters the photocytes, where it binds to mitochondria. Normally the mitochondria would use the oxygen to release energy for regular cellular processes. But when it’s time to glow, fireflies send nitric oxide to bind to the mitochondria instead, freeing up the oxygen to fuel the light show about to begin. The oxygen enters another cellular structure, the peroxisome, and that’s where the fun begins.\n\nThe Potential \n\nBecause fireflies produce light without excess heat, mimicking their methods may help pave the way to developing more energy-efficient artificial light sources. And the mechanism of using the presence of a single molecule (in this case, oxygen) as an on-switch can inspire new ways to alternate between light and darkness over extremely short time periods––an effect that could be useful in display screens and other electronics.\n\nAdditionally, because it needs ATP to glow and ATP is found in microorganisms, the luciferin-luciferase combination has been used to detect  the presence of germs in beverages such as soy milk and tea.\n\n"}, {"Source": "mammal fur", "Application": "machine design", "Function1": "drying off", "Function2": "generate centripetal force", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/body-oscillation-to-dry-off/", "Strategy": "Rapid Oscillation Sheds Water\n\nQuick movement dries mammalian fur by ejecting droplets using centripetal force.\nIntroduction \n\nTake your dog to play in the water, and what’s the first thing she’ll do when she gets out? Likely shake her head and shoulders in a semicircular motion, flinging fat water droplets onto everything in the vicinity.\n\nThis act may not seem particularly strategic, but from the standpoint of energy efficiency, it very much is. In fact, many species of mammals do the same thing—and the magic of the movement all comes down to physics.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nDrying off quickly is important for mammals because water mats their fur, dramatically reducing its insulating value. In cool weather, removing the water and regaining the insulation value of the coat can be literally a matter of life and death. And even though it takes energy to rapidly rotate the head and shoulders, it would take orders of magnitude more energy to heat the body enough to evaporate the large amount of water a fur coat can take on.\n\nThe efficiency of the shoulder-shake technique comes in at the molecular level. Surface tension and capillary action hold the moisture to the hair. A shaking animal counters those forces by using a circular motion to generate centripetal force—the same action that spins water out of your clothes in a washing machine.\n\nThe Potential \n\nLessons learned from the design of fur and loose skin, and the rate at which mammals shake to expel water from their fur can apply to optimizing human activities as well. For example, they can help us set ideal speeds and drum sizes for washing machines and centrifuges or to design entirely new versions of them. They also can guide the design of self-drying or self-cleaning equipment, such as cameras on remote vehicles exploring other planets."}, {"Source": "bird's egg", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "generate novel and beautiful colors and patterns", "Function2": "deception", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/two-egg-pigments-drive-parasite-arms-race/", "Strategy": "Two Egg Pigments Drive Parasite Arms Race\n\nBirds use infinite combinations of just two colors to mimic other species’ eggs or to distinguish their own eggs from invaders.\nIntroduction \n\nIn many cultures, eggs symbolize life, renewal, and rebirth. So, it’s not surprising that decorating eggs is one of the oldest forms of human art, dating back at least 60,000 years.\n\nIn the rest of nature, egg colors and patterns of some birds have been adapting for far longer, on the scale of tens of millions of years—not for the sake of art, but for survival. These bird species are in a kind of tug-of-war between “brood parasites” that sneak their eggs into other species’ nests and “hosts” that may be fooled into raising the foreign chicks.\n\nOnly about one percent of bird species are brood parasites. However, this trait has evolved at least seven times in birds, demonstrating it has clear advantages. Brood parasitism offloads parental duties, conserving the energy needed to build nests, hatch eggs, and raise fledglings—energy their hosts must expend instead. Some brood parasites, like the brown cowbird, are generalists. Rather than engaging in “trickery” to disguise their eggs, generalists deposit them in the nests of many different species, attempting to maximize the chance they’ll encounter a host species that can’t detect foreign eggs.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nOn the other hand, some brood parasites coevolve with a specific host species. Dr. Mary Caswell Stoddard, assistant professor of sensory ecology, evolution, and behavior at Princeton University, describes this coevolutionary competition as an “arms race,” where color is often the weapon of choice.\n\nSome evolve plumage or other traits that cause hatched fledglings to resemble their hosts. Others mimic host egg colors, wielding the same two pigments that all birds use to dye their eggshells—biliverdin, which is blue-green, and protoporphyn IX, which is rusty brown. But the hosts can fight back with evolutionary countermeasures.\n\nStoddard says that these tint tactics evolve slowly. “Often we’re talking hundreds or thousands of years. These are long-timescale processes,” she said. But recent research indicates some species may be able to adapt more rapidly, changing colors within about 50 years.\n\nThe Potential \n\nIn addition to the benefits of improving our understanding of evolution, Stoddard said this research lights her fire because, despite the great diversity of color signals that exist in nature, these are unique. “These eggs are such extraordinary mimics in some cases, it is a reminder of just how impressive evolution can be at generating novel and beautiful colors and patterns,” she said. “And in this case, it’s for deception.”"}, {"Source": "bottlenose dolphin", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "learn from peers", "Function2": "pass on knowledge", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/dolphins-learn-new-behaviors-from-their-peers/", "Strategy": "Peer‑to‑Peer Learning\nSpreads Innovations Rapidly\n\nNew generations of bottlenose dolphins adapt to changing situations by learning from peers and not just mothers.\nIntroduction \n\nThink of the last time you learned something from a friend. Was it a game? A cool trick? A lifesaving skill? Turns out, bottlenose dolphins learn from their peers too. This may not seem all that surprising, but up until recently, the only type of learning scientists had observed in dolphins was parent-child learning—the “do as mother does” strategy. Now, it seems some young dolphins have found a new way of capturing food, and it’s spreading like any online trend—from friend to friend, without (too many) moms involved.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nThe hip new foraging technique is called “shelling.” A dolphin chases a fish into a large shell (such as that of a sea snail), carries the shell up to the surface of the water using its snout, or rostrum, then dumps the water out of the shell in such a way that the fish falls right into the dolphin’s open mouth. This is only the second reported case of tool usage in dolphins. The other technique, called “sponging,” is where a dolphin carries a sea sponge on the tip of its rostrum and uses it to sift through rocks and broken coral on the seafloor. The poking and prodding stirs up fish that normally hide amongst the sediments and debris, and the sponge, worn like a protective glove, prevents the dolphins’ rostra from being scraped up in the process. Interestingly, knowledge of the sponging technique tends to be passed on consistently from mother to child. Statistical analysis of shelling, on the other hand, indicated that an estimated 57% of dolphins learned the technique through “social transmission,” from peers or older non-parent individuals.\n\nThe Potential \n\nAs our planet experiences more and more rapid environmental change, humans may need to take one from the dolphins, encouraging innovation and knowledge sharing both between and within generations. Wisdom passed from parent to child is crucial for an individual’s survival, but when new ideas can also be introduced and spread from peer to peer, a population’s resilience will increase exponentially."}, {"Source": "bees and wasps' nest", "Application": "light-weight building materials", "Function1": "build space-efficient and strong nests", "Function2": "store more honey in a larger volume", "Function3": "high compression strength", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/honeycomb-structure-is-space-efficient-and-strong/", "Strategy": "Honeycomb Structure Is\nSpace‑Efficient and Strong\n\nBees and wasps build space-efficient and strong nests using hexagonal cells.\n\nIntroduction \n\nThe question of why honey bees adapted to building their nests from hexagonal cells has been debated for centuries. In On the Origin of Species, Darwin theorized that natural selection led to “an economy of wax.” Being frugal with wax is wise work for a honey bee given they need to consume approximately eight pounds of honey to produce one pound of wax.\n\nBut it took mathematicians studying the hexagon shape to make a beeline to the truth. Around 36 B.C., a scholar by the name of Marcus Terentius Varro first wrote about this particular math problem, later dubbed the “the honeycomb conjecture,” by stating that, compared to other shapes such as a triangle or a square, a “hexagon inscribed in a circular figure encloses the greatest amount of space.”\n\nThe Strategy \n\nIn a 2019 interview, Thomas Hales—the mathematician who finally proved the conjecture—said that ultimately, “A hexagonal honeycomb is the way to fit the most area with the least perimeter.” From a bee’s perspective, that means storing more honey in a larger volume while spending less energy building a structure to contain it. In other words, Darwin was right.\n\nAnd space-efficiency isn’t the only benefit of building with hexagons. Stacked together, hexagons fill spans in an offset arrangement with six short walls around each “tube,” giving structures a high compression strength. Beehives also dissipate heat well, preventing the waxy structure from melting on hot days. Though few species of wasps store honey, they too build nests using hexagonal cells, taking advantage of these same benefits. Efficiency, strength, and controlled heat loss are all important for human structures as well, so it’s no wonder that honeycombs inspire human design.\n\nThe Potential \n\nScientists and engineers have incorporated hexagonal designs into seemingly endless applications, including light-weight building materials, flexible panels for bridge construction, sound absorption, light diffusion, catalyst design, magnetic shielding, tissue engineering, and even building better surfboards.\n\n“He must be a dull man who can examine the exquisite structure of a comb, so beautifully adapted to its end, without enthusiastic admiration,” wrote Darwin. As we examine these structures more than a century and a half later, we’re still finding new things to admire and emulate."}, {"Source": "earwig wing", "Application": "self-deploying crafts", "Function1": "self-fold wing", "Function2": "quickly self-fold", "Function3": "snap from a stable folded state to a stable open state", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/earwigs-complex-origami-wing-fold/", "Strategy": "Earwigs’ Complex Origami Wing‑Fold\n\nA complex series of joints enables earwig wings to spring from folded to flight without the use of muscles.\nIntroduction \n\nFlying may be at the top of the list for desirable superpowers, but not many of us think of the incredible wings of humble earwigs (order Dermaptera), common insects small enough to fit on a penny. Often referred to as “pincher bugs” in the U.S. due to their large pincers, they can often be found crawling around dark, damp places like basements and wood piles. Their name comes from the historic misconception that they sought out the inside of human ears, but rest assured, they want nothing to do with your earwax. They do, however, have some of the most impressive wings in the animal kingdom.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nUsually neatly tucked away under leathery forewings, earwig wings spring into shape when needed for flight, expanding more than ten times larger than their folded size. They’re a prime example of a natural folding pattern optimized for both flying strength and flexibility.\n\nDespite their relatively large size, insect wings contain active muscles only where the wing attaches to the body. But this doesn’t detract from the wings’ ability to support the insect’s weight and maintain stability in the air.\n\nIn earwigs, the key is in the structure of the wing, which has evolved to quickly self-fold from the open to the closed state. Instead of using muscles, it is preprogrammed within the folding structure, using joints similar to, but more complex than, those found in the ancient Japanese craft of origami.\n\nShaped a bit like a folding fan, the wing is divided into a stiff outer and a more flexible inner region, with the leading edge supplying some stiffness from the base to the wing tip. This strong leading edge helps it bear aerodynamic loads. A critical central mechanism gives the wing the ability to snap from a stable folded state to a stable open state: when folded it takes the shape of convex and concave folds, whereas in the open state it becomes a concave pyramid, locking into place for flight and giving the open wing stability. The entire wing is curved slightly in the middle, allowing it to withstand higher bending forces than if it were completely flat.\n\nThe strength of such a flexible wing is due to the presence and distribution of resilin, a type of protein found in the joints, or creases. Resilin strengthens the wing along these joints, which provide both folding lines and flexion lines (lines along which the wing bends up or down during flight). The joints come in two forms: asymmetrical joints give the wing rotational spring, while symmetrical joints allow for greater extension or stretching.\n\nFlexible wings come with a number of benefits over rigid wings: earwigs can fly slowly, move at a wide range of speeds, and have a high level of maneuverability in the air. All this on top of their incredibly lightweight nature and ability to be tucked away for protection.\n\nThe Potential \n\nEarwigs have the potential to revolutionize human design by demonstrating that delicate, lightweight materials can have incredible strength while still offering flexibility.\n\nEarwig wings have evolved a remarkable structure that simultaneously supports the folding process as well as flight, all controlled passively by stored energy within the structure itself. Using these mechanisms could inspire and improve human design on a range of materials, from everyday objects like self-collapsing maps and tents, to self-deploying crafts used for space exploration –it could really cause a whole new world to “open up.”"}, {"Source": "magnetotactic bacteria", "Application": "nanopumps", "Function1": "detect earth's magnetic field", "Function2": "simplify navigation", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/the-bacteria-that-ride-magnetic-field-lines/", "Strategy": "The Bacteria That Ride Magnetic Field Lines\n\nBiologically produced crystals help some bacteria detect Earth's magnetic field to simplify navigation.\nIntroduction \n\nAt winter’s end, somewhere in the Arctic, you look around to see the night sky dance with green bands of light that reflect on the snow below, painting the white landscape a deep jade.\n\nThe aurora, or northern or southern lights, occur when high-energy particles from solar flares smash into gas molecules in our atmosphere. And the light these collisions produce travels along invisible magnetic field lines that wrap Earth in a spaghetti network called the magnetosphere.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nThe magnet-directed movement of these aquatic bacteria is called “magnetotaxis.” It doesn’t pull bacteria along geomagnetic field lines like a magnet attracts metal, but only aligns their single-celled bodies with those lines. The bacteria must still wiggle their flagella to move forward or backward.\n\nThe Potential \n\nMagnetite nanoparticles, like those found in magnetotactic bacteria, could become critical components of many nanotechnological innovations. Nanopumps could deliver drugs to specific cells in the body to improve their healing powers. Nanomachines might seek out and destroy individual tumor cells to treat people with cancer. Nanogenerators could create electricity from kinetic energy extracted from water molecules in ocean waves or air molecules in gusting wind."}, {"Source": "wet marsh", "Application": "natural water purification", "Function1": "filter waste", "Function2": "recycle beneficial compounds", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/how-kidneys-filter-and-recycle/", "Strategy": "How Kidneys Filter and Recycle\n\nHuman kidneys filter waste from the blood and recycle beneficial compounds back into it using osmosis, variations in membrane permeability, and protein pumps.\n\nIntroduction \n\nWalking around a wet marsh it might not occur that one of the world’s best water filters lies beneath your feet. Soil itself physically sieves large particulates as water flows through it. Some clay soils chemically absorb pesticides and other compounds. Bacteria that live in soil also degrade some pollutants absorbed from the atmosphere as a result of burning fossil fuels.\n\nSoil’s bulk filtration isn’t enough to treat drinking water, however. Before it reaches our taps, fine-tuned treatment plants make targeted adjustments so that the water we drink is safe.\n\nKidneys filter blood using a similar two-stage process with bulk filtration followed by a selective system that removes or recycles specific compounds.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nA kidney’s primary purpose is to filter metabolic waste products from our blood. To do so effectively, it has to process a lot of fluid, which also ends up removing water, minerals, and glucose from the blood—things our bodies need. If the kidney didn’t recycle these useful compounds, we would have to consume gallons of water and large quantities of minerals each day.\n\nThe machinery of the kidneys is a collection of over a million independent processing lines—the nephrons. A nephron has two functional zones, the glomerulus and the tubule.\n\nThe Potential \n\nLearning to better separate and recycle compounds could help existing industrial chemical processes become more efficient and reduce emissions. Improved separation technologies could increase the amount of  particulate, bacteria, and chemicals removed in sewage and water treatment plants, allowing us to recycle cleaner water. How else might nephron filtering inspire human innovation?"}, {"Source": "hermit crab", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "find new shells", "Function2": "upgrade living quarters", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/social-networking-aids-housing-search/", "Strategy": "Hermit Crabs Use Social\nNetworking to Find New Homes\n\nCrabs use “synchronous vacancy chain” behavior to find new shells fast and avoid risky homelessness.\n\nIntroduction \n\nLong ago, hermit crabs figured out an elegant way to solve a problem that continues to frustrate humans: How to find new abodes that are just right for them and how to efficiently manage their housing stock in general.\n\nHermit crabs have soft bodies that are defenseless against the hot sun and the sharp teeth and beaks of predators. For protection, they hunker into shells discarded by other sea creatures, and they carry their newfound shelters around like camping trailers.\n\nBut as hermit crabs grow throughout their lives, their shells become too tight. They must find larger ones—and they must do it fast, or risk being left exposed and vulnerable.\n \n\nThe Strategy \n\nWhenever any empty shell washes ashore, crabs throughout the vicinity converge on it, no matter its shape. If the size isn’t right, they wait.\n\nThey line up in size order, like a class of elementary-school children, often piggybacking on one another’s shells. The biggest crab is at the head of the line, and it is the first to try on the empty shell. If the shell fits, the crab moves in. And that launches a chain reaction—because one crab’s castoff is another’s new castle.\n\nThe next crab in line will swiftly switch into the vacated shell, leaving behind an empty shell for the next in line. In quick succession, many crabs will simultaneously upgrade their living quarters and avoid the risks of homelessness for even a few minutes.\n\nThis social networking behavior is called a “synchronous vacancy chain,” and it triggers a multiplier effect: The introduction of one shell benefits not just one lucky crab in the right place at the right time, but many individuals in the community. Not only that, it ensures that limited, reusable goods are efficiently distributed."}, {"Source": "cyphochilus beetle's elliptical scales", "Application": "white pigments", "Function1": "scatter all wavelengths of light", "Function2": "reflect specific wavelengths", "Function3": "refract or interfere with specific wavelengths of light", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/the-beetles-that-scatter-all-the-light/", "Strategy": "The Beetles That Scatter “All the Light”\n\nRandomly arranged filaments scatter all wavelengths of light, and their optimized spacing maximizes the effect.\nIntroduction \n\nLady-bug polka dots, tiger stripes, and emerald green tree leaves are all examples of chemical pigmentation—when compounds absorb and reflect various wavelengths of light. But physical structures can also scatter light, revealing a rainbow of colors without chemicals.\nThe color blue in nature, like that seen on bluebird feathers or morpho butterfly wings, is often the result of this kind of light-bending microscopic textures. The arrangement of such structures is generally periodic—with even and repeating spacing—to refract or interfere with specific wavelengths of light.\n\nOne exception occurs in white beetle species. Their “aperiodic” microstructures have  no repeating pattern at all. So how do they become such a brilliant white?\n\nThe Strategy \n\nTiny elliptical scales cover a Cyphochilus beetle’s head, body, and legs, overlapping one another a bit like fish scales. Using powerful microscopes to study individual scales, scientists found they were made of randomly oriented filaments. Ironically, the disordered arrangement of these filaments (their lack of periodicity) causes white beetles to uniformly scatter all wavelengths of light. From chaos, comes order.\n\nWhiteness in nature is relatively rare. Although not known with certainty, in beetles, it’s believed to offer the same benefits as colors in other species. It signals health to potential mates, and helps them identify members of the same species. Some species of white beetles have been able to forage for longer durations under a hot sun, suggesting the color may also help regulate their temperatures.\n\nThe Potential \n\nTitanium dioxide is the most widely used white colorant with applications in paint, paper, traffic stripes, sunscreen, toothpaste, food, and cosmetics. Not only is mining titanium dioxide harmful to the environment, but health regulators have designated that inhaling fine particles of the mineral is “possibly carcinogenic to humans.” Studying Cyphochilus beetles is helping us to “see the light,” inspiring white structural pigments that would avoid these pitfalls."}, {"Source": "elephant's trunk", "Application": "robot arms", "Function1": "provide the strength, support, and resistance", "Function2": "bend and twist with extreme agility", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/how-elephant-trunks-twist-and-twirl/", "Strategy": "How Elephant Trunks Twist and Twirl\n\nThree muscle fiber patterns inside trunks work together to provide the strength, support, and resistance needed to bend and twist with extreme agility.\nIntroduction \n\nUnder the scorching sun, an African elephant dips his twisting trunk into a waterhole and slurps up mud. Thousands of muscles guide its delicate dance as it probes every which way. Full of muddy water—up to 3 gallons (12 liters)—it swings above the elephant’s head and curls upward so he can spray his own back with the cooling mixture.\n\nIn 1706, Scottish surgeon and anatomist Patrick Blair described the complex musculature of an elephant’s trunk, noting intricate patterns of muscle fibers that permit such varied movement. “And I think I may with good reason make an analogy betwixt it and the tongue,” he wrote, because both trunks and tongues lack bones, enabling these organs to contort in almost any direction.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nMost muscles require bones to support them and joints to cantilever their movements. To raise your forearm from your side, you flex your biceps, which rotates the forearm across the hinge of your elbow.\n\nMuscular organs without bones and joints—like elephant trunks, snake tongues, and octopus arms—are called muscular hydrostats. They support themselves instead with a complex arrangement of muscle fibers. The most important feature of hydrostats, and what enables them to move without bones, is that the volume of water within them stays constant. An elephant trunk is composed almost entirely of water and muscle (which is itself mostly water). Because this volume of water stays constant, when the elephant moves its trunk in one direction, there will automatically be a compensating change in another direction.\n\nThe Potential \n\nElephant trunks contain more than 40,000 muscles while entire human bodies contain fewer than 650. Trunks can lift 770 pounds (350 kg) yet pick up a single tortilla chip without breaking it.\n\nThe field of robotics has infinite applications for strong, dexterous movements. Robots that mimic elephant trunks have already been developed to grip fragile objects or serve as a “third-hand” for medical applications. As humans explore Mars and other celestial bodies searching for signs of extraterrestrial life, rovers equipped with robotic elephant arms might be strong enough to clear boulders from pathways yet agile enough to gingerly swab objects for bacteria."}, {"Source": "mantis shrimp's raptorial appendage", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "deliver high-velocity powerful strike", "Function2": "break mollusk shells", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/appendage-creates-tremendous-forces/", "Strategy": "How Bubbles Super‑Power\nthe Mantis Shrimp’s Punch\n\nThe appendage of the mantis shrimp strikes with a tremendous amount of force enhanced by cavitation bubbles.\nIntroduction \n\nThe mantis shrimp is a marine crustacean distinguished by its ability to deliver high-velocity powerful strikes that can break mollusk shells and even aquaria glass. It does this with its raptorial appendages–forelegs specialized for protection and feeding. There are many different species of mantis shrimp, and the morphology of its raptorial appendage classifies the mantis shrimp as either a spearer, smasher, or undifferentiated. While the rapid movement and initial force of the striking mechanism is due to power amplification, smasher and undifferentiated species can add extra force to their strike by producing cavitation bubbles.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nThe raptorial appendage is divided into four segments: the merus (closest to the body), carpus, propodus, and dactyl. The shape of the dactyl differentiates the shrimp as a spearer, smasher, or undifferentiated species. Spearing appendages are long, pointed segments that slice through the water and soft prey. Smasher and undifferentiated appendages, on the other hand, have blunt, bulbous “heels” on the dactyl used to deliver forceful blows in close range. This rapidly accelerating heel is what creates a cavitation bubble."}, {"Source": "dwarf mountain pine's cuticular wax", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "enhance photosynthesis", "Function2": "convert uv light into blue light", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/fluorophores-enhance-photosynthesis/", "Strategy": "Fluorophores Enhance Photosynthesis\n\nThe cuticular wax of the dwarf mountain pine enhances photosynthesis by using fluorophores that convert UV light into blue light that can be used for photosynthesis under low-light conditions.\n\nThe dwarf mountain pine (Pinus mugo) grows at high elevations in the Alps on vertical or nearly-vertical slopes, often leaving it shaded by other foliage.  Unlike many plants which produce seed seasonally, the mountain pine produces seed all-year round. The production and development of these seeds requires significant amounts of energy from photosynthesis, but the constant shading from other trees makes access to light difficult.  Thus, the mountain pine must be able to maximize its photosynthetic capacity even under low light-conditions in order to ensure seed production.\n\nPlants normally absorb light in the visible spectrum, and either scatter or filter UV light because it can be damaging to multiple plant processes. However, the leaves of the dwarf mountain pine contain a waxy cuticle loaded with fluorophores, which absorb UV light and convert it into blue light, which can then be used for photosynthesis. This allows the mountain pine to increase the amount of light it can use for photosynthesis, providing it with energy even under low-light conditions."}, {"Source": "flower", "Application": "solar panels", "Function1": "alter cell water level", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/flowers-follow-sun/", "Strategy": "Water Pressure Helps Flowers Follow the Sun\n\nLight intensity concentrates hormones that alter the water levels in cells causing plants to bend toward the light source.\nIntroduction \n\nPlants may not seem to lead lives as complex as those of animals, especially since they can’t move much from the spot where they’ve sprouted. They have, however, found many ways around their immobile lifestyle to reproduce, compete with other plants for resources, adapt to their environment, and avoid or defend themselves from herbivores.\n\nWhile they cannot relocate, plants can alter their structure in response to changes in their environment: this turning of part or all of the organism is called tropism. The various types of tropisms include gravitropism (reacting to gravity), thigmotropism (reacting to physical contact), phototropism (reacting to light), and heliotropism (growing or changing their shape in response to sunlight specifically). An example of this is a flower opening, closing, and/or orienting itself at different times of the day according to when the sun is out and where it is.\n\nHeliotropism requires some use of energy, but it’s worth the effort for plants because it helps them to get much more of the energy they need to continue growing, maintain ideal temperatures, and attract pollinators.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nTropism of all kinds works because environmental cues trigger a hormonal response that causes the plant’s cells to grow or expand – some faster than others. The plant redirects itself over time as its tissues respond to these environmental cues.\n\nAuxins are a class of hormones known to be involved in a plant’s response to light. An increase in auxin levels occurs in the part of the plant that receives less light, which results in the elongation of cells in those areas through a weakening of the rigid cell wall and an increase in the cell’s water intake. This response reaches the tissue level when many cells have expanded on the shaded side of the plant. The plant may continue to orient itself in the direction it is growing, change its orientation to align with sunlight, or orient itself at an angle to sunlight if there are other aspects of its environment preventing it from aligning perfectly with the sun.\n\nThe Potential \n\nOur knowledge of heliotropism, along with other ways plants move and orient themselves, can serve as a foundation for the development of crop management strategies and biomechanical technologies.\n\nTaking inspiration from plant heliotropism can help us to develop more sustainable technologies for harnessing solar energy, through the ingenious strategy of following the sun without uprooting. It has already inspired the creation of self-directing solar panels that use soft robots made of materials that bend and move with changes in water pressure to face the sun and absorb and store as much light as possible.\n\nWhile a plant’s responses to myriad environmental cues are difficult to tease apart, what tropism comes down to is adapting relatively quickly to the environment according to the plant’s needs. At large and small scales, that opens countless pathways for human inspiration."}, {"Source": "chimpanzee's termite fishing", "Application": "sharing tools", "Function1": "train the next generation", "Function2": "share tools and knowledge", "Function3": "teach through sharing", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/sharing-tools-passes-on-knowledge/", "Strategy": "Sharing Tools Passes on Knowledge\n\nChimpanzees train the next generation simply by sharing tools. \nIntroduction \n\nBeneath a forested canopy in the Republic of Congo’s Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park, wild chimpanzees gain valuable termite-fishing skills. In this outdoor ape classroom, mothers pass tools––and knowledge––to the next generation.\n\nLiving in social communities of 15-150 members, these chimpanzees travel in small groups during the day, hunting and foraging for foods like fruit, honey, and insects. The young stay with, feed with, and learn from their mothers for 7-10 years before becoming fully independent.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nChimps are famously humanity’s closest living relatives, sharing 98.7% of our genetic code. This has heightened their reputation for their intelligence and tool use. They are also highly adaptable and heavily influenced by human presence. But the wild chimpanzees in the remote Goualougo Triangle, a dense lowland forest located between two rivers, have had little or no human contact. Hidden video technology at termite nest sites provided a chance to observe wild behaviors few had seen before.\n\nCameras captured video of tool sharing behavior, the first observed and documented evidence in wild apes that fits scientific criteria for teaching. Adult chimpanzees select long plant stems to poke into huge termite nests and extract a hearty insect snack. When younger chimps want to try, they beg and the adults hand over their termite-gathering tools.\n\nThe Potential \n\nTeaching through sharing has led to developing efficient new strategies to both spread the lesson and minimize impact on the teacher. It fosters sustainable ways to fulfill the demands of less skilled community members and multiplies learning opportunities. How might humans put similar approaches to use?"}, {"Source": "mantis shrimp's raptorial appendage", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "generate rapid and forceful movement", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/appendage-strikes-with-amplified-speed/", "Strategy": "Appendage Strikes With Amplified Speed\n\nThe raptorial appendage of the mantis shrimp strikes with tremendous speed and force through power amplification.\n\nThe mantis shrimp is an aggressive marine crustacean that uses specialized forelimbs (called raptorial appendages) to capture its prey. Mantis shrimp that are “smashers” use a hammer-like strike to destroy the shells of snails and other mollusks, exposing the soft body of the animal so that it can be eaten. The mantis shrimp’s strike can even smash aquarium glass. It does this with a tough bulbous heel on the raptorial appendages, which function in both feeding and protection. The raptorial appendage, like most of the mantis shrimp’s body, is composed of tough exoskeletal material. It is divided into four segments: the merus (closest to the body) houses the major muscle groups. Next is the carpus, propodus, and then the dactyl, which differs in shape depending on the species of mantis shrimp. “Smashers” bear the hard heel on their dactyls. While there are many different species of mantis shrimp, the raptorial appendages use the same principle to generate rapid and forceful movement. This principle is called power amplification.\n\nPower amplification systems amplify the mechanical power generated by relatively slow muscle contractions by separating muscle contraction and movement into two sequential steps: the load phase and the release phase.\n\nIn the load phase for the mantis shrimp raptorial appendage, flexor muscles in the merus contract to engage small hardened parts of the merus against other parts of the exoskeleton, which function like a latch to keep the whole appendage in place and prevent movement. At the same time, extensor muscles in the merus contract and bend other exoskeletal parts of the merus (the saddle and ventral bars), which store energy like a compressed spring. These flexor and extensor muscles are antagonistic, meaning that they produce opposite movements if they contract individually (your biceps, which flexes the arm, and triceps, which extends the arm, are a pair of antagonistic muscles); however, contracting at the same time enables the large extensor muscle to contract slowly while the appendage is flexed and “latched.” Instead of moving the appendage, the extensor muscle’s slow contraction stores energy as elastic potential energy, essentially loading a spring while it prepares to strike.\n\nWhen the mantis shrimp is ready to strike, the release phase begins as the flexor muscles relax to release the latch. The appendage’s saddle and ventral bars spring back to their original shape, releasing their stored elastic energy and causing the dactyl segment to rotate forward at speeds up to 45 miles/hour! Because the appendage motion in the release phase takes place over only milliseconds, the mantis shrimp greatly increases the power of its strike.\n\nThere’s more to this story, though: check out this related strategy describing how the mantis shrimp’s extremely fast appendages produce a cavitation bubble that creates even more force."}, {"Source": "vein system", "Application": "network design", "Function1": "optimize water and nutrient flow", "Function2": "rapidly respond to fluctuations in flow", "Function3": "resilient to damage", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/looped-network-optimizes-water-and-nutrient-flow/", "Strategy": "Looped Network Optimizes\nWater and Nutrient Flow\n\nVein systems in leaves allow for optimal flow and resilience to damage due to a dense network of nested, interconnected loops.\n\nIn both natural and man-made systems, networks transport materials from a central source to widely distributed destinations. Branched, tree-like networks that contain repeatedly forking nodes, as are often found in river networks and sewage systems, are one of the most common network designs. Although this design allows for rapid and efficient transport through a system, it is only optimal if the flow is constant across time and space. In other systems, such as the blood vessels of the brain and the veins of leaves, networks must be optimized to quickly respond to fluctuations in load, or rapidly re-route flow in response to damage. These networks all have a common pattern of interconnected, nested loops. Loops are essential for these networks, because they allow material to follow different paths as conditions change.\nFor example, in leaves of the lemon tree, a main vein runs through the center, transporting water to the photosynthetic cells, and sugars away from them. Secondary veins branch off the main vein, similar to a tree-like network. However, all the veins are additionally connected to each other through a pattern of nested loops, with several smaller loops inside larger ones. This pattern of interconnected, nested loops throughout the leaf allows for flow to be quickly re-routed to any other vein in the event of injury, or when a change in flow is required. This allows the leaf to rapidly and efficiently respond to fluctuations in flow, while remaining resilient to damage."}, {"Source": "odontotermes termite's below-ground mounds", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "influence grassland productivity", "Function2": "enhance plant and animal activity", "Function3": "promote water infiltration", "Function4": "discourage disruptive shrinking and swelling of topsoil", "Function5": "elevate levels of nutrients", "Function6": "mold ecosystem services", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/mounds-maximize-ecosystem-productivity/", "Strategy": "Mounds Maximize Ecosystem Productivity\n\nThe below-ground mounds of Odontotermes termites strongly influence savanna productivity via ordered spatial distribution and modification of soil composition.\n“The king of the savanna appears to be the termite, say ecologists who’ve found that these humble creatures contribute mightily to grassland productivity in central Kenya via a network of uniformly distributed colonies. Termite mounds greatly enhance plant and animal activity at the local level, while their even distribution over a larger area maximizes ecosystem-wide productivity…\n\n“The mechanism through which termite activity is transformed into far-reaching effects on the ecosystem is a complex one. Pringle and Palmer suspect termites import coarse particles into the otherwise fine soil in the vicinity of their mounds. These coarser particles promote water infiltration of the soil, even as they discourage disruptive shrinking and swelling of topsoil in response to precipitation or drought.\n\n“The mounds also show elevated levels of nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen. All this beneficial soil alteration appears to directly and indirectly mold ecosystem services far beyond the immediate vicinity of the mound.”\n \n“The findings also have important implications for conservation, Palmer says.\n\n“‘As we think restoring degraded ecosystems, as we think about restoring coral reefs, or restoring plant communities, this over-dispersed pattern is teaching us something,’ he says. ‘It’s saying we might want to think about doing our coral restoration or plant restoration in a way that takes advantage of this ecosystem productivity enhancing phenomenon.’”"}, {"Source": "squid chromatophores", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "reflect light", "Function2": "camouflage", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/platelets-reflect-light/", "Strategy": "Platelets Reflect Light\n\nReflector platelets within squid chromatophores reflect light because they are nanofabricated photonic structures composed of proteins called reflectins.\n“The cuttlefish, octopus, and squid are the undisputed champions of camouflage… They can instantly modulate their color, shading, patchiness, mottling or stippling, transparency, heat, and even bioluminescence, light-polarity, or iridescence.”"}, {"Source": "golden-fronted woodpecker's beak", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protect the brain", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/beak-shape-diverts-impact-forces/", "Strategy": "Beak Shape Diverts Impact Forces\n\nThe beak of the golden-fronted woodpecker protects the brain from trauma by having a shape and material composition that diverts vibrational forces away from the cranial cavity.\n\nSpecies of woodpeckers, such as the golden-fronted woodpecker (Melanerpes aurifrons), drum with their beak to establish their territories and attract mates. The high-speed pecking motion causes a tremendous amount of stressed force on the animal. However, the woodpecker has a specialized beak that helps to prevent physical and neurological trauma by diverting forces away from the brain. Its beak will absorb and divert forces 2-8 times greater than that of the skull.\n\nThe beak is comprised of two layers—an interior layer of strong, dense bone, and an exterior layer of flexible tissue matter. While the exterior layer of the upper beak is slightly longer than that of the lower beak, X-ray imaging shows that the interior layer of the lower beak is slightly longer than its upper counterpart."}, {"Source": "shewanella bacteria's cell membrane", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "facilitate electron flow", "Function2": "complete redox reaction", "Function3": "leverage balance between opposing forces", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/proteins-facilitate-iron-iii-reduction/", "Strategy": "Proteins Facilitate Iron (III) Reduction\n\nThe cell membranes of Shewanella bacteria living in oxygen-free environments allow minerals to do the electro-chemical work of oxygen via a series of membrane-bound iron-reducing proteins.\n\nOrganisms need to break down (oxidize) their food in order to obtain energy and/or the building blocks required for cellular processes such as building muscle. Oxygen was long believed to be the only oxidizing agent that would allow an organism to efficiently metabolize nutrients. Certain bacteria, like Shewenella, that live in oxygen-free environments have instead evolved the ability to use minerals as oxidizers for metabolism instead of oxygen. In fact, they can do this while the insoluble mineral remains outside the cell.\n\nLike many processes in nature, oxidation leverages a balance between opposing forces, which in this case, is the taking and giving up of electrons — the substance being oxidized gives up one or more electrons that are, in turn, taken up by the oxidizing agent (a substance that has accepted electrons is said to be “reduced”). Chemically speaking, all participants are satisfied in the end. But in order for the exchange of electrons to occur, there has to be a pathway for them to flow between the oxidizing agent and the substance being oxidized, just like a cord acts as a pathway for the electrons-in-waiting in an electric socket to reach a light bulb in a lamp. Most organisms, including humans, bring the oxidizing agent (the oxygen we inhale) and the substance to be oxidized (the nutrients in the food we consume) together inside our cells to facilitate the oxidation-reduction (redox) reaction. Remarkably, rather than “inhaling” iron oxide, Shewenella passes the electrons along a series of proteins that extend from inside the cell, through the inner and outer cellular membranes and into the space outside the cell where the electrons are taken up by the insoluble metal mineral thereby completing the redox reaction.\n\n"}, {"Source": "clownfish and sea anemone", "Application": "waterproof coatings", "Function1": "provide shelter", "Function2": "provide fertilizer", "Function3": "mutual protection", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/intricate-relationship-allows-the-other-to-flourish/", "Strategy": "How the Clownfish and Sea\nAnemone Help Each Other\n\nOne provides shelter, the other provides fertilizer, and both are better off for it.\n\nIntroduction \n\nOf the more than 1,000 anemone species that live in the ocean, only 10 species coexist with the 26 species of tropical clownfish. Within these species, only select pairs of anemone and clownfish are compatible. Together, they are obligatory symbionts, which means that each species is highly dependent on the other for survival. Symbiosis between the two species is achieved in a variety of ways including a mutual protection from predators, an exchange of nutrients, and the clownfish’s tolerance of anemone nematocysts.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nIn order to live among the anemone, clownfish protect themselves from nematocyst strikes. Nematocysts are harpoon-like stingers on the anemone’s tentacles used to capture prey and ward off predators. While other fish approach the anemone as a potential food source, the clownfish doesn’t even try to eat the nutrient-rich tentacles. This avoids triggering an attack from the anemone.\n\nThe Potential \n\nThe clownfish mucus layer could inspire coatings that protect humans underwater from punctures, scrapes, and stings. But perhaps more importantly, studying the relationships between organisms that rely on one another reminds us that a single strategy isn’t always the most effective. Like nature, much of science relies on incremental discoveries that together lead to innovation. Each scientist shares information and data that can be used by others to advance their own research and add to the overall body of human knowledge."}, {"Source": "green birdwing butterfly's wing scale", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "enhance black pigment", "Function2": "absorb light", "Function3": "reduce reflection", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/wing-scales-aid-thermoregulation/", "Strategy": "Wing Scales Aid Thermoregulation\n\nThe wing scales of a green birdwing butterfly help regulate body heat by using a honeycomb structure to enhance black pigments found in the wings.\n\n“At the other extreme are butterflies like Ornithoptera priamus–‘ultrablack,’ [Peter] Vukusic calls it. Again, structure is key. Its honeycombed wing scales absorb more light than would a smooth surface, so the black pigment looks blacker still. The hue helps regulate body heat and makes other wing colors stand out in mating displays.”\n\n“In our previous studies, we have already discovered that structurally assisted blackness is a common phenomenon in black butterfly wings and furthermore an ideal structure for improving the blackness. Compared with the porous structures in other species of butterflies, the structure in the cover scales of the black wings of butterfly Ornithoptera goliath is mainly comprised of adjacent inverse V-type ridges, which can effectively reduce reflection, while at the same time keep transmission at a relatively low level. However, limited by the optical properties of the natural chitin/melanin composite, the effect of the structure in producing black materials is far from fully exploited.”"}, {"Source": "sea ice diatom's protein", "Application": "antifreeze", "Function1": "inhibit recrystallization", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/protein-enables-growth-in-freezing-temperatures/", "Strategy": "Protein Enables Growth\nin Freezing Temperatures\n\nThe protein secretion of the sea ice diatom enables growth in freezing temperatures by inhibiting the recrystallization of the surrounding ice crystals\n\nWhen temperatures drop, we bundle up to protect ourselves from freezing temperatures. Other creatures don’t have that option, so they have evolved unique strategies for protecting themselves from the cold. One such strategy features a special protein.\n\nSea ice diatoms are single-celled algae that live in cold, aquatic environments, including in the brine channels or on the surface of polar sea ice. They have evolved mechanisms to protect themselves against the extremes of temperature, salinity, and light found in polar environments.\n\nIce crystals grow around the outermost layer, or cell wall, of sea ice diatoms. The diatom excretes something called an extracellular (meaning outside the cell) ice-binding protein (IBN). This protein binds to the ice crystals and prevents the diatom from freezing. Scientists think the protein fits the shape of the ice-crystals, like a three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle. The protein locks the tiny ice crystals in place and prevents them from becoming a larger ice crystal, in a process called ice recrystallization.\n\nIce recrystallization is one of the primary means of cell death in freezing temperatures. While small ice crystals can exist at the surface of cells without causing cell death, large ice crystals cannot. Large ice crystals form when small ice crystals next to each other join together and align themselves in the same direction. Then they act like knives to the cells. The large ice crystals are powerful enough to force their way in between cells and puncture the cell wall. The insides of the cells, when exposed to freezing temperatures, die. The extracellular ice-binding proteins prevent the large ice crystals from forming and are essential for the growth and survival of sea ice diatoms embedded in ice. (Nature often replicates a strategy that works, and IBPs are found in many other organisms, including bacteria, fungi, algae, plants, insects, and fish.)\n\nDiatoms are found throughout the world. Scientists estimate they are responsible for around 40% of all primary production on earth. Through the process of photosynthesis, they produce much of the oxygen on earth. In addition to keeping us breathing, sea ice diatoms could help us develop nontoxic antifreezes or other strategies to prevent ice crystal formation.  Monitoring sea ice diatom populations could also serve as an important indicator of climate change."}, {"Source": "beetle's carapace", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "reflect light", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/layers-create-multihued-appearance/", "Strategy": "Layers Create Multihued Appearance\n\nCarapace of beetle appears multihued because of ultrathin layers in a corkscrew orientation.\n\n“Gymnopleurus virens beetles have shells that change from red in the centre to green around the edges or from green to blue…the shells are made of thousands of ultrathin layers, with each successive layer slightly twisted in relation to the one above. ‘It’s a corkscrew effect,’ says Brink.\n“This corkscrew structure causes the shell to reflect only that portion of light which has the same corkscrew orientation – known as circularly polarised light. ‘When the corkscrews match, you get astonishingly efficient reflection of almost 100 per cent,’ says Brink.\n\n“The team also found that the shells have defects, in which a layer swings around by 90 degrees. This in turn changes the spacing between the layers, allowing the shell to reflect more than one wavelength of light. These defects combine with the shell’s shape to give it its iridescence.”"}, {"Source": "west african gaboon viper's scale", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "reduce light reflection", "Function2": "create ultra blackness", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/scale-microstructures-reduce-reflection/", "Strategy": "Scale Microstructures Reduce Reflection\n\nMicro-and nano-structures on snake scale create ultra-blackness by reducing light reflection.\n\nThe West African Gaboon Viper is famous for its camouflage. Geometric patterns of dark and light coloration on its skin make the snake nearly invisible against the forest floor. Moreover, the dark sections of the viper’s skin have a unique blackness called “ultra black,” which makes the snake even harder to spot. While ordinary black surfaces absorb most of the light that hits them, some light escapes and is reflected back to the viewer. This viper’s black scales, however, reflect almost no light, taking on a velvet-like appearance. Though the snake��s scales do contain pigments, the secret to this ultra-blacknesses lies in the micro- and nano-structure on each scale’s surface. By preventing reflection, these surface structures enhance the light absorption of the pigments, creating an even darker black.\n\nThe way in which this unique coloration is created is called “structural color.” Scientists have discovered this kind of color production across many animals and some plants, such as  the vibrant blue of the Morpho butterfly and the iridescent skin of berries. Most of the colors we see on a daily basis are likely caused by pigments rather than structures. Pigments are chemical molecules that absorb light of certain wavelengths. In the case of structural color, on the other hand, the shape of the surface material creates color by reflecting some but not all wavelengths of light. This leads to production of a certain coloration.\n\nWhat kind of structures can create a matte black surface like that of the Gaboon Viper? The viper’s black scales feature a hierarchical micro- and nanostructured surface. They are covered with 30 μm tall ridges, which are described by researchers as “leaf-like” structures. The surface of this microstructure has even tinier crests that are about 600 nm tall. Areas between the leaf-like projections are covered with hair-like protuberances (spinules). The size of these structures is similar to that of  visible wavelengths of light (380-700nm).\n\nThis microscopic structure creates ultra blackness in the viper by reducing light reflection. If light hits a smooth surface, it is usually reflected back to the viewer. The structures on the scale, however, are thought to guide light waves toward the viper’s skin instead of the viewer. Each time that light hits one of these micro/nano-structures, some is absorbed and the rest is reflected. The newly reflected light hits other micro/nano-structures, with some more light being absorbed and the remainder being reflected. This process repeats itself with less and less light being reflected each time until no more light can be reflected. By the end, very little light is reflected to the viewer. One study shows that velvet black scales reflect four times less light than pale scales do in the UV to near IR range. This reduced light reflection results in the unique velvet appearance of the viper’s black skin. Because of its microscopic surface structure, the viper’s skin is not glossy, allowing it to effectively hunt for prey and evade predators."}, {"Source": "shark's squalamine", "Application": "antiviral therapy", "Function1": "resist viral infection", "Function2": "prevent viral infection", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/steroid-prevents-viral-infection/", "Strategy": "The Shark Steroid That\nCloaks Cells From Viruses\n\nPositively-charged squalamine binds to negatively-charged cell membranes, displacing proteins and blocking viruses from replicating.\n\nIntroduction \n\nIn Native Hawaiian culture, people have at times performed rituals so that ancestors would become ‘aumakua—spiritual guardians often taking the form of animals, especially sharks. Some families relate how a shark ‘aumakua rescued someone from drowning or herded fish into nets to enlarge a fisherman’s catch. Other shark gods called manō kumupa‘a have also been seen as protectors of humanity.\n\nRecent science may prove sharks to be our champions out of the water as well. These sleek denizens of the deep have existed for 450 million years—longer than trees—and their immune systems have contributed to their longevity. One part of this defense system is a chemical called squalamine, which resists viral infection and just might serve as an antiviral therapy for humans.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nThe squalamine molecule is a type of steroid not unlike the most abundant steroid in the human body: cholesterol. What makes squalamine unique is its long, positively-charged tail. We often hear “opposites attract,” and while that might not always ring true with human relationships, it is undeniably true in chemistry.\n\nThe Potential \n\nIn general, the more squalamine that was injected, the better it defended against viruses. The results demonstrated it has the potential to prevent viral infection, especially for viruses such as dengue and hepatitis B that affect liver cells, where squalamine eagerly binds to membranes.\nStereotypes of sharks as fearsome attack fish can interfere with us seeing them simply as fellow organisms in the web of life. They may not be as intentionally benevolent as ‘aumakua, but there is still much we can learn, and many ways we benefit from the lives of these ancient survivors."}, {"Source": "hummingbird's wingbeats", "Application": "quieter motors", "Function1": "produce lift and sound", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/wings-produce-a-musical-hum/", "Strategy": "How a Hummingbird Hums\n\nHummingbirds produce lift and sound on both the downstroke and upstroke of their wingbeats, creating a steady musical hum instead of the pulsing whoosh of larger birds.\nIntroduction \n\nA hummingbird flits back and forth before flying up to a cluster of bright red cardinal flowers. As it levitates in front of one bloom after the other sipping sweet nectar to replenish the calories it needs to fly, it’s accompanied by the steady, pleasant sound that gives the bird its name in English.\nOther birds create a periodic whoosh sound with every flap of their wings. What gives the hummingbird its hum?\n\nThe Strategy \n\nMost birds flap their wings up and down––opening up on the downstroke to push against the air below, and tucking in on the upstroke to decrease resistance and more easily return to a high point to push down again. The downstroke creates a pressure wave, and that’s what we hear as the periodic woosh. Hummingbirds (and insects) don’t flap up and down. They hold their wings angled to the ground and flap them back and forth in a figure-8 pattern. This pushes against the air below during both parts of the stroke, enabling them to hover in place (like a human treading water) and producing a sound on both halves of the stroke.\n\nThe Potential \n\nWings make an array of noises, depending on what bird or insect is doing the flapping. Some insects use wing noises to attract mates while some birds may interpret flapping frequencies to understand the speed and position of other members of their flock. Some hummingbirds may recognize members of their species solely by hearing their hums. Overpowering human-generated noise can disrupt any of these natural systems.\n\nLearning from the specific harmonic layering produced by hummingbird wing strokes may provide insights on how to alter sounds of all kinds. Quieter or less distracting ship motors, cars, and flying drone vehicles could go a long way to reducing damaging noise pollution. Through such innovations, we might even produce more opportunities for people (and other hummingbirds) to hear a hummingbird’s hum."}, {"Source": "queen scallop's numerous simple eyes", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "detect changing patterns of movement", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/eyes-detect-changing-movement-patterns/", "Strategy": "Eyes Detect Changing Movement Patterns\n\nThe numerous simple eyes of the queen scallop detect changing patterns of movement using two retinas, one that responds to light and the other to darkness.\n“The scallop is the record holder for sheer numbers of eyes. It may have from 50 to 200 simple eyes, strung along the edge of its mantle like a string of glistening beads.\n\n“The eyes of a queen scallop are dotted all around the edge of its mantle. The jewel-like effect is due to a reflecting layer or tapetum behind each eye. Scallop eyes contain two types of retina — one responds to light, the other to sudden darkness, such as the shadow cast by an approaching predator. The scallop probably cannot interpret shapes, but can detect changing patterns of movement, such as moving light-dark changes.”"}, {"Source": "caterpillar's jaws and butterfly's proboscis", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "clip away neat semicircular holes", "Function2": "erode the leaf", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/mouthpart-functions-change/", "Strategy": "Mouthpart Functions Change\n\nThe mouthparts of a caterpillar and its butterfly serve drastically different functions with minimal energy loss because they arise from the same basic morphological pattern.\n\n“A caterpillar straddles the rim of a leaf and its jaws, like tiny secateurs, clip away neat semicircular holes and erode the leaf at a prodigious speed. A couple of months later, a butterfly pauses briefly on a flower and uncurls a long ‘tongue’ or proboscis with which it probes the heart of the bloom to suck up nectar. The butterfly was once the caterpillar, but since its metamorphosis it has adopted a completely different diet, and consequently its mouthparts have had to change shape dramatically. The mouthparts of both butterfly and caterpillar, however, are formed from the same basic pattern, a pattern shared by all insects. Just as birds’ beaks are adapted to their eating habits, so too are insect mouthparts.”"}, {"Source": "bat's immune system", "Application": "therapies that dampen our inflammatory response to coronavirus", "Function1": "produce a strong antiviral response", "Function2": "subdue inflammation", "Function3": "maintain high levels of interferons", "Function4": "decrease bat-human interactions", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/bats-avoid-viral-infection-with-super-immunity/", "Strategy": "Immune System Tolerates High‑level Infection\n\nBat “super” immunity combines a strong antiviral response with a subdued inflammatory reaction to endure viral infection without experiencing symptoms.\n\nIntroduction \n\nAncient Egyptians hung bats above their doorways because they believed the winged mammals had the power to ward off disease. Today, people often vilify bats as virus-spreading pests. But these misunderstood animals provide many ecosystem services that benefit us. More than 1,300 species of bats eat and control insect populations around the world, protecting crops and decreasing the need for chemical pesticides. They pollinate over 300 species of fruit and disperse seeds from mangos, bananas, and other fruits. Even their poop is a valuable fertilizer.\n\nNow, scientists are discovering another way bats can aid us. We may be able to learn from their “super” immune systems, which use a twofold strategy to help bats tolerate certain viruses without being harmed. Their body’s defenses produce a strong antiviral response while also subduing inflammation. “So they have kind of the best of both worlds,” said Arinjay Banerjee, in a recent interview discussing his research on big brown bat cells infected with the coronavirus that causes Middle East respiratory syndrome, or MERS.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nWhen most mammals’ cells detect an invading virus, they release proteins called cytokines, which launch an antiviral response that tries to block the virus from reproducing and spreading to other cells. The proteins also jump-start an inflammatory response, triggering symptoms like fever in an attempt to destroy the virus.\n\nUnfortunately, coronaviruses are good at evading this antiviral response. And the trouble doesn’t stop there. When human cells initiate their inflammatory response, things can quickly spin out of control into something called a cytokine storm. When that occurs, an uncontrolled cascade of \ninflammation can damage organs and if severe enough, cause death.\n\nThat’s not the case with certain bat cells, though. They maintain high levels of interferons, a type of cytokine that mounts an effective antiviral attack against coronaviruses without inducing runaway inflammation.\n\nThe Potential \n\nBanerjee’s research also showed that stress weakened the bats’ antiviral response, restoring the virus’s ability to replicate in their cells. And the greater the quantity of a virus in their bodies, the more likely bats are to “shed,” or excrete it into their surroundings. As a result, environmental threats like deforestation and development can cause food shortages and other stresses that make the chance of viruses crossing over from bats into humans more likely. Implementing conservation strategies to preserve bat habitats would not only decrease bat-human interactions but could also reduce stress-induced viral spillover, helping to protect humans from future pandemics.\n\nFurther study of bat immunity adaptations will expand our understanding of how bats transmit disease. It may also lead to therapies that dampen our inflammatory response to coronaviruses and other illnesses. So it seems the ancient Egyptians were on to something—bats may have healing powers after all."}, {"Source": "male sandgrouse's abdominal feathers", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "absorb water", "Function2": "deliver water", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/ultra-absorbent-feather-structure-carries-water-2/", "Strategy": "Ultra‑absorbent Feather\nStructure Carries Water\n\nHelically-structured barbules within the abdominal feathers of male sandgrouse reversibly absorb water.\n\nSandgrouse are a group of 16 species of ground-dwelling birds native to water-scarce, high-temperature regions of Africa and Asia. As exclusive seed eaters, sandgrouse obtain very little water through their diets, and therefore must drink liquid water regularly. Thus, many of the birds’ physical and behavioral traits are structured around their requirement for water in a demanding habitat.\n\nSandgrouse chicks rely on the delivery of water from their parents for 6-8 weeks, until they develop the flight capabilities necessary to travel to watering holes themselves. Unlike most birds, which use regurgitation to feed and water their young, 15 of the 16 sandgrouse species have a unique strategy to deliver water to these thirsty chicks. During a trip to a water source, a male sandgrouse performs a rocking motion in the water to thoroughly wet his specialized belly feathers. Upon returning to his nest, he stands upright and allows his chicks to suck water from his wet feathers. Sandgrouse have been observed transporting water in this manner upwards of 24 km (15 miles) from watering hole to nest. To avoid water evaporation over such long distances, sandgrouse typically fly during the coolest and most humid parts of the day (i.e. early morning or night)."}, {"Source": "hornbeam tree's leaf", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "balance between flexibility and rigidity", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/folding-improves-flexibility-and-rigidity/", "Strategy": "Folding Improves Flexibility and Rigidity\n\nLeaves of the hornbeam tree have a corrugated fold pattern that allows for a balance between flexibility and rigidity.\n\nAs the sites of photosynthesis, leaves serve a critical function of the plant. However, because of their location on the edges of branches, leaves are also particularly susceptible to damage from the wind. A leaf can mitigate wind damage by bending or folding, which minimizes surface area exposure. However, leaves must also be able to stay flat and rigid, to maximize sun absorption for photosynthesis. Thus, leaves must find a compromise between a flexible state that protects from wind damage, and a rigid state that allows the leaf to maximize surface area exposure.\n\nOne way to achieve this balance is to use a simple corrugation pattern of alternating crest and valley folds, as is found in the leaves of the hornbeam tree. These folds emanate from both sides of the center vein and repeat along the length of the leaf. The valley folds allow space for the leaf to bend in on itself when needed, so as to minimize surface area and exposure to wind damage. The crest folds allow the leaf to sustain a rigid shape when required for photosynthesis. Together, this corrugation pattern allows the leaf to be self-supporting without compromising flexibility."}, {"Source": "bird's respiratory system", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "facilitate gas exchange", "Function2": "maintain continuous unidirectional airflow", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/respiratory-system-facilitates-efficient-gas-exchange/", "Strategy": "How Air Sacs Power Lungs\nin Birds’ Respiratory System\n\nThe respiratory system of birds facilitates efficient exchange of carbon dioxide and oxygen by using air sacs to maintain a continuous unidirectional airflow through the lungs.\n\nThe avian respiratory system is notably different from the mammalian respiratory system, in both its structure and its ability to exchange gas as efficiently as possible.\nIt consists of paired lungs, which contain static structures with surfaces for gas exchange, and connected air sacs, which expand and contract causing air to move through the static lungs. A breath of oxygen-rich inhaled air remains in the respiratory system for two complete inhalation and exhalation cycles before it is fully spent and exhaled out the body.\n\nWhen fresh air is first inhaled through a bird’s nares (nostrils), it travels through the trachea (a large tube extending from the throat), which splits into left and right primary bronchi (called “mesobronchi,” with each bronchus leading to a lung). The inhaled air travels down each primary bronchus and then divides: some air enters the lungs where gas exchange occurs, while the remaining air fills the posterior (rear) air sacs. Then, during the first exhalation, the fresh air in the posterior sacs enters the lungs and undergoes gas exchange. The spent air in the lungs is displaced by this incoming air and flows out the body through the trachea. During the second inhalation, fresh air again enters both the posterior sacs and the lungs. Spent air in the lungs is again displaced by incoming air, but it cannot exit through the trachea because fresh air is flowing inward. Instead, the spent air from the lungs enters anterior (forward) air sacs. Then, during the second exhalation, the spent air in the anterior sacs and in the lungs flows out through the trachea, and fresh air in the posterior sacs enters the lungs for gas exchange.\n\n"}, {"Source": "blowfly's feet", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "detect sugar", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/feet-taste-food/", "Strategy": "Feet Taste Food\n\nThe feet of blowflies detect sugars via external taste receptors.\n“The blowfly (Phormia regina) has taste buds not only in the expected place — the mouthparts — but also in its feet. Moreover, those on its feet become more sensitive to sugars when the fly is hungry — 700 times more so with specimens that had been starved for 10 days.\""}, {"Source": "western honey bee's flight muscle", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "generate heat", "Function2": "maintain stable temperature", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/muscles-create-heat-to-warm-nest/", "Strategy": "Muscles Create Heat to Warm Nest\n\nFlight muscles of the western honey bee warm the brood nest by contracting without wing movement and transferring heat to brood cells.\n\nHoneybee colonies keep the brood nest temperature between 33 and 36 degrees Celsius using muscle movement to warm the hive. Bees, like many insects, are cold blooded and require their brood to remain within a small temperature range to continue normal development. Responding to temperature changes in the environment, or thermoregulation of the nest, is the job of special heater bees. If a heater bee is trying to warm an individual brood cell, it can press against the top of the cell with its thorax, or midsection, to transfer heat to the developing young inside. Similarly, bees can also crawl inside a neighboring cell to transfer heat. The current leading hypothesis says heating is accomplished using muscle contraction for periods of time up to 45 minutes. The muscles that contract are flight muscles, and decoupling the wings from these muscles separates wing movement from muscle activity that would normally initiate flight; that way, the muscles can contract without moving the wings. The heat produced from muscle contraction warms the bee’s body up to 44 degrees Celsius, about 10 degrees warmer than a normal bee. Body heat transferred to the brood cells can effectively circulate  around the hive and maintain a stable temperature in the hive overall."}, {"Source": "tokay gecko's tail", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "shedding tail", "Function2": "escape predator", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/tail-instantly-breaks-off/", "Strategy": "Tail Instantly Breaks Off\n\nThe tail of the Tokay gecko instantly breaks off during a predator attack with the help of pre-formed lines of weakness.\n\nGeckos are small lizards that can escape an attacking predator using an unusual strategy—by instantly losing their tails. This process of actively shedding a whole body part is called autotomy. When a predator grasps onto a gecko, releasing the tail can help the gecko wriggle free and escape while the attacker is holding onto a severed tail or distracted by it.\n\nIn the Tokay gecko (Gekko gecko), structures in the tail appear to help the shedding process. First, the base of the tail has built-in lines of weakness going across it, similar to perforated lines or score lines that make pieces of paper easier to tear apart. These lines of weakness, or fracture planes, cross the tail’s skin, muscles, bones, and other tissues. Like many animals, the gecko’s muscles form segments spanning the length of the body and tail. Sheets of connective tissue separate neighboring segments. The fracture planes run through the connective tissue between muscle segments and continue through the bony vertebrae that make up the backbone in the tail.\n\nWhen not under threat, the gecko’s tail is likely held in place by adhesion between the two sides of a fracture plane. This adhesion may be enhanced by the shape and arrangement of the muscle segments. Each segment can be thought of as a sideways “W” that interlocks with neighboring W-shaped segments. Compared to simple flat surfaces, the W-shaped structures have more surface area for adhesion. Micro-sized structures on the tips of individual muscle fibers also appear to play a role in tail adhesion and release. Researchers hypothesize that the shape of muscle fiber tips at the fracture plane can change to reduce adhesion during autotomy, making the tail easier to release. Contracting muscles around the fracture plane are also likely to help break tissues and release the gecko’s tail. Adhesion in this system appears to be a balance between enabling easy tail release when it’s needed, but preventing accidental release when it’s not.\n\nAutotomy occurs in many other animals, including other lizards, as well as amphibians and sea stars. Many of these animals can also regenerate their lost body parts over time."}, {"Source": "shipworm's gill", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "fix nitrogen", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/gills-help-fix-nitrogen/", "Strategy": "Gills Help Fix Nitrogen\n\nGills of shipworms obtain nitrogen using nitrogen-fixing symbiotic bacteria.\n\n“Nitrogen fixation has also been detected in intact specimens of wood-eating marine bivalves of the family Teredinidae (commonly known as shipworms) (17), but the site of fixation and the identity of the nitrogen-fixing microorganisms have not been previously determined. Although conspicuous communities of nitrogen-fixing bacteria have not been found in the gut of shipworms (13), as they have in termites, dense populations of intracellular bacterial symbionts have been observed in cells (bacteriocytes) in a region of shipworm gills known as the gland of Deshayes (18). Moreover, a bacterium (Teredinibacter turnerae) capable of fixing nitrogen gas (N2) in pure culture has been isolated from the gills of numerous shipworm species (19, 20), and its presence in the gill symbiont community of the shipworm Lyrodus pedicellatus has been confirmed by in situ hybridization and quantitative polymerase chain reaction analysis (21–23). These observations raise the questions of whether bacterial symbionts within the gills of L. pedicellatus can fix nitrogen and whether this fixed nitrogen is supplied to the host…We have demonstrated nitrogen fixation by individual symbiotic bacteria and have provided strong evidence of its use by the host. This symbiotic strategy is reminiscent of symbioses proposed to occur in the root nodules of leguminous plants and may explain the unusual ability of L. pedicellatus to survive and grow on a nearly nitrogen-free diet of wood (27) (Fig. 4B). Thus, this work suggests a function for the shipworm/bacteria symbiosis that has not been demonstrated previously for any other animal endosymbiosis: the conversion of nitrogen from atmospheric gas into animal biomass.”"}, {"Source": "mangrove gland", "Application": "salt removal", "Function1": "concentrate and excrete harmful ions", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/glands-remove-excess-salt/", "Strategy": "Glands Remove Excess Salt\n\nMangrove glands use active transport to concentrate and excrete harmful ions.\n\nIntroduction \n\nWith a water supply as close to infinite as it gets, an ocean shore seems like the perfect place for a plant to put down roots. And that’s exactly what a mangrove does. These shrubby trees line tropical coastlines around the world. Their roots embrace great armfuls of soil and protect the land from erosion. Their broad leaves draw carbon dioxide from the air, and their many nooks and crannies provide a rich habitat for birds, crabs, fish, and others.\n\nBut while they have all the water they could need, that ocean water comes with a challenge: how to use it without dying from salt poisoning?\n\nThe Strategy \n\nThe many and diverse species of mangroves have evolved various strategies for coping with this toxic treasure. Some avoid taking up sodium and chloride, the ions that make up salt, in the first place. Some take up the ions, accumulate them in older leaves, and shed them with the leaves. . And some species take in the ions but pump them right back out into the environmentin much higher concentration than seawater through glands on their leaves.\n\nThose that use this last strategy draw salty water  through their veins from roots to leaves. In the leaves, the salt ions move out of the veins and into the tissues surrounding them. The leaves contain clusters of specialized cells known as salt glands that are adjacent to the world outside. The glands are also located near the veins. They are almost completely surrounded by a thick, waterproof coat called a cuticle.\n\nThe Potential \n\nAgricultural practices and sea-level rise due to climate change are causing soils to become salty in some places. Mangroves’ mechanism for concentrating and excreting salt could provide models for giving crops the ability to tolerate increased salt levels.\n\nThe ability to concentrate contaminants and move them from one place to another also could provide ideas for improving our ability to remove salt from ocean water to make it potable. More generally, it could inspire ways to move ions from one place to another and collect them for further transport, with implications for building better batteries, removing pollutants from soils, and more.\n\n"}, {"Source": "lobster's eye", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "focus light", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/complex-structures-focus-reflected-light/", "Strategy": "Complex Structures Focus Reflected Light\n\nThe eye of a lobster focuses reflected light onto the retina using a perfect geometric configuration of square tubes.\n\n"}, {"Source": "olive tree's leaf", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "optimize sunlight harvesting", "Function2": "capture direct solar radiation", "Function3": "effectively use diffuse solar radiation", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/leaf-shapes-optimize-sunlight/", "Strategy": "Leaf Shapes Optimize Sunlight\n\nLeaves of olive trees optimize sunlight harvesting by differing in shape and being flexible to changing conditions\n\nIn some deciduous trees, the leaves on the exterior of the tree canopy differ from those inside the tree canopy. The exterior leaves are referred to as “sun leaves,” while the interior leaves are “shade leaves.” These leaves have differences in shape, internal anatomy, and chemistry that translate into specialized abilities to use different kinds of solar radiation effectively.\n\nSun leaves are typically smaller, more elongate, and thicker than shade leaves, with more layers of chlorophyll-containing tissues and more extensive internal vascular systems. It is thought that sun leaves are better adapted to capture and use direct solar radiation (when it isn’t too intense to cause heat and other stress-related damage). Their elongate shape is also correlated with higher levels of solar radiation reaching the inner canopy where the shade leaves are located. Shade leaves appear to effectively use diffuse solar radiation, which reaches the inner canopy after having been scattered by other objects, like the outer sun leaves, in the path of direct light. Shade leaves can also be found on the exterior canopy on the side that faces away from the prevailing sun.\n\nIt appears that exterior sun leaf characteristics can change with environmental conditions (they show plasticity), and that their shape in particular can influence the internal canopy environment that shade leaves experience. Plasticity in sun leaves seems to help stabilize inner canopy conditions, buffering it from abiotic stresses. Genetic variation and tree size also affect leaf characteristics, but it seems that whole-tree photosynthesis can be optimized by having sun and shade leaves respond differently to the environment. Sun and shade leaves occur in other species, too. In oaks, external leaves have narrower lobes while the lobes of shade leaves are broader.\n\n"}, {"Source": "ground squirrel's fat cell", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "generate heat", "Function2": "burn fat", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/brown-fat-oxidation-generates-heat/", "Strategy": "Brown Fat Oxidation Generates Heat\n\nFat cells in ground squirrels generate heat rapidly following hibernation by oxidizing brown fat.\n\n“Ground squirrels, which replenish their fat supplies regularly during hibernation, can awaken from their deep sleep in less than three hours. In this time, large amounts of fat are burned as fuel to raise the body temperature. This is accompanied by intense shivering and muscle contraction, which also generate heat. Much of the heat is derived from oxidation of brown fat, a kind of fat that contains many energy-producing cells. As much as 57 percent of the brown fat in ground squirrels is around their shoulders, with 14 percent in their neck, and most of the remainder in their thorax. This substance acts like an electric blanket, releasing heat to the heart and major blood vessels to warm them and speed the circulation of oxygen to the brain and other anterior organs, and then to the posterior body regions. During arousal, the anterior skeletal muscles receive over 16 times more blood than their counterparts in a fully awake animal, powering their shivering to produce heat for raising the body’s temperature.”\n\n“…Brown adipose tissue (BAT) is a fat storage tissue especially abundant in small mammals and newborn humans. BAT is highly vascularised, full of mitochondria and burns fat to produce heat in a special way. Maybe it could provide the warmth the rodents require to survive winter in addition to its supposed role in arousal?\n\nThe team found that the BAT of cold acclimated rats took up fatty acids that were oxidised to generate heat. Amazingly, these rats were up to 12 times better at the conversion than the other rats. Additionally, while the other rats slowed their ventilation, the cold acclimated rats increased  their breathing rate to better supply BAT with oxygenated blood and hence maintain their temperature while being cooled.\n\nThe authors decided that BAT is the true ‘thermogenic machinery’ for non-hibernators…Scientists think BAT fat metabolism that non-hibernators use to stay warm and remain alert during cold conditions may have been one key to the evolutionary success of early mammals.”"}, {"Source": "morpho butterfly's wing scale", "Application": "computer monitors", "Function1": "diffract and interfere light waves", "Function2": "manipulate light", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/wing-scales-cause-light-to-diffract-and-interfere/", "Strategy": "Wing Scales Cause Light\nto Diffract and Interfere\n\nWings of morpho butterflies create color by causing light waves to diffract and interfere.\n\nIntroduction \n\nMany types of butterflies use light-interacting structures on their wing scales to produce color. The cuticle on the scales of these butterflies’ wings is composed of nano- and microscale, transparent, chitin-and-air layered structures.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nRather than absorb and reflect certain light wavelengths as pigments and dyes do, these multi scale structures cause light that hits the surface of the wing to diffract and interfere. Cross ribs that protrude from the sides of ridges on the wing scale diffract incoming light waves, causing the waves to spread as they travel through spaces between the structures. The diffracted light waves then interfere with each other so that certain color wavelengths cancel out (destructive interference) while others are intensified and reflected (constructive interference).\n\nThe varying heights of the wing scale ridges appear to affect the interference such that the reflected colors are uniform when viewed from a wide range of angles. The specific color that’s reflected depends on the shape of the structures and the distance between them. This way of manipulating light results in brilliant iridescent colors, which butterflies rely upon for camouflage, thermoregulation, and signaling.\n\nThe Potential \n\nTo add color to human structures, objects, and fabrics, applying paint or dye is currently the most common method. Understanding structural coloration in nature could go beyond coating buildings or cars with microstructures to achieve the desired color. Learning how to manipulate light could help develop better computer monitors or advanced camouflage technologies. If we could figure out how to control constructive and destructive interference of light from different angles, we may even develop “cloaking” devices that often appear in science fiction."}, {"Source": "walrus's tusks", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "lever on ice floes", "Function2": "fight", "Function3": "dig for food", "Function4": "crush shells", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/tusks-are-multifunctional/", "Strategy": "Tusks Are Multifunctional\n\nThe tusks of a walrus are tools that have social and mechanical functions.\n\n“The walrus has only 18 teeth in its mouth, but the upper canines form great ivory tusks up to a metre long. It uses them for levering itself on to ice floes, as weapons in battles with other males over females, and as digging tools to extract clams and other invertebrates from the sea bed. A walrus may dive to depths of 200 metres and more in search of food, and is thought to use its tusks to plough up the sediments on the sea bottom to expose shells, which are recognized in these murky depths by the stiff sensory bristles on its snout. Behind the tusks are strong flat teeth capable of crushing the hardest shells.”"}, {"Source": "fish's swim bladder", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "regulate gas level", "Function2": "maintain buoyancy", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/swim-bladder-helps-maintain-buoyancy/", "Strategy": "Swim Bladder Helps Maintain Buoyancy\n\nSwim bladders of fish at depth help maintain buoyancy by regulating gas levels.\n\n“Many teleost fishes have a large gas-filled bladder (often called a swim bladder) in their body cavity, which eliminates the weight of the fish in water. Neutrally buoyant fishes can hover in the water and swim with much less energy. However, there is only one depth at which a fish has neutral buoyancy, so it is important for the fish to be able to regulate the amount of gas in the swim bladder to maintain neutral buoyancy at different depths.”\n\n“Gas is efficient in giving lift, since its density is very low, and most teleosts possess gas-filled swimbladders…Fish swimbladders cannot significantly resist changing in volume as the fish swims up and down in the water and the ambient pressure changes; indeed, the swimbladders of almost all teleosts obey Boyle’s law perfectly. So if a fish with a gas-filled swimbladder is to remain neutrally buoyant at different depths, it must secrete or absorb gas to keep the swimbladder at constant volume as the ambient pressure changes. To regulate the mass of gas within the swimbladder in this way requires complex mechanisms of great physiological interest.”\n\n“Gas enters the swimbladder via blood capillaries that run into a modified area of the inner wall, the gas gland. In actively secreting swimbladders, the surface of the gland is covered with a foamy mucus…”\n\n“But the swimbladder must be filled from dissolved gases in the blood, and it must not lose gas through redissolution into the blood. So secretion of gas from blood into swimbladder faces a big barrier, and swimbladder gas will all too readily go into solution in the fish’s blood and thence out into the ocean. Two devices stand in the way. First, a layer in the swimbladder wall provides a very effective barrier to the passage of oxygen (Lapennas and Schmidt-Nielsen 1977). Second, blood leaving the so-called gas gland in the wall of the swimbladder passes through an exchanger (fig.5.2) in which blood leaving the swimbladder loses excess dissolved gas specifically to blood moving toward the swimbladder.”"}, {"Source": "geothermal hot spring", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "metabolize hydrogen", "Function2": "produce energy", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/bacteria-use-hydrogen-as-energy/", "Strategy": "Bacteria Use Hydrogen as Energy\n\nHydrogen-oxidizing bacteria metabolize hydrogen from their environment to use as energy\n\nPhotosynthesis provides energy for most life on Earth, but has an upper limit of ~70°C. Hydrogen-oxidizing bacteria live in geothermal hot springs where temperatures far exceed 70°C, and thus must use alternative methods to produce energy. By oxidizing readily available hydrogen, these organisms are able to produce energy without the need for photosynthesis.\n\nThese bacteria metabolize hydrogen using the enzyme hydrogenase and the electron-transport chain (ETC). The ETC uses a proton gradient to pump hydrogen through a complex known as ATP synthase, which generates ATP to use as energy. Oxygen is used as a “terminal electron acceptor”, which accepts the final electron at the end of the ETC and combines with hydrogen protons to form water. The difference between different types of hydrogen-oxidizing bacteria is which terminal electron acceptor they use. Many use oxygen, but other inorganic compounds, such as nitrate, sulfur, and sulfite, are also used."}, {"Source": "mistletoe's spring-loaded flower", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "release pollen", "Function2": "cross-pollinate other mistletoe plants", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/spring-loaded-flowers-ensure-pollen-dispersal/", "Strategy": "Spring‑loaded Flowers Ensure Pollen Dispersal\n\nFlowers of the mistletoe use stored mechanical energy to release pollen.\n\nIn order to increase the amount of pollen they disperse, several varieties of mistletoe have developed “spring-loaded” flowers that burst open, showering pollen on visiting pollinators.\n\nThese spring-loaded flowers generate tension as stored mechanical energy. Tension is generated within the flower as the inner stamen (a reproductive organ containing pollen) and outer petals of the flower grow at different rates. This differential growth causes the flowers to bulge out until the petals eventually split from each other. This creates small openings between the petals, allowing the flower to bulge out further, which further increases tension. When the flowers are mature, mechanical disturbance from pollinators will trigger opening of the petals. The stamens first spring up vertically, then the anthers (which are located on the top of the stamen and contain pollen), move out horizontally, catapulting pollen grains up into the air and onto the pollinator.\n\nMistletoe flowers can be opened in two different ways. Birds can “unzip” the petals at their base, triggering flower opening and showering the birds in pollen. Birds can also grasp and pull the petals, also resulting in flower opening and pollen dispersal. The explosion of pollen catapults the pollen grains straight up and away from the flower’s center. Unsuspecting pollinators are blanketed in pollen and help to cross-pollinate other mistletoe plants as they move between flowers. Residual pollen grains that don’t land on the bird are still hurled high enough into the air (up to 20 centimeters) to allow for the grains to also be dispersed by the wind.\n\nThis strategy was contributed by Christy Cael and Carol Gustafson."}, {"Source": "mimosa pudica's leaf", "Application": "solar panels", "Function1": "rapid folding in response to touch", "Function2": "fold in response to touch", "Function3": "modulate its behavior", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/leaves-fold-in-response-to-touch/", "Strategy": "Leaves Fold in Response to Touch\n\nLeaves of the sensitive plant protect themselves from predators and environmental conditions by folding in response to touch.\n\nIntroduction \n\n When the Mimosa pudica, commonly known as the sensitive plant, is touched by another organism, its leaves fold in upon themselves and its stems droop. It is hypothesized that this rapid folding deters herbivores and insects from eating the plant by making the plant appear smaller, while simultaneously exposing the sharp spines on the plant stems. The Mimosa also exhibits this movement during the night and when it is exposed to abiotic factors such as excessive heat and rain, protecting the plant from physical damage or desiccation.\n\nEach leaf of the Mimosa is a collection of small leaflets growing off of a midrib, usually with around 15 to 20 pairs of leaflets along each midrib. The angle between the midrib and the vein of each leaflet ranges from 25° to 85°. When the leaflets fold in response to touch, this angle decreases to between 15° to 25°.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nThe leaves of the Mimosa achieve this rapid folding by a change in turgor pressure. Turgor pressure is the amount of water pressure in the cell that is pushing up against the cell wall. When there is a lot of water pushing against the cell wall the turgor pressure is high, and cell is rigid. When water moves out of the cell, the turgor pressure decreases and the cell becomes flaccid. The movement of water into and out of the cell is known as osmosis. Osmosis occurs when there is an unequal concentration of solutes, such as sodium or potassium ions, on two sides of a membrane, in this case the cell wall. Water will flow from the solution with the higher concentration of solutes to the lower concentration, until an equilibrium between the two sides is reached.\n\nWhen the leaves of the Mimosa are touched, there is a change in the concentration gradient of potassium and chloride ions within two types of cells, the flexor and extensor cells, within the pulvinus of the plant. The pulvinus is the “hinge-like” area of the plant where the leaflet connects to the midrib, and the midrib connects to the stem. Water is channeled from the extensor cells, located on the top side, to the flexor cells, located on the bottom side of the pulvinus. This change is concentration of potassium and chloride ions causes water to flow out of the extensor cells, and they become flaccid, while water flows into the flexor cells, making them turgid. This causes the leaflets to fold and the midrib to droop from the stem.\n\nThe folding process takes between 4-5 seconds. After folding is complete, the unfolding of the leaflets can take anywhere from tens of seconds to up to 10 minutes. It is believed that the unfolding time is a result of behavioral adjustments that the plant makes over time in response to different kinds of stimuli. Herbivores prefer younger, tenderer leaves of plants. When younger leaves of the sensitive plant were repeatedly exposed to non-damaging stimuli, the younger leaves consistently folded completely, but over time, they decreased the time it took for them to unfold. \nConversely, older leaves folded only partially while maintaining similar reopening times. This shows that the plant is able to modulate its behaviour to optimize protection, energy production (photosynthesis), and energy expenditure (folding and unfolding).\n\nThe Potential \n\nObserving how plants respond to tactile stimuli could result in new methods for robotic movement with the goal of improving manufacturing and industrial processes. In addition, extending and retracting solar panels, antennas, and other structures could keep them protected when not in use."}, {"Source": "three-toed sloth's head", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "swivel neck", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/neck-swivels-270-degrees/", "Strategy": "Neck Swivels 270 Degrees\n\nThe head of the three-toed sloth swivels 270 degrees thanks to extra neck vertebrae.\n\nMost mammals have to completely turn their bodies around to find out what’s behind them – but not tree sloths. Fortunately for sloths, they have extra vertebrae (bones in their spine) that give them almost a 360-degree view of their environment, a powerful defense mechanism for one of nature’s slowest moving creatures.\n\nSloths can have up to three extra neck vertebrae at the base of their neck, closest to the rib cage. These extra vertebrae enable the sloth’s head to achieve a wider range of motion, giving it the ability to swivel its neck up to 270 degrees in either direction, or three-quarters of a complete rotation.\n\nThese extra vertebrae highlight a unique developmental difference between sloths and other mammals. All bones are formed through a process called ossification, and different groups of bones ossify at specific times. In most mammals, the vertebrae that are attached to the rib cage ossify before the formation of neck vertebrae. However, the sloth’s extra neck vertebrae form before the rest of the neck, similar to the rib cage vertebrae. This suggests that the sloth’s extra neck vertebrae are modified rib cage vertebrae.\n\nIt is not known exactly why these extra vertebrae evolved, but this extra range of motion makes it easier for a sloth to spot potential predators and mates, and may provide extra support for its head when hanging upside-down from trees."}, {"Source": "kukumakranka plant's leaves", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "adapt to dry, hot conditions", "Function2": "keep stomata open", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/leaves-adapt-to-dry-hot-conditions/", "Strategy": "Leaves Adapt to Dry, Hot Conditions\n\nLeaves of the Kukumakranka plant adapt to dry, hot conditions and continue photosynthesis by keeping their stomata open.\n\nPlants “breathe” or respire through their leaves by tiny adjustable openings in the leaves called stomata. The stomata enable carbon dioxide gas to enter the plant for photosynthesis. Oxygen and water vapor exit the leaves through stomata, as well. In many plants, when the outside temperature is warm and water evaporates more readily, plants close their stomata to prevent excessive water loss. Closing the stomata, however, can disrupt plant growth by preventing carbon dioxide from entering the leaves and thereby reducing photosynthesis.\n\nA plant in South Africa called Kukumakranka (Gethyllis villosa) appears to have adaptations within its leaves to help it survive the hot and semi-arid climate.  G. villosa seems to keep many of its stomata open even in dry conditions, which helps the plant to continue to photosynthesize throughout the day. Exactly why G. villosa can maintain open stomata and not suffer from excessive water loss is currently unknown; however, researchers hypothesize that leaf chemistry and adaptations in the stomata help in the plant’s ability to adjust its response to dry conditions. An ability to continue to photosynthesize in warmer conditions could be beneficial as climate change influences the region."}, {"Source": "bull kelp's blades", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "balance drag reduction", "Function2": "sunlight exposure", "Function3": "manage drag", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/blades-balance-drag-reduction-and-solar-exposure/", "Strategy": "Blades Balance Drag\nReduction and Solar Exposure\n\nBlades of bull kelp balance drag reduction and sunlight exposure in different flow environments via changes in width and flatness.\n\nBull kelp (Nereocystis luetkeana) is a marine macroalga that grows in coastal waters between Alaska and central California. It resembles a vine-like plant with a long, thin stipe (stem-like structure) up to 30 meters long, anchored into the sea floor by a holdfast (root-like structure). At the stipe’s other end is a gas-filled float that holds 30-60 photosynthetic blades, each reaching up to 4 meters in length, near the water’s surface. Many marine macroalgae must withstand significant hydrodynamic forces imposed by tidal currents, waves and surface chop. If the mechanical force exerted by fluid flow exceeds the breaking strength of a kelp stipe or holdfast, the macroalga can break away and potentially die. Thus adaptations managing drag exerted on the kelp can be advantageous.\n\nOne example is the blade shape of bull kelp, which varies between habitats with differing degrees of flow. Bull kelp exposed to rapidly moving water grow flat, narrow blades compared to those found in calmer, protected sites that grow undulate (ruffled), wide blades. In faster flowing waters, narrow, flat blades flutter at smaller amplitudes allowing them to clump into more streamlined bundles. Experiments demonstrate that both the narrowness and flatness of a blade contributes to how well the blades can clump together, and that blade shape changes in response to mechanical stress (the changes are plastic). Both the cabbage-like kelp Saccharina sessile and the giant kelp Macrocystis pyrifera exhibit similar differences in blade shape between fast and slow flow environments, suggesting this difference in blade shape is a common way to manage drag.\n\nIf narrowness and flatness reduce drag, why would any kelp have wide, ruffled blades? Streamlining of bundles comes at the cost of self-shading, which leads to a reduction in photosynthetic rate. By moving at greater and more varied amplitudes, wide and ruffled blades prevent self-shading by spreading themselves apart and increasing their exposure to sunlight. Bull kelp experience a trade off between minimizing drag by streamlining and maximizing photosynthesis by spreading out. Since drag increases with flow speed, kelp in habitats exposed to powerful waves and tides invest in minimizing drag at the cost of photosynthesis while kelp in more protected habitats need not invest so heavily in drag reduction and can increase solar exposure."}, {"Source": "venus flytrap's stretched leaves", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "rapid trap closure", "Function2": "store potential mechanical energy", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/stretched-leaves-power-rapid-closure/", "Strategy": "Stretched Leaves Power Rapid Closure\n\nStretched leaves of the Venus flytrap power rapid trap closure by storing mechanical energy.\n\nThe Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) has to rapidly capture prey by ensnaring it between its leaves. Instead of using muscles to create movement, this plant changes the shape of its leaves to store potential mechanical energy that can be released when it needs to trigger trap closure.\nWhile the trap is opening, the plant stretches its leaves back on themselves, and this stretching stores potential mechanical energy in the form of elastic energy. When the trap is triggered to snap shut, hydraulic movement in the leaves releases the stored energy, causing the trap to snap closed over its prey. As author Yoël Forterre explains: “In essence, a leaf stretches until reaching a point of instability where it can no longer maintain the strain. Like releasing a reversed plastic lid or part of a cut tennis ball, each leaf folds back in on itself, and in the process of returning to its original shape, ensnares the victim in the middle.”"}, {"Source": "cockchafer beetle's antennae", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "sense signals", "Function2": "increase the exposure to air", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/fan-like-antennae-aid-sensing/", "Strategy": "Fan‑like Antennae Aid Sensing\n\nThe antennae of cockchafer beetles effectively sense signals via fan-like ends that increase the exposure of the sensillae to air.\n“This cockchafer, or maybug, has short antennae ending in movable clubs which it can spread out like a fan, greatly increasing the area of sensillae exposed to the surrounding air. It feeds on nectar and other plant food and can even detect the presence of an underground mushroom as it flies over it. A heavy insect, it uses internal air sacs to help it stay airborne.”"}, {"Source": "pebble plant's flat and rounded leaves", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "serve as camouflage", "Function2": "reduce herbivory", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/camouflage-reduces-herbivory/", "Strategy": "Camouflage Reduces Herbivory\n\nThe flat, rounded leaves and underground growth of pebble plants may protect them from herbivory by serving as camouflage.\n\n“Pebble plants grow in the stonier patches of the same [Namib] [D]esert. They survive by living partly underground. Their leaves have been reduced to a single pair, fat, round and succulent, with just a groove between them from which, in the right season, will sprout a surprisingly large flower. Such a rounded shape, with a very low surface area for a given volume, reduces evaporation to a minimum and is therefore a great help to the plant in conserving its water in the intense heat. But as has been noted earlier it may bring an additional benefit. Outside the flowering season, the plant is very difficult to find among the gravel and pebbles, so its shape could also serve as a defence against detection by grazing animals — ostriches and tortoises, porcupines and perhaps a few gerbils.”"}, {"Source": "sagittaria latifolia's leaf", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "adjust growth", "Function2": "improve oxygen uptake", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/leaves-adjust-to-changing-environment/", "Strategy": "Leaves Adjust to Changing Environment\n\nLeaves of Sagittaria latifolia allow survival in fluctuating water levels by changing leaf type.\n\n“Fluctuations in water levels are a common feature of wetlands. Consequently, wetland plants can encounter a variety of water depths seasonally and interannually. Even submersed plants may have to endure periods without standing water and most have a terrestrial form. Not surprisingly, wetland plants show a great deal of phenotypic plasticity, and this allows them to adjust their growth as water levels change. One type of phenotypic plasticity that is widespread among macrophytes is heterophylly. Heterophylly is the ability to produce different leaf types. Two kinds of leaves are commonly produced by herbaceous wetland species, submerged and aerial. Submerged leaves are thin, lack or have a greatly reduced cuticle, and lack functional stomata. Aerial leaves are thicker, have a cuticle, and have stomata. Changes in leaf shape, size, and thickness and petiole or leaf/shoot length are common in facultatively heterophyllous species. The porosity of their roots can also change significantly as soils become anoxic after flooding in flood-responders. These morphological responses primarily serve as a way to improve oxygen uptake by leaves, the volume of internal gas storage, and the efficiency of internal gas redistribution by diffusion.”"}, {"Source": "nocturnal moth's eye", "Application": "anti-reflective coating", "Function1": "minimize light reflection", "Function2": "maximize light capture", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/eyes-are-anti-reflective/", "Strategy": "Eyes Are Anti‑Reflective\n\nEyes of nocturnal moths are anti-reflective due to nanoscale protrusions.\n\nMoths have unique sub-wavelength structures coating their eyes which dramatically minimize light reflection over a much broader range of wavelengths than conventional anti-reflective coatings. The outer surfaces of moth corneal lenses are covered with a regular pattern of conical protuberances, generally 200-300 nm in height and spacing. These protuberances reduce light reflection by creating a refractive index gradient between the air-lens interface, more gradually transitioning the change in light speed between the air and eye and hence minimizing reflection. These unique structures help moths evade detection by predators in moonlight and maximize light capture for seeing in the dark. Moth-eye inspired antireflective coatings that demonstrate high-performance over large band widths at low fabrication cost have recently been developed for solar panels, with many other potential products applications."}, {"Source": "thylakoid structures of plants and cyanobacteria", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "maximize exposure to light", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/structures-maximize-light-absorption/", "Strategy": "Structures Maximize Light Absorption\n\nThylakoid structures of plants and cyanobacteria maximize exposure to light by being stacked and cross-linked.\n\n“Since life needs light, air, and a protective shield, it is in theory subject to conditions similar to those that prevail for a photochemical surface reaction. Such a reaction is the process of photosynthesis in green leaves, by which light is transformed into chemical energy. Perhaps, then, nature would build cities similar to the submicroscopic thylakoid structures–the power stations of plants, which consist of self-contained flat membrane sacs, often stacked like rolls of coins and linked to each other by many cross-connections. The units are arranged so as to make maximal use of light and to form as large a contact surface as possible with the environment–architectonic criteria our cities still fail to meet adequately. A bird’s-eye view of a natural metropolis would show nothing but green. No roofs, parking lots, or highways would be visible. All flat surfaces would be covered with woods, parks, and gardens. The vertical structures would be the facades of offices, residential buildings, cafes, and boutiques, all with access to nature. Inside the ‘thylakoid structures’ would be sufficient space for transportation, parking lots, shopping malls, and factories, which could manage with artificial light.”"}, {"Source": "hercules beetle's exoskeleton", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "alter color", "Function2": "change elytra color", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/humidity-changes-exoskeleton-color/", "Strategy": "Humidity Changes Exoskeleton Color\n\nThe exoskeleton of the Hercules beetle changes from green to black with increasing humidity using thin film interference by reversible modification of layer thickness.\n\n“The Hercules beetle, Dynastes Hercules [sic] L., can change the colour of its elytra—horny fore-wings—from black to greenish yellow and back again to black all within a few minutes. It does this in a way previously unknown among insects. Apart from the reversible migrations of pigment granules in the iris cells, physiological or rapidly reversible colour changes are very rare in insects. Among beetles, Coptocyclia, Aspidomorpha, and many other Cassidinae can change the colour of their elytra by varying the amount of water in the cuticle and thereby the thickness of the thin films responsible for the interference colours.”\n\n“The elytra from dry specimens of the hercules beetle, Dynastes hercules appear khaki-green in a dry atmosphere and turn black passively under high humidity levels. New scanning electron images, spectrophotometric measurements and physical modelling are used to unveil the mechanism of this colouration switch. The visible dry-state greenish colouration originates from a widely open porous layer located 3μm below the cuticle surface. The structure of this layer is three-dimensional, with a network of filamentary strings, arranged in layers parallel to the cuticle surface and stiffening an array of strong cylindrical pillars oriented normal to the surface. Unexpectedly, diffraction plays a significant role in the broadband colouration of the cuticle in the dry state. The backscattering caused by this layer disappears when water infiltrates the structure and weakens the refractive index differences.”\n\n“The visible dry-state greenish coloration originates from a open porous layer located at 3 μm below the cuticle surface. This layer has three-dimensional photonic crystal structures, which are a network of filamentary strings, arranged in layers parallel to the cuticle surface [Fig. 1d]. In dry state, nanosized holes in the layer are occupied with air (refractive index 1) but the empty holes are filled with water (refractive index 1.33) under high humidity. The change in refractive index with respect to the humidity level induces the variation in the visible color.”"}, {"Source": "chameleon's skin", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "produce structural color", "Function2": "reflect specific wavelengths", "Function3": "alter color", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/skin-changes-color-2/", "Strategy": "Shifting Crystals Change Chameleons’ Color\n\nPigments and nanoscale structures collaborate to help chameleon change its look.\n\nThe variety of colors that chameleons can display is produced through a combination of pigments and structural colors. Chameleon skin contains different types of chromatophore (color-bearing) cells organized in layers within the skin. The upper layer of skin contains cells with yellow and red pigments, while lower layers contain cells with dark melanin pigment, which appears black or brown. Just below the layer of yellow and red chromatophores is a layer of cells called iridophores (iridescent chromatophores) that produce structural color. Rather than containing pigment, iridophores contain an organized array of transparent, nano-sized crystals that reflect specific wavelengths of light. The reflected light is perceived as color.\n\nThe latest research on color-changing in chameleons reveals that they primarily change color by actively adjusting the spacing between these nanocrystals, which causes different wavelengths of light to be reflected. The crystal structures and pigments in chameleon skin both contribute to the overall color of the skin. For example, when blue light reflects off the crystal layer and travels through the yellow pigment above, the result humans see is the color green.\n\nResearchers are still investigating the function of changing skin color in chameleons, but more recent research suggests that chameleons change color to communicate with one another during social interactions."}, {"Source": "freeze-avoiding beetle larva", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "survive extreme cold temperature", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/larvae-survive-extreme-cold/", "Strategy": "Larvae Survive Extreme Cold\n\n\n“Larvae of the freeze-avoiding beetle Cucujus clavipes puniceus (Coleoptera: Cucujidae) in Alaska have mean supercooling points in winter of –35 to –42°C, with the lowest super cooling point recorded for an individual of –58°C. We previously noted that some larvae did not freeze when cooled to –80°C, and we speculated that these larvae vitrified. Here we present evidence through differential scanning calorimetry that C. c.puniceus larvae transition into a glass-like state at temperatures <–58°C and can avoid freezing to at least –150°C. This novel finding adds vitrification to the list of insect overwintering strategies. While overwintering beneath the bark of fallen trees, C. c. puniceus larvae may experience low ambient temperatures of around –40°C (and lower) when microhabitatis un-insulated because of low snow cover… Finally, we provide direct evidence that Cucujus from Wiseman, Alaska, survive temperatures to –100°C.”"}, {"Source": "darkling beetle's wing", "Application": "evaporative cooling", "Function1": "condense and direct water toward the beetle’s awaiting mouth", "Function2": "increase fog- and dew-harvesting efficiency", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/water-vapor-harvesting/", "Strategy": "The Beetles That Drink Water From Air\n\n Nanostructures on Darkling beetle wings and certain body positions help condense water from humid air.\n\nIntroduction \n\nDarkling beetles (family Tenebrionidae) of the Namib Desert, located on the southwest coast of Africa, live in one of the driest habitats in the world. But some species of Darkling beetle can get the water they need from dew and ocean fog, using their very own body surfaces.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nSeveral researchers are studying the beetles, as well as synthetic surfaces inspired by the beetle’s body, to uncover the roles that structure, chemistry, and behavior play in capturing water from the air.\n\nMicro-sized grooves or bumps on the beetle’s hardened forewings can help condense and direct water toward the beetle’s awaiting mouth, while a combination of hydrophilic (water attracting) and hydrophobic (water repelling) areas on these structures may increase fog- and dew-harvesting efficiency. For certain species of Darkling beetle, the act of facing into the foggy wind and raising its rear end up in the air (known as fog-basking behavior) is thought to be just as important as body surface structure for successfully harvesting water from the air.\n\nThe Potential \n\nAccording to the World Wildlife Fund, 10% of all animals depend on freshwater habitats that occupy a mere 1% of the surface of our planet. And these scant resources are increasingly jeopardized by development, pollution, and climate change. As global temperatures rise, more water absorbs into the atmosphere, raising humidity and providing additional warming in a process called “water vapor feedback.”\n\nDarkling beetles’ method of harvesting water from the atmosphere could help humans gather fresh water in remote areas that lack access to surface water. It may also inspire more efficient evaporative cooling designs that reduce water consumption in power plants and industrial facilities. Perhaps learning how to efficiently remove water from the atmosphere could even provide a means of slowing or stopping water vapor feedback, helping us mitigate rising global temperatures."}, {"Source": "plant's root", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "maximize water uptake", "Function2": "adapt orientation", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/roots-maximize-water-uptake/", "Strategy": "Roots Maximize Water Uptake\n\nRoots of plants maximize water uptake by adapting their orientation to the environment.\n\n“To find water, a plant has to position its roots with just as much precision as it arranges its leaves. If moisture is in very short supply, then a plant may have to drive a tap root deep into the ground to reach the water table. Some desert plants have had to develop root systems that are far deeper than they are tall and extend laterally a very long way beyond the furthest extent of their foliage. Even if the environment is well-watered, a plant may still need to compete with others for this essential commodity, so it positions a network of roots within a few inches of the soil surface, where it can gather the rain water before others can.”"}, {"Source": "cuttlefish's skin", "Application": "smart crosswalks", "Function1": "alter color", "Function2": "blend in", "Function3": "reflect light", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/adaptive-camouflage-helps-blend-into-the-environment/", "Strategy": "Adaptive Camouflage Helps\nBlend Into the Environment\n\nThe skin of cuttlefish changes color rapidly using elastic pigment sacs called chromatophores, in order to evade predators.\n\nIntroduction \n\nThe idea of turning invisible is so intriguing to us humans that every generation invents new superheroes and villains with this ability in the stories we tell. But it’s not really fiction. In the real world, cephalopods such as cuttlefish can use dynamic camouflage to blend in with their surroundings on demand. No matter the background, in a matter of seconds, poof, they’re gone.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nCuttlefish are able to match colors and surface textures of their surrounding environments by adjusting the pigment and iridescence of their skin, which is composed of several layers.\n\nOn the skin surface, chromatophores (tiny sacs filled with red, yellow, or brown pigment) ab­sorb light of various wavelengths. Once vis­ual input is processed, the cephalopod sends a signal to a nerve fiber, which is connected to a muscle. That muscle relaxes and contracts to change the size and shape of the chromato­phore. Each color chromatophore is controlled by a different nerve, and when the attached muscle contracts, it flattens and stretches the pigment sack outward, expanding the color on the skin. When that muscle relaxes, the chro­matophore closes back up, and the color dis­appears. As many as two hundred of these may fill a patch of skin the size of a pencil eraser, like a shimmering pixel display.\n\nThe innermost layer of skin, composed of leuc­ophores, reflects ambient light. These broadband light reflectors give the cephalopods a ‘base coat’ that helps them match the brightness of their surroundings.\n\nBetween the colorful chromatophores and the light-scattering leucophores is a reflective lay­er of skin made up of iridophores. Iridophores use structure to reflect incoming light, to take advantage of other colors provided by the environment. Iridophores selectively reflect light to create pink, yellow, green, blue, or silver coloration.\n\nThe combination of these skin layers allows cephalopods like the cuttlefish to blend in quickly with virtually any background.\n\nThe Potential \n\nTechnologies which control how much an object stands out or blends in have many different potential applications. “Smart” crosswalks, for example, could help to make crossing pedestrians more obvious to drivers and self-driving vehicles, and a truly smart phone being sought by its owner could change its color to contrast with the couch cushions it’s tucked between. The chromatophores of cuttlefish also give us the idea of materials that change colors with force or bending. This could be very helpful in everything from visual indicators of car tires getting low on air, to structural elements of bridges deforming and indicating they’re in need of repair.\n\n"}, {"Source": "hagfish slime", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "rapidly expand", "Function2": "protect from predator", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/slime-rapidly-expands-and-protects/", "Strategy": "Slime Rapidly Expands and Protects\n\nGlands of the hagfish secrete a concentrated slime that expands rapidly and protects from predators via interacting fibers and water-holding proteins.\n\nHagfishes are marine, bottom-dwelling fishes that release large amounts of slime into the surrounding water when disturbed. The mass of slime consists of mucins (a type of protein with high water-holding capacity), long protein threads, and the seawater that these two interacting components temporarily trap amongst them. \n\nThe formation of this slime starts in glands lining the hagfish body, along which slime gland openings are visible as pores. Protein threads are initially tightly coiled into gland thread cells, resembling skeins of yarn, while mucins are held within vesicles (membrane-bound sacs) in gland mucous cells. Both types of cells are packed into each slime gland, which is surrounded by muscles. When the hagfish contracts these gland muscles, the thread cells and mucous cells are pushed out as a concentrated mixture through the gland duct. Travelling through the duct and actively mixing with seawater outside the gland opening cause the cells to burst and release their packaged contents into the water. The bundled protein threads unravel and the mucins from ruptured vesicles attach to them, and this network rapidly expands into a large, dilute mass of slime that temporarily holds water like a fine sieve.\n\nWatch this video to see hagfish thread bundles spontaneously unravel in seawater. \n\nResearchers believe that the slime functions as a defense against predators with gills, which can become clogged with the fibrous slime. Check out this underwater video footage demonstrating that hagfish can slime their way out of a predatory encounter."}, {"Source": "selaginella tropical fern's leaves", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "alter color", "Function2": "turn blue to green", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/leaves-change-colors-under-different-lighting/", "Strategy": "Leaves Change Colors Under Different Lighting\n\nLeaves of extreme shade Selaginella tropical ferns change in improving light conditions from being iridescent blue to green by removal of photoprotective coating.\n\n“Blue iridescence is most common in the genus Selaginella. The two taxa analysed here are native to the extreme shade of humid tropical forests: S. willdenowii (Desv.) Bak. in Southeast Asia and S. uncinata Spr. in South China. In both species blue iridescence develops on leaves in shade beneath foliage. The green leaves that develop in response to more direct sunlight do not become blue when subjected to this shade, but blue leaves gradually turn to green with age or exposure to more direct light (pers. observ.). The filtering action of the forest foliage produces an environment deficient in energy for photosynthesis, with only 0.1-0.3% of the light above the canopy.”"}, {"Source": "animal's coloration", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "create color through light scattering", "Function2": "produce structural color", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/microstructures-create-color/", "Strategy": "Microstructures Create Color\n\nTiny microstructures create color through light scattering, instead of with traditional pigments.\n\nThere are two main ways an animal can get its colouration. An animal can produce its colour directly using pigments, or it can use tiny microstructures or nanostructures to scatter light into different wavelengths and produce structural colour. Pigment colour will always look the same, but structural colour often manifests as an iridescent colour that changes hue as you look at it from different angles. Adding compounds that disrupt the structures, like water or alcohol, will cause the animal’s colour to lose its sheen, but the effect is reversed when the compound is removed. This concept is well explained in a video from National Geographic.\n\nMany bees from the Osmia genus have a brilliant iridescent blue shine. The wings of Malaysian carpenter bees have a brilliant purple and green colour, while sweat bees can also exhibit a blue sheen. All of these colours are caused not by pigments in the body, but by structures that cause light scattering. The wings of the Malaysian carpenter bee have three distinct layers, each with unique structures patterning them. Parts of the wing that shine purple and blue have distinctly different structures, but the functions of these structures are still unknown.\n\nBright colours could be used as a mating signal and are often in species with strong sexual dimorphism. Studies also suggest that bright, flashy signals with iridescent colours may confuse predators. Colour interferes with the ability to recognize shapes, which may impair a predators ability to distinguish its prey as food.\n\nThis information is also available from the University of Calgary Invertebrate collection, where it was curated as part of a study on design inspired by bees. "}, {"Source": "cnidarians' nematocysts", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "penetrate the armor of the prey", "Function2": "inject venom", "Function3": "exert pressure", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/nematocyst-stingers-accelerate-fast/", "Strategy": "Nematocyst Stingers Accelerate Fast\n\nNematocysts of some cnidarians can penetrate thick layers of crustacean shell by capsules of unusually short collagens that explosively eject stylets of strong and flexible protein tubules with spiked barbs.\nIntroduction \n\nOvercoming the protective cuticle of armored opponents is a challenge faced by many organisms for both defensive and predatory reasons. Thick shells like those of crustaceans are especially difficult to penetrate without the aid of sharp and strong body parts and powerful muscles to back them up. Some organisms solve this challenge with only microscopic cellular components. Hydras, tiny animals from the cnidarian genus Hydra, feed on planktonic crustaceans and have evolved remarkable nano-structures that can penetrate the armor of their prey to inject venom.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nThe cells (cnidocysts) produce one large organelle called a nematocyst. The cell forms a layered polymer matrix around the nematocyst that keeps it strong and promotes the generation of 150 bar of pressure within the organelle at maturation. The “lid” of the capsule (operculum) associates with the cell membrane facing out. When the sensory portion of the cell (cnidocil) is mechanically disturbed (e.g., by contact with prey) it causes a rapid increase in the calcium ion concentration in the cell. This causes molecular rearrangement of the opeculum allowing the release of the nematocyst’s stored pressure towards the outside of the organism. The stylet, composed of strong and flexible protein tubules with spiked barbs at the end, ejects from the cell with an acceleration of ~5.4 million times gravity. Because of the tiny cross-sectional area at the tip of the stylet, 7.7 billion Pascals of pressure are exerted upon the cuticle of the prey and drives it deep into the underlying tissue. In fact, this is not only the fastest animal system observed to date, the pressure on impact is also comparable to that produced by a bullet."}, {"Source": "sunflower's seed head", "Application": "efficient spatial organization", "Function1": "optimize the packing of seeds", "Function2": "maximize the number of seeds", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/fibonacci-sequence-optimizes-packing/", "Strategy": "Sunflowers’ Fibonacci Secrets\n\nThe seed heads of sunflowers optimize the packing of seeds by growing florets in a spiraling pattern connected to the golden ratio and Fibonacci sequence.\nIntroduction \n\nGaze into the center of a sunflower and you’re bound to notice the striking pattern of spirals in the many florets there. This spiral tendency is common in the growth of plants, often seen in the way flowers, leaves, and branches are spaced around a central stem or trunk. But besides being entrancing to the eye, there is a functional value in these patterns, and there is a simple basis behind the dazzling complexity.\n \n\nThe Strategy \n\nIn the case of leaves, if you look down on such a plant from above, you can see that the spiral placement maximizes each leaf’s exposure to the sun, minimizing any overshadowing of one leaf by another. Plants similarly want to maximize the number of seeds they can pack into a given area to maximize their chances of reproductive success. How these patterns form is what makes the story really interesting.\n\nInside a plant, the cells around a central axis contain various concentrations of biochemicals, such as the plant hormone auxin. Differences in these concentrations can influence where, around the circumference of that central axis, a flower, bract, or leaf bud will form. Mechanical forces, like pressure from other growing parts, can also shape the location of bud formation.\n\nIn plants using this spiral pattern, each new growth tends to form in a location around that circle that is as far away from previous growths as possible. So the first growth happens on one side of the circle, the second on the opposite site at 180° to the first. The third round of growth can’t be at 180° from that one, because that would place it directly above the first. So it’s at a slightly lesser angle to the second growth. That pattern of influence keeps shrinking the angle, but less so with each round of growth, getting closer and closer to about 137.5°. Following this pattern, leaves don’t overlap and overshadow one another, and seeds, flowers, and other parts efficiently fill the available space.\n\nThe Potential \n\nPlants have come up with a self-organizing developmental method that results in their optimal design. Human designs that require efficient spatial organization can borrow from this effective plant strategy for covering area, absorbing resources, and other applications. For example, engineers inspired by the arrangement of florets in a sunflower head reorganized the mirrors in a solar concentrator array. They discovered that, by doing so, they could concentrate the same amount of sunlight as before, yet use 20% less land area."}, {"Source": "sea cucumber's body", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "change mechanical properties", "Function2": "change elasticity and viscosity", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/body-changes-stiffness/", "Strategy": "Body Changes Stiffness\n\nThe body of the sea cucumber changes from soft to standard to hard due to stiffening and plastizing factors and exuding water.\n“Catch connective tissues or mutable collagenous tissues of echinoderms can extensively change their mechanical properties such as elasticity and viscosity within a few minutes under the regulation of their nervous system. The tissues contain a large amount of the extracellular matrix, mainly consisting of collagen fibrils, proteoglycans and microfibrils. The unique properties of these collagenous tissues might be due to lack of permanent associations between the collagen fibrils and the surrounding extracellular matrix because it is easy to isolate collagen fibrils from catch connective tissues – unlike collagenous tissues of adult vertebrates. It seems that crosslinking of the collagen fibrils with adjacent ones and other components of the extracellular matrix is formed or broken during changes in the mechanical properties of catch connective tissues. The molecular mechanisms underlying the change are, however, not yet fully understood. The holothurian body wall dermis is a typical catch connective tissue that shows rapid and reversible changes in its mechanical properties in response to various stimuli. Extensive studies on the dynamic mechanical properties of the dermis of the sea cucumber Actinopyga mauritiana revealed that the tissue can adopt at least three different states. These are stiff, standard and soft states, which can be distinguished by elastic and viscous properties and by strain-dependent behaviors…The mechanical parameters of the standard state are not simply the intermediate values between the stiff and the soft states, suggesting that the molecular mechanism converting the soft to the standard state is different from that converting the standard to the stiff state.”"}, {"Source": "saharan silver ant's hair", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "reflect light and heat energy", "Function2": "dissipate excess heat", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/hair-helps-cool-the-body/", "Strategy": "The hair of the Saharan silver ant keeps it cool by efficiently reflecting light and heat energy while also dissipating excess heat.\nSaharan silver ants (Cataglyphis bombycina) have a remarkable ability to thrive in one of the hottest regions on the planet—the Sahara Desert. Unlike the sleek skin, shells and scales of most high-temperature dwellers, these ants have a unique exterior defense mechanism to beat the heat: hair.\n\nThe hair of Saharan silver ants reduces heat absorption by efficiently reflecting sunlight and dissipating heat. This enables the ant to stay cool in the midday Sahara, where temperatures can reach up to 47°C (117°F). The hairs, with their unique shape, achieve this through three distinct mechanisms:\n\nFirst, the hairs reduce heat absorption by maximizing the amount of light that is reflected off their surface, a process known as total internal reflection (TIR). This is achieved through the unique prism shape of the hairs, which have a flat base that lies against the body of the ant, while the other two sides are grooved (see gallery images). When light enters through one of the grooved sides, it reflects off of the base, and then exits from the other grooved side. A groove concentrates a ray of light onto a certain part of the hair in order to optimize its path of exit and thus maximize TIR. Multiple grooves enable multiple rays of light to be reflected within the same hair simultaneously. The hairs are densely packed to ensure that a minimal amount of sunlight reaches the ant’s body underneath, keeping it 2°C cooler than it would be without the hairs.\nSecond, the hairs also reduce heat absorption by reflecting sunlight (solar radiation) from both visible and non-visible parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, including the near-infrared (NIR). It is in these two regions that solar radiation is at its most powerful.\n\nAnd third, the silver ant has a particularly effective method of offloading excess heat. The shape of the hairs increases the ant’s ability to radiate heat—known as emissivity—in a specific range of the electromagnetic spectrum, the mid-infrared (MIR). Within this range, the ant’s warm body can most effectively give off excess heat energy to cooler surrounding air via thermal radiation. Ant researcher Nanfang Yu explains: “To appreciate the effect of thermal radiation, think of the chilly feeling when you get out of bed in the morning. Half of the energy loss at that moment is due to thermal radiation, since your skin temperature is temporarily much higher than that of the surrounding environment.” This mechanism enables the ant to maximize the amount of heat it emits and cool itself off. The last two mechanisms cool the ant off by an additional 5-10°C, enabling the silver ant to withstand temperatures up to 53.6°C (128.48°F)."}, {"Source": "clark's nutcracker's throat pouch", "Application": "design a juice bottle", "Function1": "store seed", "Function2": "expand and collapse", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/pouch-stores-seed/", "Strategy": "Pouch Stores Seed\n\nThe throat of the Clark's nutcracker can temporarily store up to 150 small seeds thanks to an expandable pouch.\nExpand and collapse: Many of life’s containers are flexible, like the throat pouch of the Clark’s nutcracker that expands to hold 150 pine-nut-sized seeds, or the pelican pouch that scoops 3 gallons of seawater, then returns to shape. What if we could design a juice bottle that would fill up like a sturdy balloon, then collapse to a small disk when its liquid is gone? You could store it in your pocket as a go-cup, or send hundreds back to the manufacturer in a single envelope."}, {"Source": "compass termite's mound", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "provide heating and cooling", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/mound-passively-heatscools/", "Strategy": "Mound Passively Heats/cools\n\nMounds of compass termites provide heating and cooling at appropriate times of day thanks to orientation with respect to the sun.\n\n“In Australia, the compass termites build castles in the “In Australia, the compass termites build castles in the shape of huge flat chisel blades, always with their long axis pointing north and south. Such a shape exposes the minimum possible area to the ferocious midday sun but catches the maximum of the feebler rays in the early morning and evening when, especially in the cold season, the termites are grateful for warmth.” \n\n“The termites Amitermes meridionalis and A. laurensis construct remarkable meridional or ‘magnetic’ mounds in northern Australia. These mounds vary geographically in mean orientation in a manner that suggests such variation is an adaptive response to local environmental conditions. Theoretical modelling of solar irradiance and mound rotation experiments show that maintenance of an eastern face temperature plateau during the dry season is the most likely physical basis for the mound orientation response. Subsequent heat transfer analysis shows that habitat wind speed and shading conditions also affect face temperature gradients such as the rate of eastern face temperature change. It is then demonstrated that the geographic variation in mean mound orientation follows the geographic variation in long-term wind speed and shading conditions across northern Australia such that an eastern face temperature plateau is maintained in all locations.”\n"}, {"Source": "sea anemone's body", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "reinflate by pumping water back", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/body-changes-shape/", "Strategy": "Body Changes Shape\n\nThe central cavity of sea anemones is reinflated by water pumping in at low pressures thanks to ciliary pumps.\n\n“Consider a solid material with properties and role about as distant from bone as a supportive, compression-resisting material can be. The body wall of a sea anemone–which can be quite substantial in size–consists of inner and outer surface layers separated by the thick mesoglea. One doesn’t go far wrong viewing the system as a tall can of seawater whose walls are mostly made of jelly…A typical anemone has a rare facility for changing shape, ranging from a low barrel to a tall cylinder with a few flourishes in between, over times ranging from seconds to hours…Obviously its mesogleal stuffing must participate in the process. Muscle drives some of the shape changes, in particular the sudden expulsion of water in the central cavity from its single apical opening. But tracts of cilia drive other changes, such as reinflation by pumping water back in. You may recall that…ciliary pumps produce exceedingly low pressures, and here we’re asking that they pump up creatures that may reach half a meter in height and live in moving water.\n\n“Alexander (1962) showed the crucial role of mesogleal viscoelasticity for anemones. In creep tests on samples, strain increased from an initial value of about 0.2 to a final level ten times that, achieved after around 10 hours. That means the mesoglea has a lot of viscosity relative to its elasticity–it’s hard to make it do anything fast but fairly easy to make it change shape slowly. It has a retardation time (calculated by Biggs; see Vincent [1990]) of a little under an hour. How nice! The pulsating or reversing flows of waves passing above won’t sweep it about very much, but after it has hunkered down, the low-pressure ciliary pump will be adequate to pump it back up again, albeit slowly. It can stand up to a single wave but deflect in a tidal current that imposes the same drag. Furthermore, the anemone’s body wall can resist the stresses of its own short-term muscle contractions, so it can bend or straighten without getting an aneurysm whenever its muscles aren’t active.”\n"}, {"Source": "tapetum lucidum", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "enhance night vision", "Function2": "increase retinal sensitivity", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/eye-structure-enhances-night-vision/", "Strategy": "Eye Structure Enhances Night Vision\n\nThe tapetum lucidum of many vertebrates enhances night vision by reflecting light back to photoreceptors in the eye.\n\n“The tapetum lucidum is a biologic reflector system that is a common\nfeature in the eyes of vertebrates. It normally functions to provide\nthe light-sensitive retinal cells with a second opportunity for\nphoton-photoreceptor stimulation, thereby enhancing visual sensitivity\nat low light levels…\n\n“Some species (primates,\nsquirrels, birds, red kangaroo and pig) do not have this structure and\nthey usually are diurnal animals. In vertebrates, the tapetum lucidum\nexhibits diverse structure, organization and composition. Therefore,\nthe retinal tapetum (teleosts, crocodilians, marsupials, fruit bat),\nthe choroidal guanine tapetum (elasmobranchs), the choroidal tapetum\ncellulosum (carnivores, rodents, cetacea), and the choroidal tapetum\nfibrosum (cow, sheep, goat, horse) are described…\n\n“The tapetum lucidum\nrepresents a remarkable example of neural cell and tissue\nspecialization as an adaptation to a dim light environment and, despite\nthese differences, all tapetal variants act to increase retinal\nsensitivity by reflecting light back through the photoreceptor layer.\nThese variations regarding both its location and structure, as well as\nthe choice of reflective material, may represent selective visual\nadaptations associated with their feeding behavior, in response to the\nuse of specific wavelengths and amount of reflectance required.” \n"}, {"Source": "dragonfly's body fluid", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "pump body fluid", "Function2": "extend wings", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/body-fluids-help-molt-extend-wings/", "Strategy": "Body Fluids Help Molt, Extend Wings\n\nThe body of the dragonfly molts and extends its wings by pumping body fluid.\n\n“In addition, there are a series of special mechanisms that help the dragonfly to shed its skin. The body of the dragonfly shrinks and becomes wrinkled in the old body. In order to ‘open’ this body, a special pump system and a special body fluid are created to be used in this process. These wrinkled body parts of the insect are inflated by pumping body fluid after getting out through the slot. In the meantime, chemical solvents start to break the ties of the new legs with the old ones without damage.”\n\n“The wings are fully developed already but are in a folded position. The body fluid is pumped by firm contractions of the body into the wing tissues.”\n\nDragonfly Metamorphosis\n"}, {"Source": "spotted green pufferfish's gill", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "maintain constant salinity", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/salt-balance-is-maintained/", "Strategy": "Salt Balance Is Maintained\n\nThe gills of spotted green pufferfish maintain a constant level of cellular salinity in both freshwater and marine environments due to specialized cells equipped with two ion channels that secrete or absorb ions depending on need.\n\nAll living things depend on the presence and movement of water within and between cells to sustain life-giving functions. Respiration, digestion, cognition, circulation, and other continuous processes depend on the steady movement and exchange of molecules across membranes; water is the medium that allows this movement to happen. Left to its own devices, water seeks to find a balance between both sides of a membrane to achieve equal concentrations of dissolved minerals and organic compounds. But the inner workings of living things often rely on differences across membranes to fuel various functions.\n\nOne way of achieving this is to leverage water’s innate balance-seeking driving force. This dance relies on compounds attached to or imbedded in cell membranes that pull or push water or dissolved constituents across the membrane so that the concentration is greater on one side than the other. At the opportune moment, the cell then uses water’s balance-seeking force to do work.\n\nIn other situations, living things need to counter water’s innate balancing act in order to keep a steady concentration of dissolved constituents inside the cell, regardless of outside conditions. Such is the challenge for spotted green pufferfish that encounter varying degrees of salinity in their environment. To maintain a steady level of chloride ions inside their cells, pufferfish have two membrane bound proteins (CFTR and NKCC) in specialized epithelial cells of their gills that form ion channels across the membrane. The channels function to secrete chloride ions from inside the cell in saltier environments and absorb chloride ions in freshwater environments.\n"}, {"Source": "rodents' teeth", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "self-sharpening teeth", "Function2": "maintain open roots", "Function3": "continue to grow", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/teeth-are-self-sharpening/", "Strategy": "Teeth Are Self‑Sharpening\n\nThe teeth of rodents self-sharpen because their inner surface is softer than the outer enamel and wears away faster to create a sharp edge.\n\n“Plant-eaters have to have particularly good teeth. Not only do they use them for very long periods but the material they have to deal with is often very tough. Rats, like other rodents–squirrels, mice, beavers, porcupines–cope with that problem by maintaining open roots to their front gnawing teeth, the incisors, so that they continue to grow throughout the animal’s life compensating for wear. They are kept sharp by a simple but very effective self-stropping process. The main body of the rodent incisor is made of dentine, but its front surface is covered by a thick and often brightly coloured layer of enamel which is even harder. The cutting edge of the tooth thus becomes shaped like a chisel. As the top incisors grind over the lower ones the dentine is worn away more quickly and this exposes the blade of enamel at the front keeping a sharp chisel edge.” \n\n“Like all rodents, beavers have self-sharpening incisor teeth that never stop growing. The outer surface is protected by tough enamel, but the inner surface is softer and wears away as the beaver gnaws, creating a sharp, chiseled edge.” "}, {"Source": "green bomber worm's capsules", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "produce bright green bioluminescence", "Function2": "distract predators", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/bombs-distract-predators/", "Strategy": "“Bombs” Distract Predators\n\nCapsules discharged by green bomber worms produce bright green bioluminescence to distract predators."}, {"Source": "dragonfly", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "rapid acceleration", "Function2": "generate force", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/wing-structure-allows-rapid-acceleration/", "Strategy": "Wing Structure Allows Rapid Acceleration\n\nThe wings of a dragonfly help it accelerate rapidly due to their asynchronous operation.\n\n“Dragonflies flap and pitch their wings at a rate of about 40 Hz, creating whirlwinds as illustrated in figure 2 [see online paper listed in references]. A peculiarity of the dragonfly is its use of a rowing motion along an inclined stroke plane. During hovering, the body lies almost horizontal. The wings push backward and downward, and at the end of the stroke, feather and slice upward and forward. In contrast, many other hovering insects use a symmetrical back-and-forth stroke near a horizontal stroke plane. The dragonfly’s asymmetric rowing motion allows it to support much of its weight by the upward drag created during the downstroke; for the more common symmetric motion, the drag roughly cancels.\n\n“The dragonfly belongs to Odonata, one of the most ancient of insect orders. Its fore and hind wings are controlled by separate muscles, and a distinctive feature of the dragonfly’s wing movement is the phase relation between those wings during various maneuvers. When hovering, the fore and hind wings tend to beat out of phase; during takeoff, they tend to beat closer in phase. Why does a dragonfly vary the phase in different maneuvers? One plausible explanation is that alternating the downstroke reduces body oscillation. That is, however, only part of the story. The fore and hind wings are about a wing-width apart—close enough for them to interact hydrodynamically. To determine the amount of interaction, one solves the Navier–Stokes flow equations with boundary conditions set by the movement of the wings. The resulting flows are spectacular and complex. They depend on Reynolds\nnumber, wing motion, wing shape, and phase difference.\n\n“Despite that complexity, two general results emerge: The aerodynamic power expended is reduced when the wings move out of phase, and the force is enhanced when the wings move in phase. When the fore and hind wings beat out of phase, they approach each other from opposite sides and cross near the midstroke. The fore wings experience an induced flow due to the hind wings, and vice versa. As a consequence, the drag on the wings is reduced, as is the power expended in flapping. But the reduction in drag on the two types of wing points in opposite directions, so the net force is essentially unaffected. In other words, the counterstroking allows the dragonfly to generate nearly the same force while saving aerodynamic power. If, instead, the fore and hind wings beat in phase, they will experience a higher drag due to the induced flow. In this case the increase in drag on all the wings points in the same direction. Thus the hydrodynamic interaction results in a greater net force that can be used to accelerate as needed during takeoff. The cost is greater power expenditure.” \n"}, {"Source": "anme‑1 and anme‑2 archaea", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "methane oxidation", "Function2": "consume methane", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/microbes-consume-methane/", "Strategy": "Microbes Consume Methane\n\nThe metabolism of ANME‑1 and ANME‑2 Archaea allows survival in anoxic environments via methane oxidation, and are often found in association with sulfate‑reducing bacteria.\n\n“Evidence supporting a key role for anaerobic methane oxidation in the global methane cycle is reviewed. Emphasis is on recent microbiological advances. The driving force for research on this process continues to be the fact that microbial communities intercept and consume methane from anoxic environments, methane that would otherwise enter the atmosphere. Anaerobic methane oxidation is biogeochemically important because methane is a potent greenhouse gas in the atmosphere and is abundant in anoxic environments. Geochemical evidence for this process has been observed in numerous marine sediments along the continental margins, in methane seeps and vents, around methane hydrate deposits, and in anoxic waters. The anaerobic oxidation of methane is performed by at least two phylogenetically distinct groups of archaea, the ANME-1 and ANME-2. These archaea are frequently observed as consortia with sulfate-reducing bacteria, and the metabolism of these consortia presumably involves a syntrophic association based on interspecies electron transfer. The archaeal member of a consortium apparently oxidizes methane and shuttles reduced compounds to the sulfate-reducing bacteria. Despite recent advances in understanding anaerobic methane oxidation, uncertainties still remain regarding the nature and necessity of the syntrophic association, the biochemical pathway of methane oxidation, and the interaction of the process with the local chemical and physical environment. This review will consider the microbial ecology and biogeochemistry of anaerobic methane oxidation with a special emphasis on the interactions between the responsible organisms and their environment.”\n"}, {"Source": "chameleon's eye", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "view objects with either eye independently", "Function2": "operate as both a binocular and monocular organism", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/eyes-give-360-vision/", "Strategy": "Eyes Give 360° Vision\n\nThe eyes of the chameleon provide 360-degree vision due to unique eye anatomy and an ability to transition between monocular and binocular vision.\n\nChameleons have a distinctive visual system that enables them to see their environment in almost 360 degrees (180 degrees horizontally and +/-90 degrees vertically). They do this in two ways. The first is with anatomical specializations that enable the eyes to rotate with a high degree of freedom. The second is the chameleon’s ability to transition between monocular and binocular vision, meaning they can view objects with either eye independently, or with both eyes together.\n\nSeveral anatomical features enable chameleons to rotate their eyes to such a high degree. The eyes are located on opposite sides of the head, providing a view to the sides and behind or toward the front. Internally, the eye balls are mounted in twin conical turrets (like two upside down ice cream cones). Without a deep orbital socket to keep the eye from falling out (as in humans), the chameleon has evolved a thick, muscular lid. This lid surrounds each eye turret, leaving only the pupil exposed. This provides a “safety net” that enables the eye to bulge out of the conical turret. Without the restriction of a deep orbital socket, each eye can rotate nearly 180 degrees, giving a much wider range of vision than animals whose eyes are secured in socket structures.\n\nThe ability to transition between monocular and binocular vision also enables the chameleon to view objects panoramically. While searching for prey, the chameleon uses monocular vision, with each eye functioning independently of the other. The eye movements–or saccades–are referred to as ‘uncoupled’ when functioning this way. Two separate bundles of nerves control the musculature of the eyes, and two separate images are sent to the brain. Once the chameleon spots its prey, the saccades synchronize, in a process called “coupling,” and both eyes lock on the object. For coupling to occur, visual signals are first sent to the brain through two non-coupled neural bundles. The brain reads these signals, and the eye that has spotted the prey sends stronger electrical impulses to the brain than the eye still searching for the target. The neuron from the eye that does not see the prey syncs with the one that does, forming a larger neural bundle. Once the eye movements are synchronized, the eyes fix on the object and only the head rotates.\n\nThe chameleon’s ability to switch freely between synchronous and uncoupled saccadic eye movement is like having two movies playing in your head, and if you wanted to only watch one, you could. This enables the chameleon to operate as both a binocular and monocular organism in a remarkably efficient way for protection, food gathering, and reflexes.\n"}, {"Source": "dinoflagellates", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "avoid predation", "Function2": "alert higher order predators", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/bioluminescence-protects-from-predation/", "Strategy": "Bioluminescence Protects From Predation\n\nBioluminescence produced by some dinoflagellates helps protect them from predation by silently alerting higher order predators to the location of their enemies.\n\n“When plankton called dinoflagellates grow too numerous near shore, the single-celled algae can stain the water a reddish-brown, causing so-called red tides that are often toxic to people and fish alike. Certain dinoflagellates species also produce bioluminescence, and when night falls at the beach, the teeming algae can make the shallows glow an electric blue…\n\nOut at sea, dinoflagellates use bioluminescence as a sort of ‘burglar alarm’: when disturbed, the plankton flash or light up, essentially creating a glowing trail that leads right to their assailant. This silent signal alerts predators higher up in the food chain about the dinoflagellates’ nemesis. ‘[The burglar alarm] is a scream for help,’ Widder says. ‘The best chance you have when you’re getting attacked is to attract something bigger than what is eating you.'” \n"}, {"Source": "grazing animal", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "harvest their own feed", "Function2": "control weeds", "Function3": "naturally fertilize the soil", "Function4": "avoid overgrazing", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/sustainable-use-of-lands/", "Strategy": "Sustainable Use of Lands\n\nGrazing animals sync their foraging cycles to match plant growth cycles. \n\n“Dave Pratt, the president of Ranch Management Consultants, believes that U.S. ranchers can boost profits and sustainability in one fell swoop–by taking direction from nature. Pratt suggests using cattle as ‘four-legged combines,’ allowing them to harvest their own feed. Livestock could additionally be used to control weeds and naturally fertilize the soil. Pratt recommends choosing animals that fit the environment, and matching reproductive cycles to forage cycles. He advises ranchers to fence livestock away from riparian or sensitive areas, and use timed-grazing to avoid overgrazing. He points out that improved health of range resources means improved health of livestock–hence increased profit and sustainability.”"}, {"Source": "hawaiian bobtail squid's light organ", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "regulate squid's ability to tell time", "Function2": "differentiate between night and day", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/internal-bacteria-maintain-time-rhythms/", "Strategy": "Internal Bacteria Maintain Time Rhythms\n\nLight-producing bacteria living within the Hawaiian bobtail squid enable the squid to distinguish day from night by activating a protein.\n\nBacteria that create and emit their own light (via a chemical process called bioluminescence) live in the Hawaiian bobtail squid’s “light organ.” When the light generated by these bacteria comes in contact with nearby squid tissue, it activates a gene within the affected cells. This gene produces a protein that regulates the squid’s ability to tell time, allowing the squid to differentiate between night and day. In this way, the squid knows whether to hunt (which it does at night) or rest buried in the sand (during the day). Although this protein is present throughout the day in the squid, its levels peak when coupled with bioluminescence. As a result, the cycling of bioluminescence and its resulting protein activation influences the squid’s daily rhythm.\n"}, {"Source": "lionfish's stripes", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "camouflage", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/stripes-serve-as-long-distance-camouflage/", "Strategy": "Stripes Serve as Long‑distance Camouflage\n\nThe stripes on a lionfish serve as camouflage by breaking up the outline of the fish when viewed from afar.\n\n“The strange appearance of the lionfish…is caused by its highly divided dorsal and pectoral fins. At close range its striking colours are a warning to would-be predators that it is poisonous: both these groups of fins can inject poison. The striped pattern also serves to break up the outline of the fish when viewed from a distance, a form of camouflage. The zebra firefish…has a similar pattern, and its dorsal spines also contain venom. The membranes of its pectoral fins extend almost to the tips, giving the appearance of a pair of wings.” "}, {"Source": "human tissue", "Application": "elastic polymers", "Function1": "stretch and relax", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/protein-gives-lifetime-elasticity-to-tissues/", "Strategy": "Protein Gives Lifetime Elasticity to Tissues\n\n“Scientists have unravelled the shape of the protein that gives human tissues their elastic properties in what could lead to the development of new synthetic elastic polymers…Elastin allows tissues in humans and other mammals to stretch, for example when the lungs expand and contract for respiration or when arteries widen and narrow over the course of a billion heart beats. The study…has triumphed where engineering has so far failed by generating a molecule with near-perfect elasticity that will last a lifetime. ‘This high level of physical performance demanded of elastin vastly exceeds and indeed outlasts all human-made elastics. It is the co-ordinated assembly of many tropoelastins into elastin that gives tissues their stretchy properties and this exquisite assembly helps to generate elastic tissues as diverse as artery, lung and skin. We discovered that tropoelastin is a curved, spring-like molecule with a ‘foot’ region to facilitate attachment to cells. Stretching and relaxing experiments showed that the molecule had the extraordinary capacity to extend to eight-times its initial length and can then return to its original shape with no loss of energy, making it a near-perfect spring.’ [said researcher Dr Clair Baldock].”\n"}, {"Source": "jewel scarab's forewings", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "create gold and silver", "Function2": "colorful appearance", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/chitin-layers-produce-gold-and-silver-colors/", "Strategy": "Chitin Layers Produce Gold and Silver Colors\n\nThe forewings of jewel scarabs produce gold and silver by having 70 layers of chitin that become progressively thinner with depth resulting in different refractive indices.\n\n“A team of researchers at the University of Costa Rica has found that the\nbeetles’ metallic appearance is created by the unique structural\narrangements of many dozens of layers of exo-skeletal chitin in the\nelytron, a hardened forewing that protects the delicate hindwings that\nare folded underneath… In these beetles, the cuticle, which is just 10 millionths of a meter\ndeep, has some 70 separate layers of chitin—a nitrogen-containing\ncomplex sugar that creates the hard outer skeletons of insects, crabs,\nshrimps, and lobsters. The chitin layers become progressively thinner\nwith depth, forming a so-called ‘chirped’ structure. ‘Because the\nlayers have different refractive indices,’ Vargas says, ‘light\npropagates through them at different speeds. The light is refracted\nthrough—and reflected by—each interface giving, in particular, phase\ndifferences in the emerging reflected rays. For several wavelengths in\nthe visible range, there are many reflected rays whose phase\ndifferences allow for constructive interference. This leads to the\nmetallic appearance of the beetles.’ This is similar to the way in which a prism breaks white light into the\ncolors of the rainbow by refraction, but in the case of these beetles,\ndifferent wavelengths, or colors of light are reflected back more\nstrongly by different layers of chitin. This creates the initial palette\nof colors that enable the beetles to produce their distinctive hues.”\n"}, {"Source": "salmon's olfactory sense", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "locate the river", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/olfactory-sense-pinpoints-spawning-river/", "Strategy": "Olfactory Sense Pinpoints Spawning River\n\nSalmon identify a specific spawning river using their keen olfactory sense.\n\n“The salmon’s extraordinary ability to locate the river where it was born is due to its highly developed olfactory sense, which enables it to distinguish between different rivers by scent.”\n"}, {"Source": "butterfly's scale", "Application": "ultra-thin synthetic broadband reflectors", "Function1": "scatter light", "Function2": "create a range of periodicities", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/scale-creates-broadband-diffuse-silver-reflectivity/", "Strategy": "Scale Creates Broadband\nDiffuse Silver Reflectivity\n\nWings of the butterfly Argyrophorus argenteus creates silver color via sub-micron thick scales that scatter light and create a range of periodicities parallel to the scale surface.\n\n“The butterfly Argyrophorus argenteus…appears to have overcome the design challenge associated with creating an efficient broadband reflection using very limited reflector thickness.” \n\n“It is the quasi-random variation in colour between these neighbouring bands and along each band’s length, concurrent with their close juxtaposition, which creates the overall broadband silver appearance of the butterfly’s wings…It is a structural design that not only coherently scatters visible light to produce colour but it simultaneously presents a range of periodicities that run parallel to the scale surface. It is this range that results in the scatter of a broad band of wavelengths and the production of its macroscopic silver hue through additive colour mixing.” \n\n“Its unusual colour appearance arises from a sub-micron thickness scale design that creates broadband diffuse silver reflectivity by multi-colour addition. This is achieved by incorporation of a unique design variation into its constituent multilayer reflector, one in which the required range of periodicities lies in the direction that is parallel to the surface rather than perpendicular to it as is the case with the much more common forms of natural broadband reflectors. Biomimetically, this A. argenteus scale design offers the basis for ultra-thin synthetic broadband reflectors, across a range of wavelength bands not limited only to visible wavelengths.”\n"}, {"Source": "common kingfisher's feather", "Application": "designer color", "Function1": "produce colorful feathers", "Function2": "reflect specific wavelengths", "Function3": "create bright, iridescent colors", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/structures-create-colorful-feathers/", "Strategy": "Kingfishers Mix Media to\nProduce Striking Color Combo\n\nFeathers of the common kingfisher create colorful feathers due to pigment granules, spongy nanostructures, and thin films.\n\nIntroduction\n\nBird feathers come in literally all colors of the rainbow––and even some we can’t see. Some are produced by pigments, chemicals within the feathers that absorb or reflect different wavelengths of light differently. Others are produced by minute physical structures that bend or reflect select portions of the light spectrum. Variations in those physical structures can scatter light rays in slightly different ways, allowing the creation of bright, iridescent colors that can even change when viewed from different angles.\n\nIn the case of the common kingfisher, it’s both of the above. This eye-catching bird, which lives in Europe, Asia, and Africa, has three different colors: orange on the breast, cyan (greenish-blue) on its back, and blue on its tail. It uses both chemical and structural coloration to deck itself in attractive plumage. (No one knows exactly how the bird benefits, though it may have something to do with attracting mates or competing for resources.)\n\nThe Strategy\n\nThe feathers of common kingfishers, like those of other birds, are made up of a main stem, called a rachis, from which individual barbs branch off. However, kingfishers add a twist by having two distinct types of barbs. Both types have a thin outer layer called a cortex. But inside, they differ, and these differences produce different colors by different methods.\n\nOne type of barb, found on the bird’s chest, is made up of hollow cells with tiny granules of pigment inside. The granules selectively absorb short-wavelength blue light, giving the feathers an orange hue. The barb cells are also irregularly spaced, which randomizes the direction of incoming light and scatters the long-wavelength red light.\n\nThe bird’s back and tail feature a second type of barb. This type is made up of cells that are spongy with a small bubble inside. The spongy tissue reflects short-wavelength blue light in many directions, producing bluish iridescence. The sponginess differs from the back to the tail reflecting different wavelengths of light and creating the appearance of cyan and blue, respectively. Beneath the spongy cells are other cells that use a pigment to absorb light that bounces in their direction, helping the blue colors to “pop” by removing other “competing” wavelengths from the picture.\n\nOn top of all of this, the cortex of the blue feathers varies minutely in thickness, and serves as a thin film that reflects light across the entire visible light spectrum. This adds additional shimmer to the overall look.\n\nThe spongy tissue reflects short wavelength blue light in many directions, producing bluish iridescence.\n\nThe Potential Color is one of the fundamental tools humans use to communicate, signal, and decorate. Apparel designers, paint manufacturers, and others in the business of color could apply the kingfishers’ strategy of mixing chemical and structural coloration to produce a range of effects with aesthetic as well as very practical applications.\n"}, {"Source": "resurrection fern's leaf", "Application": "shape-memory materials", "Function1": "regain shape", "Function2": "elastic response", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/leaves-have-elasticity-shape-memory/", "Strategy": "Leaves Have Elasticity, Shape Memory\n\nLeaves of the resurrection fern regain shape after dehydration due to hierarchical structure of palisade and spongy layers.\n\n“The resurrection fern Polypodium polypodioides has a remarkable elastic reponse, where the fast water uptake of the fern upon rehydration is accompanied by a significant reduction in its Young’s modulus. In this letter, we discuss the fern’s elastic response and suggest that by mimicking its structure, one should be able to design materials exhibiting interesting elastic behavior.\n\n“For many years, plants have been a rich information source for designing and optimizing materials and biomimetic systems. For example, Burdock plants had a direct impact on the invention of a novel hooking system, while the lotus leaf has inspired the creation of very hydrophobic surfaces. The elastic response of plants when exposed to external stimuli water, light, etc. is also rather interesting,and emerging biomimetic materials may just take advantage of this. Plant leaves are often stiff while fully hydrated but loose turgor and become soft under dry conditions. If they dry completely up, only the cellular matrix remains, and the leaf appears to be hard and brittle. However, some plants have a conceptually simpler elastic response, where the plant leaf is stiff in the dry state and soft in the wet state. Here, we study the resurrection fern Polypodium polypodioides, which has an amazing ability to take up water while at the same time altering its elasticity from a soft hydrated state to a stiff dehydrated state in order to cope with drought. Moreover, as reported in Ref. 6, the fern can reproducibly switch between a curled-up dry state and a fully extended and soft wet state and is, therefore, a natural shape-memory material.” \n\n“The structure of the resurrection fern is hierarchical (see Fig. 5 in Ref. 6), where the smallest elastic units are the plant cells arranged into palisade and spongy layers. Water flows into the layered structures due to capillary pressure, allowing the cells to absorb water as well. An artificial structure aiming at reproducing the elastic reponse of the fern must display a hierarchical structure which mimics that of the plant.”\n"}, {"Source": "pangolin scale", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "provide strong and durable protection", "Function2": "absorb the force of an attack", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/scales-provide-flexible-strong-protection/", "Strategy": "Scales Provide Flexible, Strong Protection\n\nScales of pangolins provide flexibility yet strong protection by overlapping like roof shingles.\n\nIntroduction\n\nTucked safely into a ball, impervious to the teeth and claws of an inquisitive lion cub, a pangolin seems to make survival look simple.\n\nMembers of this family though, which live in tropical parts of Africa and Asia, are literally among the toughest prey animals around. Except for their bellies, pangolins are covered with thick, overlapping scales made out of keratin, the same material that makes up human hair and fingernails.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nWhen not threatened, a pangolin spends its time burrowing in the ground or climbing in the trees foraging for ants and other insects. But when a predator appears, it curls up into a tight ball. The curved body causes the sharp edges of the scales to stick out. And the scales’ virtually impenetrable nature prevents teeth and claws from getting to the juicy parts inside.\n\nThe modular nature of the pangolin’s armor providespowerful protection without sacrificing flexibility.\n\nPangolin scales have a number of traits that help them provide strong and durable protection for their owner.\n\nStarting at the micro-level, they are made up of three distinct layers of flat, elliptical keratin-rich cells. On the top and bottom layers of each scale, the cells lie parallel to the surface in sheets that overlap. In the middle layer, however, the cells are tilted. The combination of flat, tough, overlapping layers and an inner layer with more diverse orientation of cells creates a structure that is hard to puncture but also absorbs the force of an attack. It is virtually impossible to shred, and readily stops a crack in its tracks if one starts to form. Not only that, but a threadlike substance stitches the flattened cells together, making it hard to separate the individual cells and layers one from another.\n\nOn a macro-scale, the scales are modular and overlap enough that they allow the animal to curl up without stretching or exposing bare spots of skin between the plates of its armor. They continue to grow throughout the pangolin’s life (much like our hair and skin) so they can continue to protect the animal throughout its life despite any wear that takes place. They have a corrugated outer surface, so they slide smoothly against each other and against soil or other substances. And if a predator dents the coat of armor while trying to get through, the pangolin can repair the scales after the attack by simply wetting itself down and letting its scales absorb water to balloon back to their original shape.\n\nThe combination of flat, tough, overlapping layers and an inner layer with more diverse orientation of cells creates a structure that is hard to puncture but also absorbs the force of an attack.\n"}, {"Source": "flower", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protect pollen grains", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/flower-structures-protect-pollen/", "Strategy": "Flower Structures Protect Pollen\n\nStructures of flowers protect their pollen from rain by various physical structures.\n\nYun-Yun Mao and Shuang-Quan Huang of Wuhan University in China studied the response to rain and water of 80 species of flowers. Their work revealed that many flowers have different shapes and structures to prevent their pollen from getting wet. Other flowers developed waterproof pollen instead.\n\nOf the 80 species studied, 20 produce flowers that completely protect their pollen. Some plants shelter their pollen grains through a change in floral orientation or closing their corolla on rainy days. For example, tulip flowers close their petals rapidly when rains come. Some plants have flowers that droop downward, while others have outlets in the base of the flower that let water quickly drain away. But 44 of the 80 species expose their pollen completely, giving it no protection. Of these species, 13 produce pollen that is highly resistant to water, suggesting they have evolved an alternative way to deal with the rain."}, {"Source": "platypus's extensively webbed feet", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protect skin", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/skin-protected-when-burrowing/", "Strategy": "Skin Protected When Burrowing\n\nThe extensively webbed feet of the platypus are used for burrowing by folding back the webbing to expose the claws for work.\n\n“As well as being an adept swimmer it is also a powerful and industrious burrower, digging extensive tunnels through the river banks sometimes as much as 18 metres long. To do this, it rolls back the webbing of its forefeet into its palms and so frees the claws for work.” "}, {"Source": "bacillus selenitireducens' enzyme", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "reduce toxicity", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/enzymes-reduce-toxicity-of-arsenic-and-selenium/", "Strategy": "Enzymes Reduce Toxicity\nof Arsenic and Selenium\n\nEnzymes produced by Bacillus selenitireducens use molybdenum to lower the toxicity of dissolved, oxidized forms of arsenic and selenium.\n\nOxidation of metals can change their properties. Solid iron metal, for example, becomes reddish and porous when oxidized. Oxidation makes some dissolved metals, such as arsenic and selenium, more toxic. Virtually all life forms, except for a few single-celled organisms, are susceptible to the multifaceted poisonous effects of these oxidized metal ions. A bacterium called Bacillus selenitireducens produces an enzyme capable of reversing the oxidation of these metal ions to their less toxic “reduced” forms. The key ingredient in these enzymes is the “transition” element, molybdenum, which grants them the ability to reduce certain unusual elements."}, {"Source": "plant tissue", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "generate hydrostatic pressure", "Function2": "inject solutes", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/tissues-create-hydrostatic-pressure/", "Strategy": "Tissues Create Hydrostatic Pressure\n\nTissues of plants generate hydrostatic pressure by injecting solutes into a confined space and allowing water to enter.\n\n“Osmotic Motors: Hydraulic motors and actuators work on the basis of a change in hydrostatic pressure…plants generate hydrostatic pressure by injecting solutes into a confined space that must be surrounded by a selective membrane that retains the solutes but allows water to permeate freely into this space. Osmosis therefore requires two components: a semipermeable membrane inside to concentrate the solutes and a restraining, but elastic and expandable wall outside to prevent the compartment from bursting when water is taken up during the hydration of these solutes. The hydration of the solutes generates hydrostatic pressure inside the osmotic compartments. All plants use osmosis to pump and concentrate water-binding electrolytes and nonelectrolytes into the inside of their cells and in particular into the vacuole, a membrane-surrounded compartment specifically designed for storing solutes and water. Osmotically operating plant cells allow the build-up of internal pressures far exceeding that of car tires.” "}, {"Source": "jumping spider's eight eyes", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "excellent vision", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/multiple-eyes-provide-excellent-vision/", "Strategy": "Multiple Eyes Provide Excellent Vision\n\nThe eight eyes of a jumping spider provide it with excellent vision via two principal eyes used for stereoscopic vision and the other six for a panoramic view around the spider.\n\n“Jumping spiders are said to have the best vision of all invertebrates. They catch their prey by ambush, and the large eyes placed close together in the front of the head give accurate stereoscopic vision for judging distance when pouncing. The remainder of its eight eyes give it almost all-round vision, so it can spot prey moving anywhere near it.” "}, {"Source": "electric organ of fish", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "generate electricity", "Function2": "produce electric field", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/organ-generates-electricity/", "Strategy": "Organ Generates Electricity\n\nElectric organs of certain fish generate electricity using additive energy from stacked cells to generate a current.\n\n“In certain fishes, however, we find electric organs, consisting of closely packed, orderly arranged groups of cells [electrocytes] whose only known function is the production of an electric field outside the body…The electric fields range from very weak to very strong (500 Volts or more). A typical electric organ of myogenic origin consists of several stacks of orderly arranged, flattened cells with each cell innervated separately by a spinal electromotor neuron. Because the whole organ is enclosed by a tight jacket of connective tissue, there are only little shunt currents, and the voltage differences generated by the individual electrocytes add up.\n"}, {"Source": "lantern shark's intrinsic photophores", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "light emission", "Function2": "pigment translocation", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/hormones-regulate-light-emission/", "Strategy": "Hormones Regulate Light Emission\n\nA chromatophore iris of the lantern shark reveals bioluminenscence, being triggered by hormones.\n\n“Bioluminescence is a common feature in the permanent darkness of the deep-sea. In fishes, light is emitted by organs containing either photogenic cells (intrinsic photophores), which are under direct nervous control, or symbiotic luminous bacteria (symbiotic photophores), whose light is controlled by secondary means such as mechanical occlusion or physiological suppression. The intrinsic photophores of the lantern shark Etmopterus spinax were recently shown as an exception to this rule since they appear to be under hormonal control. Here, we show that hormones operate what amounts to a unique light switch, by acting on a chromatophore iris, which regulates light emission by pigment translocation. This result strongly suggests that this shark’s luminescence control originates from the mechanism for physiological colour change found in shallow water sharks that also involves hormonally controlled chromatophores: the lantern shark would have turned the initial shallow water crypsis mechanism into a midwater luminous camouflage, more efficient in the deep-sea environment.”\n\n“…work on the velvet belly lantern shark (Etmopterus spinax) demonstrated that, unlike any other known system, their luminescence is under hormonal control (Claes & Mallefet 2009a): prolactin and melatonin [hormones] trigger the light emission using specific extrinsic and intrinsic pathways while [alpha]-MSH [hormone] inhibited these light emissions.”\n"}, {"Source": "american kestrel's eyes", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "keep eyes fixed", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/head-kept-motionless-in-flight/", "Strategy": "Coordinated Senses Keep Eyes Fixed in Flight\n\nThe eyes of a kestrel remain fixed on an object due to the bird’s ability to use reflexes to rapidly reposition its eyes and head with respect to its body.\n\nIntroduction\n\nFlying high above a grassland, an American kestrel (Falco sparverius) spies a tiny vole on the ground below. Even though it’s being buffeted by winds, this sharp-eyed member of the falcon family is able to keep its head virtually motionless and its eyes fixed on the creature. After hovering for a moment to collect itself, it plummets to the earth and snatches the meal in its sharp talons.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nKestrels are small birds of prey that are found throughout much of the Americas.  They are among a few birds, including hummingbirds, that have a special talent: They are able to keep their eyes trained on objects even as their bodies move. This helps a kestrel to keep sight of prey it has already located, and also allows it to locate new targets, since it can see clearly whether an object it is observing is moving\n\nA kestrel achieves this feat through a combination of four reflexes, movements that can happen extremely rapidly because they don’t require involvement of the brain. Two of these relate to the vestibular system, which controls balance, and two of which relate to the interaction between nerves and muscles that regulates eye movement.\n\nThe first of the four reflexes is called the vestibule-ocular reflex. This uses information from the eye and from the vestibular system to control eye movement relative to movement of the head and neck. The second, the vestibule-collic reflex, mobilizes neck muscles when it senses head movement. The third, the optolinetic nystagmus reflex, responds to the apparent movement of an image of an object on the retina by moving the eye in a way that keeps the image in the same spot on the retina. The fourth, the optocollic reflex, keeps the head motionless while the rest of the body moves. Together these reflexes help the kestrel to keep its eyes on the prize—and ultimately survive to pass the trait along to the next generation.\n"}, {"Source": "philodendron's flower", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "produce heat", "Function2": "metabolize stored lipids", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/flower-creates-heat/", "Strategy": "Flower Creates Heat\n\nThe flower of the philodendron produces heat by metabolizing stored lipids.\n\n“Night-flowering philodendrons heat up to more than 38 degrees C in order to attract scarab beetles.”\n\n“The all-time champ in heat production is a familiar plant to gardeners here in South Florida. It is another aroid, Philodendron selloum, a common landscape plant from Brazil. Its big, dissected leaves are its most attractive feature, so few people realize that this species produces flowers. Although its spathe and spadix are fairly large, they are borne on very short stalks at the base of the leaves. During the evening, the spadix of E [sic] selloum heats up, reaching its peak at about 7 p.m., at which time it may be 45° or 46°C (ca. 115°F), or as much as 30°C above ambient temperature! Philodendron selloum is remarkable not only for the feverish high temperature which it attains, but also for the way in which it generates the heat. Most heat-generating plants do so by hydrolyzing stored starch – by burning carbohydrates, so to speak. But the metabolic process in E. [sic] selloum is different. This plant metabolizes stored lipids, i.e., it burns fat. JennyCraig, take note. Lipids store more energy than carbohydrates — about twice as much — and allow the Philodendron to achieve its record temperature.”\n"}, {"Source": "jewel beetles", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "reflect light", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/body-surfaces-reflect-light-to-create-colors/", "Strategy": "Body Surfaces Reflect Light to Create Colors\n\nThe body surfaces of jewel beetles and other beetles create colors by reflecting lights at different wavelengths.\n\n“The Buprestid beetles…as well as many ground-beetles (Carabidae), are different again in that the body surface producing the colour is hardened and quite permanent and sculptured into subtly varying shapes that reflect light at different wavelengths – blue, purple, green, bronze, silver and gold. The purple flush on the elytra of the ground-beetle, Carabus violaceus, is due to this cause, as are the metallic marks on various butterfly pupae.”\n"}, {"Source": "individual spider", "Application": "polymers", "Function1": "generate silk", "Function2": "produce frame silk", "Function3": "produce viscid silk", "Function4": "produce cocoon silk", "Function5": "produce prey-wrapping silk", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/silk-used-for-various-functions/", "Strategy": "Silk Used for Various Functions\n\nIndividual spiders are able to use silk for a variety of tasks by varying the properties of the silks they produce.\n\n“Certainly the most extraordinary material among those tabulated here is spider silk (that of silkworm moths is substantially less extreme)–it has the greatest tensile strength, astonishing extensibility, and by far the greatest strain energy storage…silks vary considerably in their properties, quite clearly tuned by natural selection to their particular tasks…A single araneid spider makes frame silk for the main members of its orb, viscid silk for the spiral threads that catch prey, cocoon silk, prey-wrapping silk, and so forth. Other kinds of spiders make other kinds of silks for other tasks…Spider silks do have an unusual combination of properties. But I know of no evidence that these can be achieved (if one wants them) only by a sequence-specific heteropolymer of amino acids, something unlikely to lend itself to cheap manufacture.” "}, {"Source": "giant clam's mantle", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "focus sunlight", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/transparent-patches-of-mantle-focus-light/", "Strategy": "Transparent Patches of Mantle Focus Light\n\nThe mantle of a giant clam focuses sunlight for the algae it hosts using transparent patches.\n\n“The giant clam also keeps algae within its body. They are not imprisoned within its cells but held in a space directly beneath the outer skin of its mantle which is exposed to light whenever the two outer halves of the clam shell gape open. In some the mantle is purple, in others a vivid green, but always there are lines of bright spots along it. These are specially transparent patches that act like lenses, focusing light on the colonies of algae directly beneath. If the algae become too abundant, the clam thins them out by changing the constitutents of its internal fluids and digesting some of them.”"}, {"Source": "mallee fowl's nest", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "provide warmth for eggs", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/nest-kept-warm/", "Strategy": "Nest Kept Warm\n\nThe nests of mallee fowl provide warmth for eggs by use of rotting vegetation.\n\n“One family of birds has, in the most ingenious way, managed to avoid the hazardous duty of sitting on its eggs throughout the incubation period. The mallee fowl of eastern Australia lays its eggs in a large mound built by the male. The core is composed of rotting vegetation and the whole is covered with sand. The breeding season is a very long one, spread over five months, and during all this time, the male has to remain in constant attendance probing the mound with his bill to test the temperature. In spring the newly gathered vegetation at the centre is decaying rapidly and producing so much heat that the mound may get too warm for the eggs within it, in which case he industriously removes sand from the top to allow heat to escape. In summer, there is a different danger: the sun may strike the mound and over-heat it. Now he must pile more sand on top as a shield. In autumn, when the decaying core has lost much of its strength, he removes the top layers to allow the sun to warm the centre where the eggs are and then covers it in the evening to retain the heat.”\n\n“Scrub fowl attack the daily supervision and reconstruction of their mounds as if the laws of heat distribution were entirely in their grasp. It seems as if, after establishing the interior temperature, they need only choose the proper profile of the breeding plant to maintain that temperature. The mallee fowl considers the existing climatic conditions instinctively (and, it seems, very sensibly) while it proceeds with its regulating activity. In spring, temporary air shafts are used to siphon off superfluous fermentation heat. When fermentation abates in summer and irradiation from the sun increases, the birds prevent overheating by piling up more sand and adding considerably to the height of the mound; they rely on inertia in the warming up of a large mass. Should nevertheless the heat of the sun penetrate dangerously deep, they change their tactics. They dig the breeding mound early in the morning and spread the sand for cooling. When it has cooled off, it is again used to build the pile up…Finally, when both fermentation and irradiation from the sun abate in the fall, the bird operates with a very thin layer of sand only, which quickly warms up in the sun. At the same time, sand is being heated in the sun close to the breeding mound under constant stirring; it is then mixed warm into the pile.”\n"}, {"Source": "damselfly's body", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "create colors", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/pigment-granules-create-colors/", "Strategy": "Pigment Granules Create Colors\n\nThe bodies of damselflies have brilliant metallic colors derived from structural arrangement of pigment granules.\n\n“The brilliant metallic colours of many Odonata, especially damselflies, derive from the structural arrangement of pigment granules. Pigment in the wings of such species as Agrion virgo is similarly distorted by light to produce resplendent shifting effects of green-blue-purple. In some male dragonflies, as Libellulids, the pale Cambridge blue of the abdomen has a distinctive structural cause since it initially derives from a fine powdery exudation of the epidermal cells, producing an effect like the bloom on a plum: the granules are so small and regularly arranged that they reflect only the pale blue part of the light spectrum and, indeed, often appear almost white.” \n\n“The appearance, fine structure and pigment composition of the epidermal chromatophores of mature Austrolestes annulosus (Lestidae) are described and compared with the developing chromatophores of teneral Austrolestes and the mature chromatophores of Diphlebia lestoides (Amphipterygidae) and Ischnura heterosticta\n(Caenagrionidae). Mature chromatophores contain masses of near\nspherical light-scattering bodies and larger irregularly shaped pigment\nvesicles. These effect colour change by migrating in opposite\ndirections, through a system of interconnecting granular endoplasmic\nreticulum tubules. The pigment, a mixture of xanthommatin and\ndihydroxanthommatin, has a liquid or gelatinous consistency. Developing\nchromatophores of teneral insects lack light-scattering bodies and\nwell-defined migratory pigment vesicles, but contain irregular masses of\npigment of similar chemical composition.”\n"}, {"Source": "click beetle's external cuticle", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "amplify power", "Function2": "store work", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/energy-stored-to-amplify-power/", "Strategy": "Energy Stored to Amplify Power\n\nClick beetles store work to amplify power a thousandfold by deforming their external cuticle.\n\n“And that’s where energy storage comes in. Down to the size of a trout or a squid tentacle, unaided muscle can do a decent job with nothing more than ordinary leverage. Below that, muscle needs help; in practice, energy is put in slowly and stored elastically. Some kind of trigger then releases it at a higher rate. Work and energy may be conserved, but power gets amplified…A click beetle stores up work by deforming the external cuticle; its power amplification is fully a thousandfold (Evans 1973). Each of these creatures has some kind of a mechanical catch to prevent premature extension while the work is being put in; the specific arrangements, though, are different for each case.” "}, {"Source": "flowering plant's pollen", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "withstand desiccation", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/pollen-survives-extreme-dehydration/", "Strategy": "Pollen Survives Extreme Dehydration\n\nPollen of flowering plants can survive extreme dehydration via several mechanisms, including a reversible wall-folding pathway that results in complete impermeability.\n\n“[O]ne of [pollen’s] great mysteries is how it can withstand desiccation. Even though the near-spherical shape of some species’ generates surface-area-to-volume ratios that minimise water loss, and their walls are surrounded by an impermeable outer later of exine, this is interrupted by apertures that provide exit routes for ‘materials’. And, as dry as pollen grains can be, loss of too much water will result in their death. So, it is intriguing to know how they manage to stay hydrated. Well, according to Elena Katifori et al. (PNAS 107: 7635–7639, 2010) it’s all down to ‘simple geometry’ and a phenomenon called harmomegathy. Although Katifori and colleagues did not invent the term, they do demonstrate that geometrical and mechanical principles explain how the wall structure guides pollen grains toward distinct folding pathways. During harmomegathy the pollen surface undergoes a folding process to produce a sealed pollen grain in which those permeable apertures become neatly tucked inside the impermeable exine.”"}, {"Source": "amazon electric eel's electric organs", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "stun prey", "Function2": "kill human", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/electric-organs-have-many-purposes/", "Strategy": "Electric Organs Have Many Purposes\n\nElectric organs of Amazon electric eels help them to navigate as well as detect and stun prey.\n\n“The freshwater species that produces the most powerful electrical discharge of all is the Amazon electric eel (Electrophorus electricus). Measuring up to 10 feet (3 m), it has three electric organs. Of these, two are used for navigation and prey detection. The third, and largest, is a formidable weapon. Split into two long, lateral halves, it discharges out of its tail, releasing up to 550 volts into its freshwater habitat. The shock stuns its prey, which consists of fishes and frogs, but it is also powerful enough to kill humans and even horses if they are present in the water when the eel discharges.”"}, {"Source": "foam-nesting frog's bubble nest", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protect eggs", "Function2": "supply oxygen", "Function3": "avoid dehydration", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/hardened-bubbles-provide-protection/", "Strategy": "Hardened Bubbles Provide Protection\n\nBubble nest of foam-nesting frogs protects eggs and young by hardening into a protective casing.\n\n“Several tropical frogs, known as foam-nesters, also build a nest of\nbubbles. The mother exudes a fluid and beats it into microscopic bubbles\nwith her hind legs. She then lays her eggs inside, and her mate, who\nhas clung to her back throughout, fertilizes them. As the parents leave,\nthe outer bubbles harden to form a protective case that encloses a\nfoamy core of several thousand eggs. This foam nursery provides shelter\nfrom predators, bacteria, and sunlight, as well as preventing\ndehydration. Because the foam is mostly air it supplies all the embryos’\noxygen needs until well after hatching. The nest then disintegrates,\nand the young emerge from the crowded apartment and, all being well,\ndrop into the water below.”"}, {"Source": "electric catfish's electric organ", "Application": "energy storage", "Function1": "produce electricity", "Function2": "discharge electricity", "Function3": "vary electricity", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/electric-organ-stuns-prey-deters-attackers/", "Strategy": "Electric Organ Produces\nStrong, Customizable Shocks\n\nThe electric organ of an electric catfish uses specialized connectors to synchronize the release of electricity.\n\nIntroduction\n\nThe murky waters of rivers in Western Africa can make it hard for a fish to find prey, scare off competitors, and interact with members of its own kind. Some species have evolved a shocking workaround: an organ that produces pulses of electricity that can be used for navigating, communicating, and capturing prey.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nThe electric catfish (Malapterurus electricus) has a particularly notable pair of electric organs, one on either side of its body. On each side of the fish, a single giant nerve fiber runs from the spinal cord to the edge of a thin layer of tissue overlaying the muscle beneath the skin., This layer  consists of millions of flat cells (“electroplaques”) overlapping each other. A single stalk emerges from each cell and connects with a nerve, providing what scientists think is a synchronizing function that enables numerous nerves and electroplaque cells to act in concert to discharge electricity at the same time. The individual discharges are in the range of 100–400 volts, the same  order of  magnitude as that which characterizes the electricity in our homes.\n\nThe fish uses the concentrated charge in five distinct ways, each with a characteristic pattern of rapid-fire pulses of electricity.. It gives off a long train of rapid discharges when it is attacking and capturing prey.  It produces fewer, more bunched-up pulses when encountering fish of other species that might require defense or attack behavior. It uses a short, rapid release of electricity when surprised or to startle prey. It uses short, single bursts of electricity to detect or attract prey. And a long train of discharges that starts fast but slows down helps it communicate with other members of its own species.\n\nPotential\n\nThe unique structure of the electric catfish’s electric organ, with its millions of stacked cells with stalks connecting to neurons, allows the fish to both create a large charge and vary it from one situation to another. This capability to synchronize and customize the use of electricity in this way could potentially prove valuable insights for meeting a range of human needs, including  enhancing the quality of video transmission, improving the efficiency of renewable energy sources, and even fine-tuning precision surgery.\n \n"}, {"Source": "rainbow trout's scales", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "produce silvery shine", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/crystals-create-iridescent-sheen/", "Strategy": "Crystals Create Iridescent Sheen\n\nThe scales of a rainbow trout have a silvery shine due to guanine crystals.\n\n“The scales of a rainbow trout, reflective yet translucent. The silvery lustre is due to crystals of guanine, produced in the body as a waste product. The tiny black speckles are pigment cells, and at intervals there are large clusters of these where the pigment is distributed right across each cell, instead of only in the centre; here we get the large black patches which produce colour changes in response to hormones released during the breeding season – hence the name rainbow trout. The overlapping scales form a waterproof armour which is flexible enough to allow for the flexing of the body during swimming.”"}, {"Source": "spider web dragline silk fiber", "Application": "synthetic muscles", "Function1": "maintain web tension", "Function2": "generate work", "Function3": "generate exceptional force", "Function4": "generate substantial stresses", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/fibers-contract-and-relax/", "Strategy": "Fibers Contract and Relax\n\nDragline silk fibers in spider webs help maintain web tension under weight by contracting and relaxing in response to humidity.\n\n“The abrupt halt of a bumble bee’s flight when it impacts the almost\ninvisible threads of an orb web provides an elegant example of the\namazing\nstrength and toughness of spider silk. Spiders depend upon\nthese properties\nfor survival, yet the impressive performance of silk is not limited\nsolely to\ntensile mechanics. Here, we show that silk also exhibits\npowerful cyclic\ncontractions, allowing it to act as a high performance mimic\nof biological\nmuscles. These contractions are actuated by changes in\nhumidity alone and\nrepeatedly generate work 50 times greater than the equivalent mass\nof human\nmuscle. Although we demonstrate that this response is general\nand occurs\nweakly in diverse hydrophilic materials, the high modulus of spider silk is\nsuch that it generates exceptional force. Furthermore,\nbecause this effect\nalready operates at the level of single silk fibers, only 5\nµm in diameter,\nit can easily be scaled across the entire size range at which\nbiological\nmuscles operate. By contrast, the most successful synthetic\nmuscles developed\nso far are driven by electric voltage, such that they cannot\nscale easily\nacross large ranges in cross-sectional areas. The potential\napplicability of\nsilk\nmuscles is further enhanced by our finding that silkworm fibers\nalso\nexhibit cyclic contraction because they are already available\nin commercial\nquantities. The simplicity of using wet or dry air to drive\nthe biomimetic\nsilk\nmuscle fibers and the incredible power generated by silk offer unique\npossibilities\nin designing lightweight and compact actuators for robots\nand\nmicro-machines, new sensors, and green energy production.”\n \n“Spider dragline silk is a model biological polymer for biomimetic\nresearch due to its many desirable and unusual properties. ‘Supercontraction’ describes the dramatic shrinking of dragline silk\nfibers when wetted. In restrained silk fibers, supercontraction\ngenerates substantial stresses of 40–50 MPa above a critical humidity of ~70%\nrelative humidity (RH). This stress may maintain tension in webs under\nthe weight of rain or dew and could be used in industry for robotics,\nsensor technology, and other applications. Our own findings indicate\nthat supercontraction can generate stress over a much broader range than\npreviously reported, from 10 to 140 MPa. Here we show that this\nvariation in supercontraction stress depends upon the rate at which the\nenvironment reaches the critical level of humidity causing\nsupercontraction. Slow humidity increase, over several minutes, leads to\nrelatively low supercontraction stress, while fast humidity increase,\nover a few seconds, typically results in higher supercontraction stress.\nSlowly supercontracted fibers take up less water and differ in\nthermostability from rapidly supercontracted fibers, as shown by\nthermogravimetric analysis. This suggests that spider silk achieves\ndifferent molecular configurations depending upon the speed at which\nsupercontraction occurs. Ultimately, rate-dependent supercontraction may\nprovide a mechanism to tailor the properties of silk or biomimetic\nfibers for various applications.”\n"}, {"Source": "velvet belly lantern shark's light emitting organ", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "emit ventral light", "Function2": "hide silhouette", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/light-used-for-camouflage-2/", "Strategy": "Light Used for Camouflage\n\nLight emitting organs on the underside of velvet belly lantern sharks help camouflage them via bioluminescent counterillumination.\n\n“Many midwater animals emit ventral light to hide their silhouette in the\nwater column. This phenomenon known as counterillumination typically\nrequires fine control over light emission since it needs a luminescence\nthat closely matches the properties of downwelling light (intensity,\nangular distribution and wavelength). Here we provide evidence that,\nalthough lacking complex structures of counterilluminating animals, the\ndeepwater luminescent shark Etmopterus spinax could, in Norwegian\nfjords, efficiently cloak its silhouette from downwelling ambient light\nto remain hidden from predator and prey. This represents the first\nexperimentally tested function of luminescence in a shark and\nillustrates how evolution can take different routes to converge on\nidentical complex behavior.”"}, {"Source": "hatchet fish's light emitting organs", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "camouflage", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/light-used-for-camouflage/", "Strategy": "Light Used for Camouflage\n\nLight emitting organs on the underside of hatchet fish help camouflage them through bioluminescent counterillumination.\n\n“Even in ocean depths where sunlight barely penetrates, the faint\nsilhouette that a fish throws to predators beneath it in the water\ncolumn can make it an easy target. Accordingly, many fish, crustaceans\nand squid have developed bioluminescent ‘counterillumination’ abilities.\nLight-emitting organs called photophores line their undersides. These\ncreatures can adjust the light output of these organs to match the light\ntheir eyes receive from above to help eliminate their shadows. The\nhatchetfish…is one such species equipped with an underbody\nthat lights up to camouflage it from hungry eyes below.”\n"}, {"Source": "diving sea snake's skin", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "filter co2", "Function2": "maintain neutral buoyancy", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/skin-acts-as-membrane/", "Strategy": "Skin Acts as Membrane\n\nThe skin of a diving sea snake acts as a membrane to filter out CO2 from its body.\n\n“Sea snakes, air-breathers like us, dive deep and stay under for prolonged periods while swimming for considerable distances. They deal with this problem of variable buoyancy in what must be the simplest possible way. One such snake, Pelamis platurus, typically descends about 30 meters with enough air in its lung (it has only one) to be neutrally buoyant at that depth. But it loses gas, mainly carbon dioxide and nitrogen, from its skin, whose permeability lets it act as a kind of gill and supplement its lungs. So as it swims along it gradually ascends, thus maintaining its neutral buoyancy as part of its requisite return to the surface (Graham et al. 1987.)”"}, {"Source": "pilobolus fungus's sporangium", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "propel spores", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/sporangium-launches-spores/", "Strategy": "Sporangium Launches Spores\n\nThe sporangium at the tip of the hypha of the Pilobolus fungus launches spores using a hydraulic system.\n\n“In the common species Pilobolus kleinii, a package filled with spores (sporangium; containing between 30,000–90,000 spores) is formed at the tip of the vesicle. Due to (osmotic) absorption of water, the balloon-like vesicle swells, and the hydrostatic pressure in it increases. When a critical pressure of about 0.55 MPa relative to ambient (about 5.5 atm) is reached, the spore package breaks free from the vesicle (in 0.01–0.03 ms) and is propelled by a jet of cell sap with a peak acceleration up to 21,407g and a peak launch velocity of 16 m/s (mean: 9 m/s), resulting in a launch distance of 2.5 m for launch angles of 70–90° to the horizontal. Again, the spore and fluid projection is powered by the release of elastic energy from the contracting wall of the vesicle, which is converted into kinetic energy of the ejected spores and some deformation of the stalk of the sporangiophore. The launch distance is larger than in the Ascomycota because the spore package remains intact, resulting in an overall larger mass of the projectile and thus a lower influence of viscous drag.”"}, {"Source": "dog's nose", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "detect cancer", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/nose-sniffs-out-cancer/", "Strategy": "Nose Sniffs Out Cancer\n\nThe noses of some domestic dogs can detect some forms of cancer in humans via an acute sense of smell.\n\nHow Your Dog's Nose Knows So Much\n\n“In the course of some bibliographical research during the early 1990s, Dr. Armand Cognetta, a dermatologist based in Florida, was surprised to discover in the medical literature a number of confirmed cases in which patients had been found to possess hitherto-unsuspected skin cancers that were detected after their pet dogs (usually for several months before the diagnosis) had been compulsively sniffing the area of skin containing the malignancy. Indeed, in each case it had been the behavior of the dog that had finally prompted the owner to seek medical advice in order to find out why their pet was acting so strangely.”"}, {"Source": "ctenophore's cilia", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "show iridescence", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/moving-cilia-create-iridescence/", "Strategy": "Moving Cilia Create Iridescence\n\n“Ctenophores, comb-jellies or comb-jellyfishes, are common names for marine animals of the phylum Ctenophora. All parts of their deformable body, including muscles, are transparent. The refractive index of their tissues matches nearly exactly that of the salted water in which they live, consequently they are difficult to perceive, except under intense illumination, when the irregularities of their outer membrane produce some faint light scattering. The species Beroë cucumis has the form of oblong ellipsoids (a “cucumber” shape) with a mouth aperture in the forward swimming direction. Eight rows of locomotory cilia run along the body of the animal…These organs are usually much more easily visible than the rest of the body surface, due to the stronger light scattering which takes place on these protrusions. Moreover, the “comb”-rows appear to be brightly colored, showing an iridescence that rainbows across the whole visible spectrum as the combs beat for locomotion. As the rest of the paper will make clear, this is not related to any bioluminescence but can be understood as selective reflection from a two-dimensional photonic-crystal.”\n "}, {"Source": "japanese flying frog's nest", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protect eggs", "Function2": "provide water", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/foam-builds-shelter-provides-water/", "Strategy": "Foam Builds Shelter, Provides Water\n\nNests of flying frogs protect eggs and tadpoles due to protective foam that dissolves to create an interior pool of water.\n\n“Japanese flying frogs (Rhacophorus reinwardti), for their part, produce their beautiful pneumatic foam houses by whipping up foam with their hind legs during copulation. The water is gradually released from the foam of the nest wrapped inside plant leaves, and provides the young with an enclosed miniature pool. Finally the bottom of the foam nest breaks and the young frogs fall into water beneath their nesting branch.”"}, {"Source": "sea slug's brain", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "detect magnetic fields", "Function2": "align at a precise angle", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/achieving-precise-alignment/", "Strategy": "Achieving Precise Alignment\n\nSea slugs align themselves at a precise angle by detecting the Earth's north-south magnetic axis.\n\n“Undersea creatures are also sensitive to magnetic pull. The sea slug (Tritonia diomeda), for instance, is known to align itself precisely at an angle of 87.6° east to the Earth’s north-south magnetic axis.” \n\n“Tritonia diomedea uses the Earth’s magnetic field as an orientation cue, but little is known about the neural mechanisms that underlie magnetic orientation behavior in this or other animals. Six large, individually identifiable neurons in the brain of Tritonia (left and right Pd5, Pd6, Pd7) are known to respond with altered electrical activity to changes in earth-strength magnetic fields. In this study we used immunochemical, electrophysiological, and neuroanatomical techniques to investigate the function of the Pd5 neurons, the largest magnetically responsive cells…Given that TPeps [neuropeptides isolated from Pd5] increase ciliary beating and Tritonia locomotes using pedal cilia, our results are consistent with the hypothesis that Pd5 neurons control or modulate the ciliary activity involved in crawling during orientation behavior.”"}, {"Source": "sea anemone's supportive gel-like substance", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "participate in the process", "Function2": "shape change", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/supportive-gel-enables-extreme-shape-change/", "Strategy": "Supportive Gel Enables Extreme Shape Change\n\nThe supportive gel-like substance (mesoglea) of sea anemones allows extreme shape changing due to its viscoelasticity.\n\n“Consider a solid material with properties and role about as distant from bone as a supportive, compression-resisting material can be. The body wall of a sea anemone–which can be quite substantial in size–consists of inner and outer surface layers separated by the thick mesoglea. One doesn’t go far wrong viewing the system as a tall can of seawater whose walls are mostly made of jelly…A typical anemone has a rare facility for changing shape, ranging from a low barrel to a tall cylinder with a few flourishes in between, over times ranging from seconds to hours…Obviously its mesogleal stuffing must participate in the process. Muscle drives some of the shape changes, in particular the sudden expulsion of water in the central cavity from its single apical opening. But tracts of cilia drive other changes, such as reinflation by pumping water back in. You may recall that…ciliary pumps produce exceedingly low pressures, and here we’re asking that they pump up creatures that may reach half a meter in height and live in moving water. Alexander (1962) showed the crucial role of mesogleal viscoelasticity for anemones. In creep tests on samples, strain increased from an initial value of about 0.2 to a final level ten times that, achieved after around 10 hours. That means the mesoglea has a lot of viscosity relative to its elasticity–it’s hard to make it do anything fast but fairly easy to make it change shape slowly. It has a retardation time (calculated by Biggs; see Vincent [1990]) of a little under an hour. How nice! The pulsating or reversing flows of waves passing above won’t sweep it about very much, but after it has hunkered down, the low-pressure ciliary pump will be adequate to pump it back up again, albeit slowly. It can stand up to a single wave but deflect in a tidal current that imposes the same drag. Furthermore, the anemone’s body wall can resist the stresses of its own short-term muscle contractions, so it can bend or straighten without getting an aneurysm whenever its muscles aren’t active.”\n"}, {"Source": "lemon fruit sac", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "pump hydrogen ions", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/proton-pump-acts-as-mechanism-of-hyperacidification/", "Strategy": "Proton Pump Acts As Mechanism\nof Hyperacidification\n\nThe inner space of lemon fruit sacs are hyperacidified by the action of proton-pumping enzymes associated with the otherwise semipermeable outer cell membrane.\n\nThe internal sacs of the lemon fruit hold a very acidic liquid, considerably more acidic than the cells in other plants. In order to create and maintain the high concentration of hydrogen ions inside these internal sacs, lemons employ enzymes (V-ATPases) associated with the outer membrane of the cells, that use the plants energy to pump hydrogen ions through the otherwise semi-impermeable membrane and into the cell."}, {"Source": "cladosporium resinae's secreted compounds", "Application": "biosurfactants", "Function1": "self-assemble into a wide variety of 3-d configurations", "Function2": "solubilize oil in water", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/secretion-solubilizes-oils-and-water/", "Strategy": "Secretion Solubilizes Oils and Water\n\nCompounds secreted by Cladosporium resinae act as surfactants by self-assembling into a wide variety of 3-D configurations tailor-made for different circumstances when water and oil need to mix.\n\nSo potent are the surfactants (compounds that essentially allow water and oil to mix) in organisms like Cladosporium resinae, that the fungus is able to grow in diesel fuel tanks with water content as low as 0.5%. Survival of water-based creatures in those extremely hydrophobic environments would not be feasible without the self-assembling surfactant compound C. resinae secretes to solubilize oil in water. The sophorolipid biosurfactants produced by C. resinae perform the same tasks as artificial surfactants, but have their own distinct advantages. Besides being non-toxic and biodegradable, the biosurfactants are also structurally suited for adaptability over a broad range of conditions. The adaptability arises from the two basic configurations that this particular biosurfactant can form. One is the common form composed of a head group and tail and the other is a closed ring configuration formed when the tail swings around and attaches to the head group. Depending on the circumstances, the combination of these two forms will self-assemble into a variety of 3-D shapes (spheres, sheets, tubes, etc) that create microscopic water-based or oil-based compartments based on need.\n"}, {"Source": "ray-finned fish's swimbladder", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "retain gases", "Function2": "prevent gases from escaping", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/swimbladder-retains-gases/", "Strategy": "Swimbladder Retains Gases\n\nThe gas gland found in the wall of swimbladders in some ray-finned fish keeps gases in the swimbladder from escaping into the blood by passing the blood through an \"exchanger.\"\n\n“But the swimbladder must be filled from dissolved gases in the blood, and it must not lose gas through redissolution into the blood. So secretion of gas from blood into swimbladder faces a big barrier, and swimbladder gas will all too readily go into solution in the fish’s blood and thence out into the ocean. Two devices stand in the way. First, a layer in the swimbladder wall provides a very effective barrier to the passage of oxygen (Lapennas and Schmidt-Nielsen 1977). Second, blood leaving the so-called gas gland in the wall of the swimbladder passes through an exchanger (fig.5.2) in which blood leaving the swimbladder loses excess dissolved gas specifically to blood moving toward the swimbladder (Scholander 1954).”"}, {"Source": "eurotium herbariorum", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "create disorderly interactions", "Function2": "prevent molecular rigidity", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/chaotropic-molecules-protect-from-low-temperature/", "Strategy": "Chaotropic Molecules Protect\nFrom Low Temperature\n\nEurotium herbariorum can survive at low temperatures by producing water-soluble molecules that act as lubricants to ensure proper function of biological compounds.\n\nLow temperatures cause an increase in the non-covalent interactions between molecules. In other words, they cause molecular scale objects to \"stick\" together more favorably than they would at higher temperatures. This leads to the rigidification of cellular macromolecules and membranes which is a major cause of cellular death at low temperatures. A broad category of solutes, called chaotrophs, create more disorderly (i.e., less sticky) interactions at all temperatures, and therefore prevent molecular rigidity at low temperatures. In contrast, at moderate to high temperatures, the disordered interactions that chaotrophs promote lead to improper mechanics that cause cellular stress. Known chaotrophs include magnesium chloride, calcium chloride, glycerol, fructose, and urea. Conversely, a broad category of solutes called kosmotrophs perform in the exact opposite role; they promote non-covalent interactions between molecules which leads to poorer performance at low temperatures and higher performance at high temperatures.\n\nThe highly solute tolerant (xerotrophic) fungus Eurotium herbariorum has been documented accumulating environmental chaotrophs like fructose in its cells at low temperatures as well as synthesizing new ones like glycerol. The fungus actively shunned accumulation of kosmotrophs at these low temperatures. This accumulation/synthesis of more chaotrophs at low temperatures is likely to be partly responsible for the higher growth and survivability observed. Furthermore, evidence of relatively higher kosmotroph accumulation and synthesis at high temperatures correlated to higher survivability. Taken together, the evidence is highly suggestive that E. herbariorum is able to manipulate the molecular interactions within its cells to its benefit at low temperatures. The increased accumulation and synthesis of chaotrophs helps the cells maintain natural biochemical function at temperatures that would normally result in rigidity of molecules and cell death.\n"}, {"Source": "thale cress plant's phyb (phytochrome b) sas pathway", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "detect changes in wavelengths of red and blue light", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/photoreceptor-proteins-direct-shade-avoidance-behavior/", "Strategy": "Photoreceptor Proteins Direct\nShade Avoidance Behavior\n\nThale cress plants maximize photosynthetic activity by detecting changes in wavelengths of red and blue light associated with shade, triggering protein production to direct growth away from shaded areas.\n\nPlants often grow in densely populated environments in which access to sunlight is a precious commodity. In order to maximize opportunities for photosynthesis, plants have evolved complex biochemical sensory pathways that initiate shade avoidance syndrome (SAS). SAS results in growth away from shade and is of critical importance to maintaining a plant’s competitive edge. The thale cress has evolved dual, redundant sensory mechanisms for avoiding shade. The phyB (phytochrome B) SAS pathway depends on detecting a decrease in the ratio of red light to far-red light (R:FR). In plants growing in the canopy above a thale cress, chlorophyl absorbs red light and cell walls scatter far-red light. Thus, a decrease in the R:FR ratio (the plant is exposed to less red light) is a good signal for the thale that it is in the shade of the canopy and should begin SAS processes to “escape”. When thale cress leaves absorb more far-red light, the phytochrome molecule changes shape leading to a cascade of reactions that produce proteins related to growth away from the shade. A parallel system is triggered by a reduction in blue light. Chlorophyll from competing plants strongly absorbs blue light, so a reduction in blue light is a reliable indication that sunlight is being blocked.\n"}, {"Source": "staphylococcus aureus bacteria's membrane", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "prevent cellular rupture", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/water-channels-prevent-cellular-rupture/", "Strategy": "Water Channels Prevent Cellular Rupture\n\nProteins embedded in the membranes of Staphylococcus aureus bacteria open up to form relief channels in response to extreme internal water pressure.\n\nCertain conditions, such as exposure to a sudden downpour, can cause the influx of large amounts of water into a living cell. Like an overfilled balloon, the cell will rupture and die if it’s not able to relieve the pressure. Many bacteria have evolved pressure-sensitive relief channels that allow water to flow out of the cell in response to increased pressure on the cell membrane. Under these extreme conditions, Staphylococcus aureus bacteria produce a compound made up of four proteins. As the pressure on the membrane increases nearly to the breaking point, the proteins arrange themselves into a pore allowing water and dissolved material to exit the cell.\n"}, {"Source": "cockroach's cuticle", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "control moisture loss", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/waxy-coat-controls-moisture-loss/", "Strategy": "Waxy Coat Controls Moisture Loss\n\nThe cuticle of cockroaches allows temperature-controlled variability of moisture loss via a waxy coat.\n\n“It was shown by Ramsay (1935) that the cockroach owes its impermeability to water to a thin and apparently mobile layer of lipoid on its surface. At a critical temperature of about 30° C. this lipoid seems to undergo a change of phase, and it then allows water to pass freely through it. This interesting observation has never been confirmed on other insects. It forms the starting-point of the present study.”"}, {"Source": "metallosphaera sedula's enzymes", "Application": "metallospaera sedula", "Function1": "catalyze the reduction of metal ions", "Function2": "produce the elemental form of the metals", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/enzymes-reduce-metal-ions-from-sulfidic-minerals/", "Strategy": "Enzymes Reduce Metal\nIons From Sulfidic Minerals\n\nEnzymes produced by Metallosphaera sedula catalyze the reduction of metal ions from metal sulfates, sulfites, and sulfides to produce the elemental form of the metals.\n\nMetallosphaera sedula is a strain of single-celled microorganisms that thrive even under conditions of extreme heat and acidity. As part of their metabolism, these “extremophiles” produce enzymes that alter the state of metal-sulfur compounds, such as iron sulfide, present in their environment. The result is the elemental form of the metal – the same form that is useful for human applications."}, {"Source": "rotifers of class bdelloidea", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "scavenge reactive oxygen species", "Function2": "resist ionizing radiation", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/scavenging-reactive-species/", "Strategy": "Scavenging Reactive Species\n\nBdelloid rotifers are resistant to ionizing radiation due to enhanced capacity for scavenging destructive radiation-induced molecules before they have a chance to cause damage.\n\nIonizing radiation, including that from nuclear materials and X-rays, can damage DNA and proteins directly by forming or breaking bonds in DNA or indirectly by the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). ROS, such as free radicals and peroxides, can destroy proteins. D. [Deinoccocus] radiodurans and bdelloid rotifers are able to survive exposure to ionizing radiation because they are able to scavenge ROS before they can wreak havoc, thereby leaving proteins charged with repairing damaged DNA to do their job.\n"}, {"Source": "pill millipede", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "roll into an impregnable ball", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/rolling-into-a-ball-for-protection/", "Strategy": "Rolling Into a Ball for Protection\n\nPill millipedes protect themselves from predators by rolling their jointed skeletons into a ball.\n\n“The pill millipede has the same strategy: its hard outer skeleton is jointed so it can roll into an impregnable ball, enclosing its head and numerous legs in armour plating. Not only is there no easy way in for the predator, but it would also need a much larger mouth to swallow a rolled-up millipede than a long thin stretched-out one.”\n"}, {"Source": "algae melosira arctica's secreted proteins", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "manipulate the formation of ice", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/secreted-proteins-manipulate-the-formation-of-ice/", "Strategy": "Secreted Proteins Manipulate\nthe Formation of Ice\n\nProteins secreted by the algae Melosira arctica ensure optimal conditions for survival inside watery bubbles in this extremely cold environment by manipulating the formation of ice around the bubble.\n\nMelosira arctica algae dwell within bubbles in sea ice and have evolved ice-binding proteins (IBPs) to make their icy home more habitable. These proteins aggregate into gooey clusters that clog the openings of nascent bubbles during ice formation. This retains liquid water within the bubble, which the algae depend on to survive, and prevents the algae from being pushed out and away from the surface of the ice where sunlight for photosynthesis is more intense. In addition, the proteins influence the shape of the ice around the bubble and the salinity of the water inside which benefit algae survival.\n"}, {"Source": "thistle plant's cuticle", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "regulate degree of elasticity", "Function2": "increase tissue hydration", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/cuticle-matrix-tunes-tissue-elasticity/", "Strategy": "Cuticle Matrix Tunes Tissue Elasticity\n\nThe cuticle of the thistle plant controls its degree of elasticity by regulating the degree of hydration of constituent trihydroxy fatty acids compounds.\n\nThe external coating, or cuticle, of plant surfaces protects from desiccation and predation, but also add to plant structural support as plants age. Younger plants, and newer growth on older plants, have a greater degree of elasticity, perhaps because they do not need to support a large mass or because they need greater hydration during growth. Initially, the OH (hydroxyl) groups of cuticle-based trihydroxy fatty acids function to increase tissue hydration. As tissues age, cross-linking between hydroxyl groups increases, making them less available for hydration leading to greater tissue rigidity.\n"}, {"Source": "sacred lotus", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "produce heat", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/electron-flow-generates-heat/", "Strategy": "Electron Flow Generates Heat\n\nThe sacred lotus attracts pollinators by producing heat through a nonphosphorylating electron transport pathway that releases energy by electron flow through an alternative respiratory pathway.\n\nThe alternative pathway of respiration, catalysed by the Alternative\nOxidase (AOX), is responsible for heat production in the sacred lotus (Nelumbo nucifera).\n“We report results from in vivo measurements, using oxygen isotope discrimination techniques, of fluxes through the alternative and cytochrome respiratory pathways in thermogenic plant tissue, the floral receptacle of the sacred lotus (Nelumbo nucifera). Fluxes through both pathways were measured in thermoregulating flowers undergoing varying degrees of thermogenesis in response to ambient temperature. Significant increases in alternative pathway flux were found in lotus receptacles with temperatures 16oC to 20oC above ambient, but not in those with lesser amounts of heating. Alternative pathway flux in the hottest receptacles was 75% of the total respiratory flux. In contrast, fluxes through the cytochrome pathway did not change significantly during thermogenesis. These data support the hypothesis that increased flux through the alternative pathway is responsible for heating in the lotus and that it is unlikely that uncoupling proteins, which would have produced increased fluxes through the cytochrome pathway, contribute significantly to heating in this tissue. Comparisons of actual flux, with capacity determined using inhibitors, suggested that the alternative pathway was operating at close to maximum capacity in heating tissues of lotus. However, in nonheating tissues the inhibitor data significantly overestimated the alternative pathway flux. This confirms that isotopic measurements are necessary for accurate determination of fluxes through the two pathways.”\n"}, {"Source": "syntrophus aciditrophicus", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "produce energy", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/biochemical-pathways-enable-life/", "Strategy": "Biochemical Pathways Enable Life\n\nThrough symbiosis, waste products from Syntrophus aciditrophicus are rapidly turned back into the organism's energy source in harsh, extremely resource-limited environments.\n\nSyntrophic communities contain two or more species (usually single-celled organisms) that are able to feed off each other’s waste products in a relatively efficient cycle. Only a small external energy input is required to maintain the cycle continuously, though cellular reproduction is severely hindered. These communities exist where food and energy sources are extremely limited so some of the species involved have evolved unique biochemical pathways and relationships for their survival. In its oxygen-starved environment, Syntrophus aciditrophicus eats a variety of organic compounds including natural gas (methane) and excretes a carbon-based waste (formic acid) and hydrogen gas. Left on its own, this process would take energy from S. aciditrophicus but its syntrophic partner rapidly consumes these waste products producing more methane for S. aciditrophicus to consume. Overall, this syntrophic relationship produces energy for S. aciditrophicus."}, {"Source": "mangrove leaf", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "minimize heat gain", "Function2": "enhance cooling", "Function3": "reduce water loss", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/leaves-optimize-internal-state/", "Strategy": "Leaves Optimize Internal State\n\nLeaves of mangroves minimize heat gain, enhance cooling, minimize water loss, and maximize photosynthesis by optimizing tilt angles and leaf size.\n\n“Parsimonious use of water leads to other problems. Photosynthesis proceeds most rapidly in Rhizophora at a temperature of 25°C, falling off sharply above 35°C. The optimal temperature is typical of the air temperature within a mangrove forest. However, to maximise photosynthesis a leaf must position itself broadside-on to the sun. Maximising incident light, unfortunately, also maximises heat gain, and the temperature of a leaf in this position rapidly rises to 10–11°C above air temperature. One way of reducing leaf temperature would be to increase the transpiration rate and lose heat by evaporation. Mangroves cannot afford to do this. Instead, they tend to hold their leaves at an angle to the horizontal, so minimising heat gain. The angle varies from about 75° in leaves with greatest exposure to the sun, to 0° (horizontal) in leaves in full shade. Cooling is also enhanced by leaf design. Small leaves lose more heat by convection than large ones: leaves exposed to full sunlight, and heat-stressed, are smaller than those that are shaded. Leaves also tend to be smaller in the more salt-tolerant species, where water economy must be more stringent (Ball 1988a; Ball et al. 1988). Such constraints on leaf morphology may explain the convergent similarity between the leaves of different mangrove species.”\n"}, {"Source": "zhao et al.", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "form biological batteries", "Function2": "generate electric field", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/biological-batteries-heal-wounds/", "Strategy": "“Biological Batteries” Heal Wounds\n\nCells in tissues foster wound healing by forming \"biological batteries\" that can generate an extracellular electric field.\n\n“Our daily routines would be impossible without the wonders of electricity. This also applies to the cells in our bodies, each of which generates internal mini-currents to carry out its functions. It is less well known that cells in tissues (for example in our skin) can team up to form ‘biological batteries’ that can generate current upon wounding of the tissue. Zhao et al.1 now present evidence that this extracellular electric field is the driving force in wound healing, and they uncover signaling pathways that control this biological phenomenon.”\n"}, {"Source": "hollow cylindrical tube", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "high flexural and torsional stiffness", "Function2": "use minimal materials", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/flexural-torsional-stiffness-with-minimal-material-use/", "Strategy": "Flexural, Torsional Stiffness\nWith Minimal Material Use\n\nNature achieves high flexural and torsional stiffness in support structures, with minimum material use, by using hollow cylinders as struts and beams.\n\n“Hollow cylindrical tubes. The way these give high flexural and torsional stiffness with minimal material hasn’t been lost on either nature or engineers. We use them as subsystems when building bicycles and racing cars and as entire systems in so-called monocoque aircraft fuselages, cylindrical storage tanks, glass jars, and metal cans. Nature also uses them in diverse places–bamboo stems; vertebrate long bones; insect, spider, and crustacean appendages; the wing veins of insects; and the feather shafts of birds. Sometimes they contain the entire organism, as in lots of threadlike algae, although it’s unclear how much of the stiffness of these last comes from fluid pressure rather than from their tubular solids–hydrostatic systems and hollow cylindrical beams aren’t mutually exclusive. Microtubules (fig. 22.3), stiffening elements in cells, are also hollow cylindrical beams, although they may derive additional stiffness from ordered water molecules at their surfaces.”"}, {"Source": "vascular plant's cell wall", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "provide mechanical strength", "Function2": "adjust structural composition", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/structural-composition-provides-strength-in-changing-conditions/", "Strategy": "Structural Composition Provides\nStrength in Changing Conditions\n\nThe cell walls of vascular plants provide mechanical strength during different stages of growth by adjusting their structural composition.\n\n“Plant cells need to be fully hydrated to work properly (except in periods of dormancy, as for example in many seeds). Individual vegetative cells in plants, unlike those in animals, are encased in a cellulose cell wall. The cellulose cell wall may be very thin, in cells that are actively dividing, as for example, in growing shoot or root tips. However, once developed into their mature form, the cell walls may become thicker, and additional substances, mainly lignins, incorporated into their structure. The cells themselves, then, contribute to the mechanical strength of the plant. Thin-walled cells when fully hydrated, are like small, pressurised containers. Mature cells, especially those with thick walls, have mechanical strength of their own, even without watery contents. Indeed, many fibres lack living contents when mature.”"}, {"Source": "bacteria's magnetosome", "Application": "engineering biomaterials", "Function1": "produce magnetosomes", "Function2": "help move along geomagnetic fields", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/genes-produce-nanocrystals/", "Strategy": "Bacteria Make Magnets\nto Fit Their Environment\n\nMagnetic crystals inside cells are influenced by both genes and conditions.\n\nSome bacteria, such as a new sulfate-reducing bacteria found in the class Deltaproteobacteria, produce magnetosomes to help them move along geomagnetic fields. A magnetosome is an “intracellular membrane-bound magnetic crystal made of the minerals magnetite (FeO) or greigite (FeS)” \n\nGenes within bacteria are responsible for the production of magnetosomes (i.e., magnetosomes are controlled by magnetosome genes- mam genes). New research shows that magnetosomes are affected by the environmental parameters–thus, magnetotactic behaviors vary depending on the environmental conditions. This research could prove important in understanding how different biomaterials used in construction vary under changing environmental conditions."}, {"Source": "sponge's connective tissue", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "stiffen tissue", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/matrix-stiffens-connective-tissue/", "Strategy": "Matrix Stiffens Connective Tissue\n\nThe connective tissue of sponges is a matrix stiffened by embedded spicules.\n\n“Putting small pieces of brittle material into a pliant matrix gives a composite called a ‘filled polymer’–it amounts to a kind of random array of mechanisms. Koehl (1982) looked into the extent to which the connective tissues of animals that had embedded spicules behaved like proper filled polymers–embedded spicules are fairly widespread, not just in sponges, but in some coelenterates, echinoderms, mollusks (the chitons), arthropods (stalked barnacles), and ascidians. She took isolated animal spicules of various kinds and concentrations, embedded them in gelatin (raspberry flavored), and performed various mechanical manipulations on the products. Since the normal function of spicules is to stiffen tissue (although we’re still considering relatively unstiff structures), she used that as a criterion of effectiveness. Even a relatively small proportion of spicules dramatically increases stiffness; more spicules or more elongate or irregularly shaped spicules give more stiffness, and small spicules are more effective than are large ones for a given added mass. One factor that matters a lot is the area of contact between spicules and matrix, not unlike other composites. So whether the spicules are in a specific framework or in a random array, roughly the same rules seem to apply.”"}, {"Source": "leaves of some plants", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "fold leaves", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/folds-allow-efficient-leaf-deployment/", "Strategy": "Folds Allow Efficient Leaf Deployment\n\nLeaves of plants maximize time exposed for photosynthesis by using various packaging schemes to fold the large leaves within the buds so they can begin photosynthesizing upon deployment.\n\n“Leaves emerge from their buds in many different ways. Those of the cheese plant emerge tightly rolled, like perfectly furled umbrellas. Palms produce theirs neatly packed in pleats. The big fat buds of rhubarb push up through the ground and burst to reveal their young leaves squashed and crumpled. Ferns send up their shoots curled in the shape of croziers with each of the side fronds curled in its own crozier-in-miniature.”"}, {"Source": "living cell's lipid membrane", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "facilitate non-polar chemistry", "Function2": "form microscopic spaces friendly to fat-soluble compounds", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/membranes-make-and-manage-fats-and-oils-in-a-water-based-environment/", "Strategy": "Membranes Make and Manage Fats and\nOils in a Water‑based Environment\n\nLipid membranes in living cells facilitate non-polar chemistry in an aqueous environment by forming microscopic spaces friendly to fat-soluble compounds.\n\nUnlike modern industry, biological systems are capable of performing complex chemistry with both water-soluble (polar) and oily (non-polar) compounds in a water-based environment. Most industrial operations, however, rely on often toxic chemical solvents to perform complex reactions with non-polar substances. Organisms have evolved the ability to manipulate non-polar molecules in water because they have no other choice–Earth is a water-based environment. They’ve achieved this feat by developing what could be referred to as “micro environments” that provide non-polar substances a favorable molecular-sized, water-soluble envelop including globular proteins, lipid bilayers, and micelles."}, {"Source": "burmese python's heart", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "grow heart", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/heart-grows/", "Strategy": "Heart Grows\n\nHeart of burmese python incurs dramatic growth after a meal by reacting to fatty acids in the snake's plasma.\n\n“The Burmese python…frequently goes months without eating and then gorges, sometimes downing an entire deer. To accommodate the sudden rush of sugars, fats, and proteins, its body goes into overdrive. Its metabolism speeds up nearly 40 times, and many of its organs, including its long digestive tract, double in size. Its heart also expands by 40%, presumably to pump greater volumes of blood throughout its body.” \n\nResearchers suspect that the cardiac tissue fuels its expansion by burning through three types of nutrients including myristic acid, a common ingredient in many animal fats and other reptile foods."}, {"Source": "acetogen", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "synthesize acetyl-coa", "Function2": "use hydrogen as an electron donor", "Function3": "use carbon dioxide as an electron acceptor", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/enzyme-harnesses-energy-from-carbon-dioxide/", "Strategy": "Enzyme Harnesses Energy\nFrom Carbon Dioxide\n\n“Acetogens are obligately anaerobic bacteria that use the reductive acetyl-CoA or Wood–Ljungdahl pathway as their main mechanism for energy conservation and for synthesis of acetyl-CoA and cell carbon from CO2 [2,3]. An acetogen is sometimes called a ‘homoacetogen’ (meaning that it produces only acetate as its fermentation product) or a ‘CO2-reducing acetogen’…organisms that house acetogens in their digestive systems [include] humans, termites, and ruminants. Since the build-up of H2 inhibits biodegradation by creating an unfavorable thermodynamic equilibrium, acetogens enhance biodegradative capacity by coupling the oxidation of hydrogen gas to the reduction of CO2 to acetate.”\n\nThe Wood–Ljungdahl pathway (or reductive acetyl–CoA pathway) is a series of biochemical reactions used by these anaerobic bacteria to synthesize acetyl-CoA. This pathway allows the organism to use hydrogen as an electron donor and carbon dioxide as an electron acceptor. Unlike other energy production pathways (e.g., the Calvin cycle) this process is not cyclic. For details on how this process works, please see the image gallery."}, {"Source": "pea aphid's appendages", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "correct falling posture", "Function2": "increase air resistance", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/appendages-correct-falling-posture/", "Strategy": "Appendages Correct Falling Posture\n\nThe appendages of the pea aphid correct falling posture by strategically moving to an aerodynamically unstable position.\n\nWhen a pea aphid falls off a leaf, it almost always falls belly-side up. In order to land on its feet, the aphid moves its antennae up and forward and its hind and mid legs back towards the body.\n\nThis appendage orientation creates a body position that increases drag through added air resistance on the aphid. When something is falling, it naturally moves to an orientation with the least amount of resistance. Given this, the strategic positioning of the antennae and legs creates unnatural stress and needs to be corrected. By purposefully increasing air resistance when falling, the aphid’s body automatically shifts to the the optimal orientation; in this case, belly-side down."}, {"Source": "marble berry's skin", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "distinct cell-to-cell bragg reflection of color", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/fruit-skin-has-bright-blue-pointillist-appearance/", "Strategy": "Fruit Skin Has Bright Blue\nPointillist Appearance\n\nThe skin of the marble berry has a bright blue pointillist appearance due to distinct cell-to-cell Bragg reflection of color on cellulose microfibrils.\n\n“Biological communication by means of structural color has existed for at least 500 million years. Structural color is commonly observed in the animal kingdom, but has been little studied in plants. We present a striking example of multilayer-based strong iridescent coloration in plants, in the fruit of Pollia condensata. The color is caused by Bragg reflection of helicoidally stacked cellulose microfibrils that form multilayers in the cell walls of the epicarp. We demonstrate that animals and plants have convergently evolved multilayer-based photonic structures to generate colors using entirely distinct materials. The bright blue coloration of this fruit is more intense than that of any previously described biological material. Uniquely in nature, the reflected color differs from cell to cell, as the layer thicknesses in the multilayer stack vary, giving the fruit a striking pixelated or pointillist appearance. Because the multilayers form with both helicoidicities, optical characterization reveals that the reflected light from every epidermal cell is polarized circularly either to the left or to the right, a feature that has never previously been observed in a single tissue.” \n\nBragg Diffraction Planes. Two beams with identical wavelength and phase approach a crystalline solid and are scattered off two different atoms within it. The lower beam traverses an extra length of 2dsinθ. Constructive interference occurs when this length is equal to an integer multiple of the wavelength of the radiation.\n"}, {"Source": "beetle's solvent", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "facilitate transport", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/non-polar-compounds-facilitate-movement-of-chemicals/", "Strategy": "Non‑polar Compounds Facilitate\nMovement of Chemicals\n\nDefense chemicals secreted by Ardistomis schaumii beetles can pass directly through the exoskeletons of their foes with the aid of special solvents.\n\nDelivering defensive chemicals to a foe is a challenge for all organisms that synthesize such chemicals. Many strategies have evolved in nature including aerosolization, hypodermic injection, etc. Ardistomis schaumii beetles have developed a delivery method that involves dissolving the defensive chemicals in a solvent called limonene. Limonene, a non-polar solvent, is somehow able to facilitate the transport of polar defensive chemicals through the non-polar exoskeleton of predatory arthropods. Though the precise chemical mechanism is still unclear, the advantage is obvious; A. schaumii can deliver repellants directly into the bodies of their foes rather than attacking sensory organs like many repellants."}, {"Source": "bird's beak", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "thermal regulation", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/beak-size-optimized-for-thermal-regulation/", "Strategy": "Beak Size Optimized for Thermal Regulation\n\nThe beak size of birds is optimized for thermal regulation because they vary in size relative to latitude and environmental temperature, a concept called Allen's rule.\n\n“By examining bill sizes of a diverse range of bird species around the world, researchers have found that birds with larger bills tend to be found in hot environments, whilst birds in colder environments have evolved smaller bills.\n\n“The study…provides evidence that maintaining body temperature in a bird’s natural environment may have shaped the evolution of bird bills…\n\n“The research validates a 133-year-old ecological theory called Allen’s rule, which predicts that animal appendages like limbs, ears, and tails are smaller in cold climates in order to minimize heat loss.” \n"}, {"Source": "living bacteria's surface", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "aid in direct electron transfer", "Function2": "conduct electricity", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/pili-direct-electron-transfer/", "Strategy": "Pili Direct Electron Transfer\n\nSurface of living bacteria aids in direct electron transfer through use of network of nanofilaments (pili) that conduct electricity.\n\nIt was previously accepted that the surface of cells used a protein (cytochromes) to aid in communication and electron transfer between cells. This recent study suggests, however, that cell communication can extend beyond just the surface with nanofilaments known as pili. These pili aid in cell diversity but also in the breakdown of important compounds such as Iron (III) oxide (Fe(III)). They provide a type of “bridge” across which electrons can travel between cells. As the electrons move, a current is produced and a type of conductor is created. This electrical charge provides the energy and electricity needed to break down such strong compounds."}, {"Source": "cuttlebone of cuttlefish", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "maintain buoyancy", "Function2": "keep gas mixture at relatively constant pressure", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/gas-holding-structure-aids-buoyancy-2/", "Strategy": "Gas‑holding Structure Aids Buoyancy\n\nThe cuttlebone of cuttlefish aids in maintaining buoyancy by using its chambered structure to keep a gas mixture at a relatively constant pressure.\n\n“Cuttlefish (which look like bulgy squid) have a foamlike or corrugated cuttlebone containing a gas mixture at nearly constant pressure (fig. 5.1).” \n\n“The familiar internal shell or bone of the cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis L.) appears to function both as a skeletal structure and as a rigid buoyancy tank, enabling the cuttlefish to become more or less dense than seawater. Since an animal fractionally denser than seawater can only preserve constant depth by the expenditure of significant energy, the variable buoyancy tank role of cuttlebone confers a considerable advantage to the cuttlefish which can maintain a fixed position in water with little effort.” \n\n“The cuttlebone (which accounts for about 9% of the animal’s volume) is a hollow structure, divided by lamellae, containing both liquid and gas and the cuttlefish changes its density by varying the quantity of liquid within the porous structure of the bone.”"}, {"Source": "male elephant seal's proboscis", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "amplify sound", "Function2": "bulge proboscis", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/bulging-proboscis-amplifies-sound/", "Strategy": "Bulging Proboscis Amplifies Sound\n\nThe proboscis of the male elephant seal amplifies calls by bulging using a combination of air, blood, and muscle.\n\n“Another species in which the male sports an exaggerated nose is the elephant seal, largest of all seals at 5-6 m long and up to 3500 kg in weight. The huge, bulging nose of the mature male is used during the breeding season, when the seals gather in vast herds on the shores of California or the South Atlantic islands. The proboscis of the mature male bulges with the combined efforts of blood, muscle and air, and amplifies his defiant bellowing at other males.”"}, {"Source": "oropendolas' behavior", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "devour botflies", "Function2": "remove botfly larvae", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/behavior-adapts-to-threats/", "Strategy": "Behavior Adapts to Threats\n\nBehavior of oropendolas protects from botflies by being adaptive to different scenarios.\n\n“One of the most complex examples of brood parasitism features the giant cowbird (Scaphidura oryzivora). These natives of Central and South America generally parasitize other birds in the same family, the icterids. They particularly favor the huge, pendulous, colonial nests of the chestnut-headed oropendola (Psarocolius cassini). However, the precise nature of the relationship between them depends on the location of the hosts’ nests.\n\n“In certain nests, the oropendolas do not discriminate between their own eggs and those of the cowbird, nor do they display aggression toward the cowbird. And the cowbird makes no attempt to lay its eggs secretly in these oropendolas’ nests. It will evict a female oropendola to lay its own eggs there. In this instance, the eggs laid by the cowbird are numerous and different in appearance from those of the oropendolas. Yet they are not rejected.\n\n“Other oropendolas, however, are aggressive toward the cowbird and will reject the egg if they notice its presence. Because of this the cowbird will lay only a single egg in the nest and does so secretly, while the oropendolas are away. A cowbird egg laid in such circumstances could blend in unnoticed with the oropendola’s own eggs. The reason for these two very different scenarios has recently been revealed.\n\n“Researchers discovered that when the oropendolas are not aggressive toward the cowbird and readily rear its young with their own, the young cowbirds are serving a useful purpose. They devour botflies that would otherwise lay parasitic eggs in the nests, and even groom their young oropendola nest-mates, removing any botfly larvae that may have evaded detection. In this case, therefore, the association between cowbird and oropendola is more symbiotic that parasitic, because both partners benefit.\n\n“Conversely, where the oropendolas are aggressive to the cowbird and can tell their own eggs from those of the cowbird, the researchers invariably found that these particular oropendola nests were situated close to bee or wasp nests: botflies avoid areas containing bee or wasp nests. In this scenario, therefore, since there are no botflies to eliminate, the young cowbird serves no useful purpose for the oropendola. The association here is truly parasitic, with only the cowbird benefiting (as long as it can fool the oropendolas into rearing its young, that is).”\n"}, {"Source": "comb jelly's photoprotein", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "produce light", "Function2": "release energy", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/light-used-for-instant-signaling/", "Strategy": "Light Used for Instant Signaling\n\nAn enzyme called photoprotein in comb jellies produces light when calcium changes the enzyme's shape, releasing energy.\n\n“In a firefly bioluminescence reaction, an enzyme known as a luciferase uses adenosine triphosphate (ATP) to activate a molecule called a luciferin. The product of this reaction combines with molecular oxygen to produce an excited-state oxyluciferin species. When oxyluciferin relaxes back to its ground state, energy is released in the form of light…Jellyfish-like animals called ctenophores—can do without [ATP to jump-start bioluminescence]. Instead, they use a luciferin of intrinsically higher energy and prepackage it with oxygen in an enzyme known as a photoprotein. Calcium activates the reaction by changing the shape of the photoprotein, which releases the invested energy in the form of light.”"}, {"Source": "porcupine fish's skin", "Application": "smart package", "Function1": "protect from predator", "Function2": "erect spine", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/inflating-for-protection/", "Strategy": "Inflating for Protection\n\nThe skin of a porcupine fish protects from predators via embedded spines that erect when the fish inflates using sips of water.\n\n“Another responsive packaging idea comes from porcupine fish. Their spines are set into the skin, erecting only when the fish is threatened. To trigger the inflation, they sip tiny gulps of water. A package that started to fall might be induced to puff up in the same way with air, bouncing on spines when it hit the ground.”"}, {"Source": "female mammal's uterus", "Application": "polymer packaging material", "Function1": "expand and contract", "Function2": "accommodate contents", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/uterus-expandscontracts/", "Strategy": "Uterus Expands/contracts\n\nThe uterus of female mammals can expand and contract to accommodate its contents thanks to spiral muscle fibers in its central myometrial layer.\n\n“Similarly, the uterus of female mammals must expand and contract with gestation and birth, often an order of magnitude (ten-fold). The hooped fibers of chitin in the locust are paralleled in the interior circular muscle fibers of the uterus. Of the three layers of the uterus, the central myometrial layer is responsible for the expansion and contraction of the uterus. It is composed of connective tissue, mainly smooth muscle fibers with an external layer laid longitudinally and an internal layer laid circularly at the base which then spirals in both directions around the uterine body (which might even be a logarithmic spiral…). \n\nThe lessons from these ‘hooped’ chitin fibers and spiral muscle fibers could be incorporated into a polymer packaging material, thereby allowing for expansion and contraction of the packaging depending on the size of its contents. The result of packing multiple items into a shipping case would be the absolute minimization of air space between objects created by the packaging alone. Additionally, the same packaging product could be specified for a large variety of object sizes, i.e. the bag holding the baby shoe would be the same SKU as the one holding the basketball shoe or the soccer ball.”\n"}, {"Source": "feather tip", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "produce iridescent colors", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/nanofibers-produce-color/", "Strategy": "Nanofibers Produce Color\n\nBeta-keratin nanofibers on feather tips of blue penguin produce non-iridescent color by coherent scattering of light.\n\n“Here, we report a new biophotonic nanostructure in the non-iridescent blue feather barbs of blue penguins (Eudyptula minor) composed of parallel β-keratin nanofibres organized into densely packed bundles…[A]nalysis of…the barb nanostructure revealed … the organization of fibres at the appropriate size scale needed to produce the observed colour by coherent scattering. These…penguin nanostructures are convergent with similar arrays of parallel collagen fibres in avian and mammalian skin, but constitute a novel morphology for feathers. The identification of a new class of β-keratin nanostructures adds significantly to the known mechanisms of colour production in birds and suggests additional complexity in their self-assembly.”"}, {"Source": "chaperonin", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "correct misfolded proteins", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/chaperonins-correct-misfolded-proteins/", "Strategy": "Chaperonins Correct Misfolded Proteins\n\nChaparonins in human cells rehabilitate misfolded proteins by capturing them in confined spaces causing them to unfold, giving them a second chance at refolding into their properly functioning, three-dimensional configuration.\n\nProteins perform the vast majority of biochemical “jobs” necessary for the cell’s survival, growth, reproduction, communication, etc. – correct functionality is dependent on each protein’s very precise three-dimensionally folded structure called the “native” state. Newly synthesized proteins self-assemble into their native state based on the interaction of different parts of these large molecules. Oppositely charged areas move towards each other, while similarly charged areas repel; polar areas migrate towards the watery exterior, while hydrophobic areas aggregate towards the interior. Short range van der Waals forces and hydrogen bonds also contribute to forming the spirals, sheets, and pleats that characterize a properly folded protein molecule. But sometimes, the folding process goes awry resulting in a misfolded protein that at best is a waste of cellular resources, or at worse, a cause of disease. Chaparonins are cellular devices that relax misfolded proteins giving them a second chance at proper folding.\n\nChaperonins: Sometimes ribosomes (A) stitch together amino acids into useless forms (B). These can be taken up by the chaperonins (C), which unravel the useless forms and put them back out into the cell to be assembled into the useful native protein state (E)."}, {"Source": "locust's hind legs", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "amplify power", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/hind-legs-amplify-power/", "Strategy": "Hind Legs Amplify Power\n\nThe hind legs of the locust amplify jumping power via energy stored in muscle attachment sites.\n\n“And that’s where energy storage comes in. Down to the size of a trout or a squid tentacle, unaided muscle can do a decent job with nothing more than ordinary leverage. Below that, muscle needs help; in practice, energy is put in slowly and stored elastically. Some kind of trigger then releases it at a higher rate. Work and energy may be conserved, but power gets amplified… A locust or grasshopper jumping with its hindlegs stores up work in chitinous apodemes and gets a tenfold power amplification (Bennet-Clark 1975)… Each of these creatures has some kind of a mechanical catch to prevent premature extension while the work is being put in; the specific arrangements, though, are different for each case.”"}, {"Source": "dampwood termite's antennae", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "detect odors", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/antennae-detect-odors/", "Strategy": "Antennae Detect Odors\n\nOdor-binding proteins on the antennae of dampwood termites mediate the transport of odoriferous chemicals to the olfactory nerves by encapsulating the hydrophobic scent chemicals in a water soluble coating.\n\nFor human beings, sight, hearing, and touch are the primary means of perceiving the world. However, many animals rely heavily on the sense of smell to detect food sources, predators, nesting sites, etc. Animals can smell a scent chemical emanating from a source only when that chemical comes in contact with receptors associated with its nervous system (hence the term chemoreception). In dampwood termites, there is a water-based fluid layer between the surface of antennae sensors and the olfactory nerve beneath. Chemical signals, however, are almost invariably insoluble in water and therefore unable to cross the thin aqueous layer unaided. That help comes from odor-binding proteins that encapsulate the scent chemicals in a water-soluble coating giving them a free pass through the layer. Negatively charged receptors on the surface of the olfactory nerves cause a structural change in the surface coating which causes the encapsulated scent chemical to be ejected onto the nerve receptor."}, {"Source": "plant leaf vein system", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "resilient to damage", "Function2": "transport fluid", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/vein-system-resilient-to-damage/", "Strategy": "Vein System Resilient to Damage\n\nThe vein systems in some plant leaves are resilient to damage because they contain a high density of closed, interconnected loops.\n\n“Leaf venation is a pervasive example of a complex biological network, endowing leaves with a transport system and mechanical resilience. Transport networks optimized for efficiency have been shown to be trees, i.e., loopless. However, dicotyledon leaf venation has a large number of closed loops, which are functional and able to transport fluid in the event of damage to any vein, including the primary veins. Inspired by leaf venation, we study two possible reasons for the existence of a high density of loops in transport networks: resilience to damage and fluctuations in load. In the first case, we seek the optimal transport network in the presence of random damage by averaging over damage to each link. In the second case, we seek the network that optimizes transport when the load is sparsely distributed: at any given time most sinks are closed. We find that both criteria lead to the presence of loops in the optimum state.”"}, {"Source": "marine iguana", "Application": "resilient design strategy", "Function1": "deplete and regrow bone", "Function2": "change size to fit available resources", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/body-shrinks-under-harsh-conditions/", "Strategy": "Iguanas Change Size With Available Resources\n\nIguanas repeatedly deplete and then regrow bone during and following times of food stress.\n\nIntroduction\n\nNearly two centuries after Charles Darwin’s eye-opening visit, the Galápagos islands continue to open our eyes to nature’s ability to adapt to unusual and extreme conditions.\n\nThe archipelago’s marine iguanas (Amblyrhynchus cristatus) depend nearly completely on species of red and green algae for food, which they forage for in intertidal areas, clambering over rocks or diving in the sea. The availability of their preferred algae can change dramatically and repeatedly over the iguanas’ lifetimes. When El Niño weather events cause the temperature and freshwater influx into the ocean to increase, they disrupt currents that normally bring nutrient-rich water up from the ocean depths, and foster the growth of the iguana’s preferred algae. During these events many iguanas starve. However, many other survive, due to an unexpected and remarkable adaptation.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nWhen the iguana’s food source decreases, many iguanas get smaller in size, by as much as 20% of their regular length. By decreasing in size, iguanas increase the relative benefit of the available food. In larger animals, a greater proportion of food calories just go to maintaining existing biomass, leaving less for energetic activities (such as foraging). Smaller iguanas thus feed more efficiently than larger iguanas.\n\nBecause cartilage and connective tissue only account for about 10% of body length, it appears the shrinking in iguanas is also due to a loss of bone tissue. Moreover, when the food supply increases again, iguanas regain their original length, apparently rapidly rebuilding their bones. Scientists don’t yet understand the physiological processes by which these changes occur, only that they do.\n\nThe Potential\n\nIn an uncertain world, changing size to fit the available resources is a useful design strategy. At present, cities constantly face the challenge of either under- or overbuilding, for instance, resulting in unnecessary environmental impact and dramatic swings in things like housing prices. Imagine if bridges swelled in size during rush hour, or if hotels decreased in size and energy use with a decrease in occupancy.\n\nLess abstractly, the marine iguanas’ apparent ability to regrow bone tissue could hold important lessons of value for postmenopausal women and older people suffering from osteoporosis, as well as for astronauts spending prolonged periods of time in space.\n \n"}, {"Source": "natural muscle", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "produce force", "Function2": "cause motion", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/muscles-produce-energy-and-heat/", "Strategy": "Muscles Produce Energy and Heat\n\nMuscles are contractile tissues that produce force and cause motion through a process involving electrical impulses and metabolization of glucose, producing ATP and lactic acid.\n\n“The muscle consumes oxygen and fuel that can be transported via a circulation system; the muscle itself supports the chemical reaction that leads to mechanical work; electrochemical circuits can act as nerves, controlling actuation; some energy is stored locally in the muscle itself; and, like natural muscle, the materials studied…contract linearly.”"}, {"Source": "butterfly's proboscis", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "unwind proboscis", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/proboscis-unwinds/", "Strategy": "Proboscis Unwinds\n\nThe proboscis of the butterfly unwinds from a tightly coiled position via muscular contraction and a hydraulic, step-wise mechanism.\n\nDuring rest, the tube-like feeding structure of the butterfly (i.e., the proboscis, equated to a \"tongue\") remains coiled tightly against the head. However, when the butterfly moves to feed upon the nectar of a flower or something akin, the proboscis unfurls to extend downward into the flower’s center. The uncoiling is initiated in the muscle closest to the head, the basal galeal muscle, which lifts the coils slightly to \"unlock\" it from its tightly held position. The coil begins to unwind via the contraction of other muscles throughout the proboscis, known as stipes muscles. This contraction places pressure on various areas throughout the feeding tube by compressing the stipial tube. This creates a step-wise reaction that further unfurls the tube through pressurized increases in the stipes’ valve-like structures."}, {"Source": "emperor penguin's beak", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "reflect uv light", "Function2": "produce uv reflectance", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/beaks-reflect-uv-light/", "Strategy": "Beaks Reflect UV Light\n\nThe beaks of emperor penguins reflect UV light via a multilayer reflector photonic microstructure.\n\n“Although the mouths and flanges of begging passerines have been reported to reflect in the ultraviolet (Hunt et al. 2003), this is the first time that the nature of the UV-reflecting microstructures has been characterized in beak tissue of any bird. The ultrastructure of the photonic microstructures found in the present study differs radically from that of those previously described in either bird feathers or skin. The regular multilayer membrane arrays found in the beak horn microstructures closely approximate to two dimensional crystal lattices, strongly suggesting that UV reflectance here is produced by interference between incident light and that reflected from successive folds in these microstructures (Prum & Torres 2003).” \n\nTransmission electron micrograph of the upper region of the beak horn of an emperor penguin, showing it to be packed with microstructures constituted of multilayer folded membrane stacks. Scale bar, 1.0 mm."}, {"Source": "mussel byssal thread", "Application": "hardness and extensibility", "Function1": "high breaking force", "Function2": "reversibly breakable", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/threads-have-hard-flexible-coating/", "Strategy": "Threads Have Hard Flexible Coating\n\nThe byssal threads of mussels display both hardness and extensibility thanks to sacrificial cross-links in the outer cuticle.\n\nThe marine mussel’s byssal threads can dissipate up to 70% of the energy it absorbs. These threads are elastomeric fibers that enable the mussel to attach to hard surfaces.\n\n“Matthew Harrington, a researcher who worked on the project…explains the motivation for studying the byssus cuticle: ‘Protective coatings are important for prolonging the lifetime of materials and devices. However, considering that hardness and extensibility are seldom coupled in engineered polymers or composites, understanding how one protects a flexible substrate becomes quite important.’ Byssal cuticles have a knobby appearance due to inclusions of submicron-sized granular structures in an apparently continuous matrix. Submicron-sized tears that form in the matrix during stretching of the cuticle are believed to hinder the formation of larger cracks that could lead to material failure.\n\nCentral to understanding the peculiar mechanical behaviour of the cuticle are the high concentration of iron ions in the cuticle and the presence of an uncommon modification of the amino acid tyrosine known commonly as dopa. Dopa is found at high concentrations in the main cuticle component, mussel foot protein-1 (mfp-1). Dopa is distinguished from typical amino acids due to its impressive affinity for complexing with transition metal ions, particularly iron. As Admir Masic, a scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Colloids and Interfaces who worked on the project, explains, ‘when 2-3 dopa residues complex with a single iron ion, they create an incredibly stable complex that can be utilized to cross-link structural proteins.’ These metal-protein complexes have a high breaking force (nearly half that of covalent bonds), but unlike covalent bonds they are reversibly breakable, making them ideal for creating sacrificial cross-links.”"}, {"Source": "acidiphilium cryptum bacteria's respiratory enzymes", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "detoxify hexavalent chromium", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/biochemical-pathways-detoxify-hexavalent-chromium/", "Strategy": "Biochemical Pathways Detoxify Hexavalent Chromium\n\nRespiratory enzymes in Acidiphilium cryptum bacteria detoxify hexavalent chromium compounds even under highly acidic conditions by shuttling electrons from several sources.\n\nHexavalent chromium is a known carcinogen and may also cause mutations and birth defects. The less oxidized (i.e., “reduced”) trivalent form is less toxic, predominantly because it precipitates out of watery environments as a solid at normal pH levels so is more difficult to be absorbed and used by living cells. The acid-loving bacterium, Acidiphilium cryptum, can convert chromium from the hexavalent to the trivalent form in two ways using the same enzymes it uses for respiration. When oxidized iron (III) is available to the organism (the same form of iron present in rust), the organism uses respiratory enzymes to reduce iron (III) to iron (II) and then shuttles the newly added electron from iron (II) for the conversion of chromium to its less toxic form. When iron is not available, the respiratory enzymes directly reduce hexavalent chromium to the trivalent form, but it is a slower process."}, {"Source": "calcareous peatland", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "take up bicarbonate", "Function2": "convert co2", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/photosynthesis-with-low-co2/", "Strategy": "Photosynthesis With Low CO2\n\nPlants in calcareous peatlands photosynthesize in low CO2 levels by taking up bicarbonate and converting it to CO2.\n\n“Some plant species live entirely submerged. The leaves are often very thin, with a large surface area, and lack stomata. Some of these plants are rooted in the bottom, but others have no roots at all (for instance Utricularia spp.). Waters around these plants can be still, slowly moving, or rapidly mixing as in case of rivers and lakes with peatland margins. Such plants take up carbon dioxide (CO2) and nutrients directly into the leaves from the water, just in the way that bryophytes do. Carbon dioxide is rarely limiting, but in waters with very high pH (as in calcareous fens) the availability of CO2 is much reduced, and some plants have the ability to take up bicarbonate (HCO3 -), which is then converted to CO2 in the cell and used in photosynthesis. Examples are the stoneworts (Characeae), which are characteristic species in calcareous waters, and several species of Myriophyllum and Ceratophyllum (Hutchinson 1975). Given that there are enough plants, they can produce the oxygen required for respiration themselves.”"}, {"Source": "glow worm's special organs", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "lure insects", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/light-helps-capture-insects/", "Strategy": "Light Helps Capture Insects\n\nSpecial organs in glow worms help lure insects to their sticky silk threads using bioluminescence.\n\n“Before a short adult life as a gnat, larvae in the genus Arachnocampa spend months as carnivorous glowworms in caves or sheltered areas using light as a lure…a hungry New Zealand glowworm, Arachnocampa luminosa, lays a trap. From its nest on a cave ceiling, the glowworm dangles several dozen ‘fishing lines,’ each studded with evenly spaced, sticky droplets of mucus. The worm then churns out bioluminescence from organs on its posterior, attracting passing insects. These duped bugs get snagged in the gummy threads, and the glowworm hauls in its catch.”"}, {"Source": "brown adipose tissue", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "produce heat", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/cell-metabolism-produces-heat/", "Strategy": "Cell Metabolism Produces Heat\n\nCells within brown adipose tissues of mammals and birds produce heat by uncoupling of mitochondrial respiration.\n\n“Mammals and birds are endotherms and respond to cold exposure by the means of regulatory thermogenesis, either shivering or non-shivering. In this latter case, waste of cell energy as heat can be achieved by uncoupling of mitochondrial respiration. Uncoupling proteins [UCPs], which belong to the mitochondrial carrier family, are able to transport protons and thus may assume a thermogenic function. The mammalian UCP1 physiological function is now well understood and gives to the brown adipose tissue the capacity for heat generation. But is it really the case for its more recently discovered isoforms UCP2 and UCP3? Additionally, whereas more and more evidence suggests that non-shivering also exists in birds, is the avian UCP also involved in response to cold exposure? In this review, we consider the latest advances in the field of UCP biology and present putative functions for UCP1 homologues.”"}, {"Source": "geobacter sulfurreducens' outer membranes", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "transfer electrons", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/biochemical-pathways-reduce-iron-iii-for-metabolism/", "Strategy": "Biochemical Pathways Reduce\nIron (III) for Metabolism\n\nOuter membranes of Geobacter sulfurreducens incorporate electron‑conducting protein filaments that transfer electrons generated by the digestion of food inside the cell to iron atoms outside the cell.\n\nWaste-to-energy operations, where organic waste materials are burned to generate steam to produce electricity, are not uncommon in many cities around the world. Lowly, single-celled organisms are teaching us how to improve that process by leaps and bounds. Certain species of bacteria in the Geobacter genus are capable of “eating” organic material, but rather than using oxygen to soak up electrons generated in the process, like most creatures do, these bacteria pass these electrons on to iron atoms – the same type of iron atoms present in rust. More importantly, transferring these electrons from inside the cell, where the consumption of the organic material takes place, to insoluble electron receptors outside the cell requires overcoming the insulating oily cell membrane. Geobacter performs the task by incorporating conducting proteins (c-type cytochromes) within the cell membrane and periplasm to shuttle electrons to the exterior. Conductive filaments called pili extend from the outside of the cell and facilitate the transfer of electrons to the iron atoms."}, {"Source": "mammalian ear", "Application": "powering space suits", "Function1": "convert motion into electrical energy", "Function2": "amplify sound", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/ears-convert-energy/", "Strategy": "Ears Convert Energy\n\nThe hairs in mammalian ears convert motion into electrical energy and back in order to amplify sound via the prestin protein.\n\n“A new Cambridge-based venture called IntAct Labs is investigating how to harness the power generating capabilities of life for space applications. It would involve the use of a protein called prestin found in human ear-hair as a means of powering space suits. The protein converts motion into electrical energy — and if it’s augmented with an electricity-conducting microbe, it could form self-healing, semi-living ‘skins’ that convert Martian wind and even the jogging and walking of astronauts into electricity. Prestin is found in the outer hair cells of the human ear. In the cell membranes of these cells, prestin also converts electrical voltage into motion, elongating and contracting the cell. This movement amplifies sound in the ear.”"}, {"Source": "giant wasp's wing", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "produce iridescence", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/layers-produce-iridescence/", "Strategy": "Layers Produce Iridescence\n\nThe wing of the giant wasp produces iridescence due to a simple interference filter.\n\n“We have shown that the iridescence of the wings of Megascolia procer javanensis can be reasonably well understood as resulting from the interference of light in a thin optical chitin layer covering a chitin-melanin absorbing structure…The black background defined by this chitin-melanin structure allows for a particularly highly visible structural blue-green coloration, generated by an extremely simple device, using a minimal number of interfering waves: a constant-thickness overlayer covering all four wings. This is among the most elementary interference filters and, in spite of its simplicity, it turns out to be very effective.”\n \n“The wings of the giant wasp Megascolia procer javanensis are opaque and iridescent…the structure responsible for the iridescence is a single homogeneous\ntransparent chitin layer covering the whole surface of each wing. The\nopacity is essentially due to the presence of melanin in the stratified\nmedium which forms the mechanical core of the wing.”"}, {"Source": "eastern mole's hemoglobin", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "rid the body of large quantities of carbon dioxide", "Function2": "prevent hypercapnia", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/unusual-hemoglobin-aids-survival-in-high-co2-burrows/", "Strategy": "Unusual Hemoglobin Aids\nSurvival in High‑CO2 Burrows\n\nBlood of the eastern mole is able to rid the body of large quantities of carbon dioxide because of amino acid substitutions in hemoglobin creating a salt bridge.\n\nIn most cases, animals that live strictly in low oxygen environments (e.g., underground or at high altitudes) produce hemoglobin with a higher oxygen binding affinity. Paradoxically, the eastern mole, which lives exclusively in underground burrows with low oxygen and high carbon dioxide levels, produces low-oxygen affinity hemoglobin. Its hemoglobin contains several amino acid substitutions that, among other effects, causes an internal salt-bridge to form preventing an increase in oxygen-binding affinity, but more importantly for the eastern mole, increases its affinity for binding carbon dioxide. If not, the eastern mole would experience hypercapnia (high carbon dioxide blood levels) which could be detrimental or fatal in its high-carbon dioxide environment."}, {"Source": "burmese python's gastrointestinal system", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "regulate performance", "Function2": "optimize energy savings", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/digestive-system-optimizes-performance/", "Strategy": "Digestive System Optimizes Performance\n\nThe gastrointestinal system in burmese pythons quickly regulates performance between fasting and feeding (leading to energy savings) thanks to cell plasticity.\n\n“The morphology of the digestive system in fasting and refed Burmese pythons was determined, as well as the localization of the proton (H+, K+-ATPase) and sodium (Na+, K+-ATPase) pumps. In fasting pythons, oxyntopeptic cells located within the fundic glands are typically non-active, with a thick apical tubulovesicular system and numerous zymogen granules. They become active immediately after feeding but return to a non-active state 3 days after the ingestion of the prey. The proton pump, expressed throughout the different fasting/feeding states, is either sequestered in the tubulovesicular system in non-active cells or located along the apical digitations extending within the crypt lumen in active cells. The sodium pump is rapidly upregulated in fed animals and is classically located along the baso-lateral membranes of the gastric oxyntopeptic cells. In the intestine, it is only expressed along the lateral membranes of the enterocytes, i.e., above the lateral spaces and not along the basal side of the cells. Thus, solute transport within the intestinal lining is mainly achieved through the apical part of the cells and across the lateral spaces while absorbed fat massively crosses the entire height of the cells and flows into the intercellular spaces. Therefore, in the Burmese python, the gastrointestinal cellular system quickly upregulates after feeding, due to inexpensive cellular changes, passive mechanisms, and the progressive activation and synthesis of key enzymes such as the sodium pump. This cell plasticity also allows anticipation of the next fasting and feeding periods.” "}, {"Source": "human organ system", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "strong", "Function2": "resilient", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/tissues-are-strong-and-resilient/", "Strategy": "Tissues Are Strong and Resilient\n\nTissues in human organ systems are strong and resilient partly due to the presense of fibulins, a family of proteins that leverage calcium binding to form strong fibers in connective tissue composites.\n\nOne of the key factors in the evolution of multicellular organisms is the \"glue\" that hold cells together to form functional tissues. This connective material needs to be strong enough to withstand the constant activity required of many organ systems, yet flexible enough to bounce back from common trauma. A set of proteins, called fibulins, appear to be key components of this connective composite material, particularly because of their ability to bind calcium ions. Calcium ion bonding contributes to strong protein fibers–the reinforcement constituents of these composites."}, {"Source": "bombardier beetle's combustion chamber", "Application": "pilot ignition systems", "Function1": "high efficiency", "Function2": "high performance", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/combustion-chamber-sprays-scalding-liquid/", "Strategy": "Combustion Chamber Sprays Scalding Liquid\n\nThe combustion chamber of the bombardier beetle ejects scalding liquid by having a heart-shaped, long, narrow ejection tube.\n\n“The aim of the study is to show the advantages of the naturally occurring design and identify the main parameters important for the high efficiency discharge. The results indicate that this rather unusual design of beetle combustion chamber does indeed have better performance in term of efficiency of mass ejection. This is primarily due to the heart shaped combustor combined with a long narrow ejection tube…The results support the idea of a possible practical use for pilot ignition systems, such as re-igniters in aircraft gas turbines and automotive safety air bag ignition devices.”"}, {"Source": "red deer", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "compensate for mineral deficiencies", "Function2": "chew bones", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/diet-compensates-for-mineral-deficiencies/", "Strategy": "Diet Compensates for Mineral Deficiencies\n\nThe dietary behavior of some red deer compensates for periods of mineral deficiencies by eating bones of small birds.\n\n“On one of Scotland’s western outposts, the island of Rhum in the Inner Hebrides, there are more than 300 red deer (Cervus elaphus). Although they are the same species as those found on the Scottish mainland, the red deer of Rhum exhibit a macabre dietary deviation that sets them far apart from others of their species.\n\n“These ostensibly mild-mannered herbivores have acquired a murderous interest in the chicks belonging to the large population of Manx shearwaters (Puffinus puffinus) that nest on the ground around this island. Quite simply, the deer frequently bite off the heads of these unfortunate young birds in order to chew their bones. A detailed study, conducted by Glasgow University zoologist Dr. Robert Furness, confirmed the behavior and his findings were reported in 1988.\n\n“The reason for this bizarre activity appears to be that Rhum, which is only a small island, is deficient in certain minerals – in particular calcium and phosphorus – that the deer require to sustain their dietary balance and metabolism. Elsewhere, deer circumvent this problem by chewing their own shed antlers, or even the bones of dead deer. On Rhum, however, which is amply supplied with defenseless shearwater chicks that make easy prey, the red deer have become carnivorous. They kill the birds to supply themselves with bony material to chew on and are therefore able to obtain the minerals they require.”"}, {"Source": "rock pigeon's feather barbule", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "produce iridescence", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/keratin-produces-iridescence/", "Strategy": "Keratin Produces Iridescence\n\nFeather barbules of the rock pigeon produce iridescence by light interference in the keratin layer.\n\n“We found that both green and purple barbules are composed of an outer keratin cortex layer surrounding a medullary layer. The thickness of the keratin cortex layer shows a distinct difference between green and purple barbules. Green barbules vary colors from green to purple with the observing angle changed from normal to oblique, while purple barbules from purple to green in an opposite way. Both the experimental and theoretical results suggest that structural colors in green and purple neck feathers should originate from the interference in the top keratin cortex layer, while the structure beyond acts as a poor mirror.” "}, {"Source": "plant's light harvesting antenna", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "efficient capture of light", "Function2": "high pigment density", "Function3": "long excited-state lifetime", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/antenna-structure-efficiently-gathers-light/", "Strategy": "Antenna Structure Efficiently Gathers Light\n\nLight harvesting antenna of plants allow for very quantum efficient capture by high pigment density and long excited-state lifetime design.\n\n“Light harvesting in photosynthetic organisms is largely an efficient\nprocess. The first steps of the light phase of photosynthesis, capture\nof light quanta and primary charge separation processes are particularly\nwell-tuned. In plants, these primary events that take place within the\nphotosystems possess remarkable quantum efficiency, reaching 80% and\n100% in photosystems II and I respectively. This paper presents a view\non the organisation of a natural light harvesting machine—the antenna of\nthe photosystem II of higher plants. It explains the key principles of\nbiological antenna design and the strategies of adaptation to light\nenvironment which have evolved over millions of years. This article\nargues that the high efficiency of the light harvesting antenna and its\ncontrol are intimately interconnected owing to the molecular design of\nthe pigment–proteins it is built of, enabling high pigment density\ncombined with the long excited-state lifetime. The protein plays the\nrole of a programmed solvent, accommodating high quantities of\npigments, while ensuring their orientations and interaction yields are\noptimised to efficiently transfer energy to the reaction centres,\nsimultaneously avoiding energy losses due to concentration quenching.\nThe minor group of pigments, the xanthophylls, play a central role in\nthe regulation of light harvesting, defining the antenna efficiency and\nthus its abilities to simultaneously provide energy to photosystem II\nand protect itself from excess light damage. Xanthophyll hydrophobicity\nwas found to be a key factor controlling chlorophyll efficiency by\nmodulating pigment–pigment and pigment–protein interactions.\nXanthophylls also endow the light harvesting antenna with the remarkable\nability to memorise photosystem II light exposure—a light counter principle. Indeed, this type of light harvesting regulation displays hysteretic\nbehaviour, typically observed during electromagnetic induction of\nferromagnetic materials, the polarization of ferroelectric materials and\nthe deformation of semi-elastic materials. The photosynthetic antenna\nis thus a magnificent example of how nature utilises the principles of\nphysics to achieve its goal—extremely efficient, robust, autonomic and\nyet flexible light harvesting.”"}, {"Source": "insect wing", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "combine structural support and material economy", "Function2": "low mass per unit length", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/wings-combine-support-and-material-economy/", "Strategy": "Wings Combine Support and Material Economy\n\nThe wings of insects combine structural support and material economy because they are flat, braced surfaces.\n\n“Insect wings provide yet another example of braced, flat surfaces–cylindrical cantilever beams (veins) support a thin membrane. A pound of fruit-fly wings laid end to end would stretch about 500 miles, a very low mass per unit length–a steel wire to go so far would have about the same diameter as a red blood cell. Yet in each second of flight the tip of a wing moves several meters and reverses direction four hundred times. Other paddles and fins are fairly flat as well, as are some feathers, the book gills of horseshoe crabs, and a scattering of other stiff structures. In all these cases, though, flatness suits functions other than support. From a mechanical viewpoint the flatness of these systems, however impressive, is perhaps best regarded as a necessary evil–and their designs incorporate features that offset their intrinsically low flexural stiffness.”"}, {"Source": "bee's wing", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "provide surge of power", "Function2": "momentarily hold wing", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/catches-in-wings-hold-release-tension/", "Strategy": "Catches in Wings Hold, Release Tension\n\nThe wings of bees and other fast flying insects provide surges of power from tiny catches, which momentarily hold wings to build up tension and then suddenly release them.\n\n“Even greater frequency of wing beat is effected in some groups by fibrillar muscle, which contracts and relaxes with such near automatic and continuous rapidity, initiated by a single nervous impulse, that the wings are seen only as a mist of movement. In addition to this, brief surges of power may be achieved by the wings being momentarily held in their up or down position by tiny catches until the build up of tension causes them to be suddenly released. Changes of speed or direction are brought about by other sets of muscles.”"}, {"Source": "fava bean's nutrient transport tube", "Application": "smart material", "Function1": "prevent loss of nutrient-rich transport sap", "Function2": "convert chemical into mechanical energy", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/transport-tubes-plugged-when-damaged/", "Strategy": "Transport Tubes Plugged When Damaged\n\nNutrient transport tubes in fava beans and other legumes are plugged quickly when damaged via shape-changing mechano-proteins called forisomes.\n\n“Sieve tubes in legumes contain forisomes, which are spindle-like bodies\nthat are composed of ATP-independent, mechanically active proteins. Upon\ninjury, forisomes occlude sieve tubes by dispersion and thus, help to\nprevent loss of nutrient-rich transport sap. Forisome enlargement by\ndispersion is brought about by Ca2+-induced conformational changes that\nconfer radial expansion and longitudinal contraction. Forisomes\nrecontract upon Ca2+ removal. In vitro, forisomes reversibly disperse\nand contract in the presence or absence of Ca2+, respectively, and at\ndistinct pHs. Recently, forisomes have received renewed attention\nbecause of their unique capacity to convert chemical into mechanical\nenergy independent of high-energy organic compounds. Forisome-based\n‘smart’ materials can be used to produce self-powered monitoring and\ndiagnostic systems.”"}, {"Source": "bacteria's genetic circuits", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "increase survival", "Function2": "generate diversity", "Function3": "match environment variability", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/diversity-increases-survival/", "Strategy": "Diversity Increases Survival\n\nGenetic circuits in some bacteria help them survive in variable environments by introducing genetic diversity into the population.\n\n“Like savvy Wall Street money managers, bacteria hedge their bets to\nincrease their chances of survival in uncertain times, strategically\ninvesting their biological resources to weather unpredictable\nenvironments.\n\n“…UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers describe how bacteria play\nthe market so well. Inside each bacterial cell are so-called genetic\ncircuits that provide specific survival skills. Within the bacteria\npopulation, these genetic circuits generate so much diversity that the\npopulation as a whole is more tolerant of — and is more likely to\nsurvive — a wide range of variability in the environment…\n\n“This diversity, like a diversified investment portfolio, means that each\nbacterium has characteristics that allow it to survive under certain\nconditions, said Dr. Süel. ‘When conditions are highly variable, some\nindividual bacteria are equipped to thrive in the highs or lows, while\nothers tank,’ he said…\n\n“By generating diversity, genetic circuits ensure enough cells will\nsurvive to carry over the population, especially in times of variable\nconditions, Dr. Süel explained. Essentially, variability of bacterial\ncells appears to match the variability in the environment, thereby\nincreasing the chances of bacterial survival, he said.\n\n“Biological ‘noise’ in the genetic circuit, which comes from random\nfluctuations in the chemical reactions involved in the pattern of\ninteractions…is beneficial. In fact, it is the root\nmechanism that drives diversity within the bacteria population. Dr. Süel\npreviously found that when noise reaches a certain level in some\ngenetic circuits, it can prompt cells to transform from one cellular\nstate to another.”"}, {"Source": "- organism's size", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "size is tailored to environmental factors", "Function2": "size is governed by geometric laws", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/environment-tailors-growth/", "Strategy": "Environment Tailors Growth\n\nAn organism's size is limited and is the result of numerous environmental and geometric factors.\n\n“Size is no accident. It is tailored to many conditions: the effect of external forces – gravity, water pressure, temperature, light, humidity, and so on; the quality, quantity, and availability of food; the number and nearness of predators, kin, and mates. At all times, size is governed by geometric laws that dictate whether an insect can grow as big as an elephant, or why a Shire horse is a different shape to a Shetland pony…Galileo was the first to point out, around 1600, that strength does not increase in proportion to size: a large structure, built to the same proportions and of the same materials as a smaller one, is the weaker of the two.”\n"}, {"Source": "mice's viscoelastic heart valve", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "gain stiffness", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/pigments-provide-strength-2/", "Strategy": "Pigments Provide Strength\n\nThe viscoelastic heart valves of mice gain stiffness from melanin pigments.\n\n“Pigmentation of murine cardiac tricuspid valve leaflet is associated\nwith melanocyte concentration, which affects its stiffness…The mechanical properties along\nthe leaflet vary with the degree of pigmentation. Pigmented regions of\nthe valve leaflet that contain melanocytes displayed higher storage\nmodulus (7-10 GPa) than non-pigmented areas (2.5-4 GPa). These results\nsuggest that the presence of melanocytes affects the viscoelastic\nproperties of the mouse atrioventricular valves and are important for\ntheir proper functioning in the organism…The cardiac valves display complex biomechanical properties that allow them to function in directed blood flow during the cardiac cycle…The mature atrioventricular (AV) valves (mitral and tricuspid) have leaflets composed of extracellular matrix (ECM), valvular interstitial cells and overlying endothelial cells. The mechanical requirements of the valve for elasticity, compressibility, stiffness and strength, as well as durability throughout the lifespan of an individual are achieved primarily by the highly organized and compartmentalized ECM composition of the leaflets…”"}, {"Source": "mescal cactus", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "adapt to high temperature", "Function2": "survive extreme heat", "Function3": "maintain shoot level with soil surface", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/cactus-hides-from-the-sun/", "Strategy": "Cactus Hides From the Sun\n\nThe shoot of the mescal cactus adapts to seasonal water availability via dehydration-induced shrinking below the desert floor, and hydration-induced swelling to reemerge after rainfall.\n\n“He refers to the impressive adaptation of the mescal cactus Lophophora williamsii, which converts the dehydration-induced shrinking during the beginning of the dry season to reduce the shoot length and submerge below the desert floor. After just one seasonal rainfall the hydrating shoot reemerges by pushing the photosynthesizing apex out of its soil cover into the light and open air.” \n\nHere’s another species:\n\n“We investigated how the ‘living rock’ cactus Ariocarpus fissuratus, like other low-growing desert plants, can endure potentially lethal high temperatures at the soil surface. Specifically, we examined how shoot descent by root contraction in the presence or absence of soil rocks influences shoot temperatures and transpiration…Plants embedded in rocky soil survived an extreme heat episode, unlike plants in sandy soil, though rocks did not moderate low temperatures. Root contraction occurred regardless of season and soil moisture. Xylem conduits (wide-band tracheids) formed a compressible lattice that decreased root length as rays enlarged the root base radially. Plant position in the soil did not affect transpiration…Contractile roots pulled plants of A. fissuratus into the soil at rates of 6 – 30 mm [per year]. Maintaining shoots level with the soil surface kept plant temperatures below the high lethal temperature and improved survivorship in soil shaded by surface rocks.” "}, {"Source": "purple bacteria's light-gathering apparatus", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "adapt to varying light intensities", "Function2": "optimize energy production", "Function3": "prevent damage", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/light-gathering-apparatus-adjusts-to-conditions/", "Strategy": "Light‑gathering Apparatus Adjusts to Conditions\n\nThe light-gathering apparatus of purple bacteria adapts to varying light intensities by altering its configuration to optimize energy production and prevent damage.\n\n“…’[P]urple bacteria were recently found to adopt different cell designs depending on light intensity‘…\n\n“Solar energy arrives at the cell in ‘drops’ of light called photons, which are captured by the light-gathering mechanism of bacteria present within a special structure called the photosynthetic membrane. Inside\nthis membrane, light energy is converted into chemical energy to power all the functions of the cell. The photosynthetic apparatus has two light harvesting complexes. The first captures the photons and funnels\nthem to the second, called the reaction center (RC), where the solar energy is converted to chemical energy. When the light reaches the RCs, they close for the time it takes the energy to be converted.\n\n“According to the study, purple bacteria adapt to different light intensities by changing the arrangement of the light harvesting mechanism, but not in the way one would think by intuition.\n\n“‘One might assume that the more light the cell receives, the more open reaction centers it has,’ says Johnson. ‘However, that is not always the\ncase, because with each new generation, purple bacteria create a design that balances the need to maximize the number of photons trapped and\nconverted to chemical energy, and the need to protect the cell from an oversupply of energy that could damage it.’"}, {"Source": "temnothorax ant's communication behavior", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "evolve as anytime algorithms", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/communication-is-resilient/", "Strategy": "Communication Is Resilient\n\nCommunication behaviors in Temnothorax ants are resilient because they have evolved as anytime algorithms.\n\n“Tandem runs are a form of recruitment in ants. During a tandem run,\na single leader teaches one follower the route to important resources\nsuch as sources of food or better nest sites. In the present\nstudy, we investigate what tandem leaders and followers do,\nin the context of nest emigration, if their partner goes missing.\nOur experiments involved removing either leaders or followers\nat set points during tandem runs. Former leaders first stand\nstill and wait for their missing follower but then most often\nproceed alone to the new nest site. By contrast, former followers\noften first engage in a Brownian search, for almost exactly\nthe time that their former leader should have waited for\nthem, and then former followers switch to a superdiffusive search.\nIn this way, former followers first search their immediate neighbourhood\nfor their lost leader before becoming ever more wide ranging\nso that in the absence of their former leader they can often\nfind the new nest, re-encounter the old one or meet a new\nleader. We also show that followers gain useful information even\nfrom incomplete tandem runs. These observations point to the\nimportant principle that sophisticated communication behaviours may\nhave evolved as anytime algorithms, i.e. procedures that are\nbeneficial even if they do not run to completion.”"}, {"Source": "earthworm's secretion", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "distract predators", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/secretions-distract-predators/", "Strategy": "Secretions Distract Predators\n\nThe secretions of some earthworms distract predators using bioluminescence.\n\n“Dozens of earthworm species from all over the world can secrete a\nglowing slime, thought to startle predators. This particular worm, Diplocardia\nlonga, is found in sandy soils in southern Georgia in the U.S. and\ncan stretch to over half a meter in length…It turns out that chloragocytes—the cells in earthworms that\nproduce the bioluminescent ooze are part of a system that sequesters\ntoxins in the earthworm’s body, much like a liver.”"}, {"Source": "ventral side of swordtail butterfly wing", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "enhance blue/green coloring", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/scales-enhance-wing-color/", "Strategy": "Scales Enhance Wing Color\n\nScales on the ventral side of swordtail butterfly wings enhance blue/green coloring via light reflection and diffusion.\n\n“The wings of the swordtail butterfly Graphium sarpedon nipponum\ncontain the bile pigment sarpedobilin, which causes blue/green\ncolored wing patches. Locally the bile pigment is combined with\nthe strongly blue-absorbing carotenoid lutein, resulting in green\nwing patches and thus improving camouflage. In the dorsal forewings,\nthe colored patches lack the usual wing scales, but instead\nhave bristles. We have found that on the ventral side most of\nthese patches have very transparent scales that enhance, by\nreflection, the wing coloration when illuminated from the dorsal\nside. These glass scales furthermore create a strongly polarized\niridescence when illuminated by obliquely incident light\nfrom the ventral side, presumably for intraspecific signaling. A\nfew ventral forewing patches have diffusely scattering, white scales\nthat also enhance the blue/green wing coloration when observed\nfrom the dorsal side.”"}, {"Source": "ant's tongue", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protract tongue", "Function2": "elastically", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/tongue-sticks-out-elastically/", "Strategy": "Tongue Sticks Out Elastically\n\nThe tongue of ants protracts using elastic mechanisms.\n\n“The mouthparts are very important tools for almost any task performed by ants. In particular, the labiomaxillary complex is essential for food intake. In the present study we investigated the anatomical design of the labiomaxillary complex in various ant species, focusing on movement mechanisms. Six labial and six maxillary muscles with different functions control the several joints and ensure the proper performance of the labiomaxillary complex…the labial and maxillary muscles feature rather slow than fast muscle characteristics and do not seem to be specialized for specific tasks. Since glossa [tongue] protractor muscles are absent, the protraction of the glossa, the distal end of the labium, is a nonmuscular movement. By histological measurements of hemolymph volumes we could exclude a pressure-driven mechanism. Additional experiments showed that, upon relaxation of the glossa retractor muscles, the glossa protracts elastically. This elastic mechanism possibly sets an upper limit to licking frequency, thus influencing food intake rates and ultimately foraging behavior. In contrast to many other elastic mechanisms among arthropods, glossa protraction in ants is based on a mechanism where elasticity works as an actual antagonist to muscles. We compared the design of the labiomaxillary complex of ants with that of the honeybee and suggest an elastic mechanism for glossa protraction in honeybees as well.” "}, {"Source": "cell membrane", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "control movement of ions", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/membranes-sensitive-to-voltage/", "Strategy": "Membranes Sensitive to Voltage\n\nChannels within cell membranes control movement of ions due to a voltage-sensitive sensor consisting of four proteins.\n\n“The membranes of living cells, from bacteria to humans, contain protein macromolecules that behave rather like field-effect transistors. In transistors, the flow of electrons through a semiconductor ‘channel’ is governed by the voltage applied to a ‘gate’ electrode. With the protein equivalents—voltage-gated ion channels—an appropriate voltage, imposed across the cell membrane, causes the channels to open and allows a current of ions to cross the membrane. The control of ion flow through voltage-gated channels is very sensitive to the voltage across the cell membrane. By comparison, an electronic device such as a transistor is much less sensitive to applied voltage.”"}, {"Source": "cabbage butterfly's wing", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "scatter light", "Function2": "absorb light", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/reflectance-causes-white-color/", "Strategy": "Reflectance Causes White Color\n\nThe wings of the cabbage butterfly are white due to longitudinal ridges and cross-ribs studded with ovoid beads.\n\n“The small white, P. [Pieris] rapae, offers an interesting example of the biology of wing coloration. Both sexes of this butterfly species are rather featureless for human eyes, except for slight differences in the black spots, small wing areas where the wing scales contain melanin. The white color is caused by strongly scattering structures in the wing scales (Stavenga et al., 2004). The reflectance is only high above 450 nm, but it is minor below 400 nm, because the scales of male P. rapae crucivora contain a substantial amount of UV-absorbing pteridins.”\n \n“Fig. 7. Coloration of pierid butterflies…(b) The wing scales are marked by longitudinal ridges and cross-ribs. (c) The cross-ribs are studded with ovoid beads…(d) The wing scales strongly scatter, but due to pteridin pigment, which strongly absorbs in the UV, the reflectance is low in the UV.”"}, {"Source": "marine cyanobacteria", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "reuse iron", "Function2": "recycle iron", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/proteins-share-iron/", "Strategy": "Proteins Share Iron\n\nMarine cyanobacteria, Crocosphaera watsonii, doubles the effectiveness of a critical, but scarce nutrient by serially sharing the nutrient between two key processes.\n\nWhat is an organism to do when it has two tasks to perform but only enough resources to do one? Crocosphaera watsonii solves the problem by doing only one of the tasks at a time and recycling the reources. The proteins that C. watsonii uses to perform photosynthesis and the ones it uses to fix nitrogen gas both require iron; however, iron is a scarce mineral in the open ocean. By using its iron reserves in photosynthetic proteins during the day, then breaking the proteins down and reusing the iron for the nitrogen fixing proteins at night, C. watsonii is able to survive and flourish without much iron, though it does require an input of energy to keep the recyling process going."}, {"Source": "chinese brake fern", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "absorb and transport arsenic", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/transport-processes-allow-arsenic-hyperaccumulation/", "Strategy": "Transport Processes Allow\nArsenic Hyperaccumulation\n\nThe Chinese brake fern absorbs and transports toxic arsenic from roots to fronds via cellular transport channels.\n\nThe Chinese brake fern is able to survive and thrive in toxic arsenic-laden soils. Arsenic is chemically similar to phosphate. The fern uses phosphate ion channels in root cell membranes to absorb and transport the metal to its leaves where it hyperaccumulates and functions as a deterrent to would-be predators."}, {"Source": "swimming sea cucumber's skin", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "produce bioluminescence", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/skin-lights-up-when-touched/", "Strategy": "Skin Lights Up When Touched\n\nThe expendable skin of swimming sea cucumbers produces bioluminescence after mechanical stimulation using granular bodies.\n\n“Enypniastes eximia (Echinodermata: Holothuroidea) is a prominent member of the benthic boundary layer community in deep Caribbean waters. Like most holothurians it feeds on benthic sediments. Feeding is episodic and after collecting food on the bottom it returns to the water column at altitudes within about 50 m of the sea floor. Direct observations from submersibles and laboratory studies of living specimens have shown how bioluminescence is produced. Light production in E. eximia is triggered mechanically, and is produced by hundreds of granular bodies within the gelatinous integument of the animal. Local stimulation yields a localized response which gradually spreads to the entire surface of the animal. Broad impact yields a whole-body luminescent response. The integument of E. eximia is quite fragile, and strong physical contact readily causes the skin to be sloughed off in a glowing cloud. The degree of luminous response is a function of the severity of contact. In the laboratory the skin of E. eximia, along with its luminescent capability, regenerated rapidly. The anti-predatory role of bioluminescence in this species is apparently a ‘burglar alarm’ strategy. In the dark, near-bottom habitat, physical contact by a predator elicits light production which reveals the presence of the attacker to its own visually-cued predators.”"}, {"Source": "cicada's bacterial partner", "Application": "engineering food plants", "Function1": "make protein building block", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/symbiosis-provides-nutrients/", "Strategy": "Bacterial “Chefs” Make Food for Cicadas\n\nIntercellular bacteria make key protein components for their insect hosts from nutrient-poor sap\n\nIntroduction\n\nA balanced diet is unknown to periodical cicadas. These insects live for more than a decade underground, sucking only sap from plant roots. And plant sap is a notoriously poor food source, lacking most of the amino acids cicadas need to survive.\n\nFortunately, cicadas have partners in the digestive department. Some of their cells contain two species of bacteria that together can use that sappy junk food to make the protein building blocks cicadas need in order to live long enough to emerge from their underground hideaways to make more cicadas.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nMillions of years ago, harmless bacteria invaded the cells of cicadas’ ancestors. These bacteria evolved into two species, Candidatus Sulcia muelleri and Candidatus Hodgkinia cicadicola that only live inside specialized cells called bacteriocytes found in the cicada’s body. The cicadas provide the bacteria with the molecules (mainly water with a few carbohydrates and other nutrients) the cicadas gather from root sap. The bacteria disassemble those molecules into smaller molecules. Then they reassemble them into the 10 amino acids cicadas need to live and grow, and they do so in a very complementary manner: Candidatus Sulcia muelleri produces eight of the needed molecules, and Candidatus Hodgkinia cicadicola handily manufactures the other two, as well as additional essential vitamins such as B12. The cicadas harvest the resulting amino acids, leaving the bacteria with enough of what they need to thrive, too.\n\nBefore a female cicada lays her eggs, some of the bacteria move into the oocytes, or egg cells. That allows them to colonize—and eventually feed—the next generation of underground sapsuckers.\n\nThe Potential\n\nThe mutually beneficial relationship between cicadas and bacteria suggest opportunities for improving the nutritional value of food by bringing bacteria into the picture. For instance, it might suggest a strategy for incorporating protein building blocks into laboratory-grown meat substitutes. Or it might be adapted for engineering food plants such as carrots or potatoes that currently do not provide all of the amino acids we need so that they can become a nutritionally complete protein source, reducing the demand for meat and the environmental costs of producing it.\n\nThe notion of cooperating and providing mutual benefits for mutual gain also offers a valuable lesson for life in general. What might at first glance appear to be a competitor or adversary can, when embraced under the right conditions, be a partner in making life better for all involved."}, {"Source": "water insect's undersurface coating of water-repellent hairs", "Application": "water-repellent coating", "Function1": "maintain flotation", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/flotation-in-turbulent-waters/", "Strategy": "Flotation in Turbulent Waters\n\nWater insects maintain flotation in turbulent waters thanks to an undersurface coating of water-repellent hairs.\n\n“Among the most superficially aquatic and numerous insects of freshwater areas are various Heteropterid bugs, such as pond-skaters, water-measurers and water-crickets. lnsects like these seldom even get their feet wet since they are able to stride or run over the water’s surface by using its surface tension, in which they scarcely make a dent. Since all of the bugs’ life is spent in this way, they need no special adaptations for an aquatic habitat, apart from an undersurface of water-repellent hairs which prevents immersion in turbulent conditions.”\n\n“Recent studies showed that the most crucial criterion [for achieving the ‘Lotus Effect’] mainly relies on roughening the surface into multiple length scales of roughness so that liquid droplets can be retained in the Cassie-Baxter state, where air pockets are trapped underneath the liquid, reducing the solid-liquid interface. These hierarchically structured surfaces have been fabricated through various routes and demonstrated to have superhydrophobic properties as well. This amazing water-repellent property is also found in other biological systems comprising a plurality of flexible hairs, and some of them have been recognized for over 100 years. Fuzzy leaves, such as the Lady’s Mantle, cause water droplets to form perfect spheres and allow them to roll off easily as a result of being lifted and suspended by coming into contact with the hairs. In the animal kingdom, this piliferous exterior plays a more crucial role for numerous living creatures not only to effectively protect their bodies from getting wet but also to provide various functions for their living activity. These hairs protrude several micrometers from their cuticles, typically inclined at certain angles, with diameters in the micrometer to submicrometer range. These structures can resist the impact of raindrops, allow locomotion on the surface of water, or even trap a layer of air for respiration when submerged. Some arthropods have been shown to have contact angles above 150o, which allows them to walk on water.”"}, {"Source": "sea slug's gut", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "accommodate algae", "Function2": "branch into leaf-like tentacles", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/branches-accommodate-algae/", "Strategy": "Branches Accommodate Algae\n\nThe gut of one sea slug accommodates the algae it farms for nutrition by branching into leaf-like tentacles for increased housing space.\n\n“One sea-slug common on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia has taken this practice even further. It is able to stimulate its captive algae so that they proliferate to an unusual degree. To accommodate the greater numbers produced in this way, it develops branches in its gut which extend into leaf-like tentacles along its flanks. Having stocked its tentacles with plants, the sea-slug moves away from the feeding grounds among the coral where it first acquired the algae. It seldom if ever feeds on coral again. It is sustained entirely, it seems, by its internal gardens.”"}, {"Source": "pine cone", "Application": "smart fabrics", "Function1": "sense humidity", "Function2": "move without muscle or nerve", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/pine-cones-open-and-close-in-response-to-weather/", "Strategy": "Pine Cones Open and Close\nin Response to Weather\n\nA slight rise in humidity triggers pine cones to curl up their scales to prevent ineffective seed dispersal in wet weather.\n\nIntroduction\n\nSavvy naturalists have long known the old trick of using pine cones to predict the weather. If it’s dry, pine cones on the ground will let down their slender scales and open up like the fingers of an unfurling fist. If rain and humidity are in the air, the scales will clamp up like a castle drawbridge, overlapping one another and sealing the cone into a tight ball.\n\nThe idea is simple—to open and release seeds when conditions are best for winds to carry them far and wide. Wet weather dampens dispersal.\n\nBut how do they “sense” humidity when pine cones contain no living cells? And how do they move without any muscles or nerves?\n\nThe Strategy\n\nThe secret lies in the structure of their scales. Pine cones have two layers made of different types of materials. The outermost side of the scale (which faces downward when the scales are open) is made of a layer of loosely packed, stretchable cells. The inner layer (facing upward when the scales are open) is made of stiff fibers tightly packed like cables.\n\nWhen the scales are open and the air becomes humid, water drops will begin to fall or bead on the fibrous upper layer. The water slides down toward the cone’s central stalk and is channeled into the scales’ lower layer. There, the water fills up the cells and the empty spaces between them. This layer expands and stretches, while the less flexible upper layer stays taut. The scales bend upward in the middle until they curl completely shut.\n\nWhen humidity levels reach around 20 percent, it takes just a one-percent change in humidity to trigger the scales to close. Then, when the air becomes drier, water in the scales evaporates, the outer layer shrinks back in size, and the scales reopen.\n\nThe Potential\n\nPine cones’ effective, sensitive, water-driven scheme is inspiring engineers to design mechanisms that can move and/or change shape without needing energy input. Such innovations could lead to novel systems to transport water, or on a smaller scale, to serve as activation switches for robotics.\n\nScientists are also exploring new materials that quickly respond to environmental changes. “Smart” fabrics could react automatically to changing temperatures or humidity. When the fabric gets wet from sweat or humidity, layers in the fabric could open up and make it more breathable. When conditions dry out, the material could revert to its original tight knit weave.\n\nSimilarly inspired building materials might also respond to changing humidity. In dry, warm midday air, self-adjusting blinds, for example, might bend to create shade and keep houses cool. At night through humid early mornings, they would relax and open up again.\n\nVideo Pine cone scales unfurl to disperse seeds via the wind. But when humidity rises, the scales close again to prevent seeds from dispersing in unfavorable weather conditions."}, {"Source": "wood ant's nest", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "maximize solar heat absorption", "Function2": "regulate nest temperature", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/nest-maximizes-solar-heat-absorption/", "Strategy": "Nest Maximizes Solar Heat Absorption\n\nWood ants maximize solar heat absorption by their nest via the optimum angle of orientation.\n\n“The surface of the nest of wood ants (Formica rufa) has numerous holes which serve as entrances and ventilation holes; at night and in cold weather the ants plug the holes to keep heat in. The workers also keep the slope of the nest at the right angle to obtain maximum amount of solar heat. The ants bring extra warmth into their nests as live heaters by basking in the sun in large numbers and taking the heat energy collected in their bodies into the nest.”"}, {"Source": "leafcutter ant's fungal garden", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "maintain garden pest-free", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/bacteria-fight-fungus/", "Strategy": "Bacteria Fight Fungus\n\nFungal gardens of leafcutter ants are free of undesired, parasitic fungus due to presence of symbiotic Streptomyces bacteria.\n\nWhere Are The Ants Carrying All Those Leaves?\n\n“Cameron Currie of the Univ. of Wisconsin is studying how leafcutter ants maintain their gardens pest-free despite the presence of parasitic fungus. When worker ants were removed, the fungus overran the gardens. Currie found that a white bloom on the exoskeleton of the ants is actually a mass of Streptomyces, the same kind of bacteria that produces half of the antibiotics used in medicine. The bacteria specifically target the parasitic fungus. By studying the complex coevolution of ants, fungus, parasitic fungus, and bacteria, Currie hopes to learn about the evolution of antibiotic resistance and how mutualism and symbiosis shape species diversity.”"}, {"Source": "ghost crab's eyes", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "achieve 360? vision", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/eyes-allow-periscopic-vision/", "Strategy": "Eyes Allow Periscopic Vision\n\nThe eyes of ghost crabs allow 360? vision because they are positioned on mobile stalks.\n\n“Another arthropod method of achieving all-round vision is to have eyes on mobile stalks, like the ghost crab.”"}, {"Source": "western diamondback rattlesnake's fangs", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "fold fangs", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/fangs-fold-for-storage/", "Strategy": "Fangs Fold for Storage\n\nThe curving fangs of a western diamondback rattlesnake are stored when not in use by folding against the roof of the mouth via hinges.\n\n“A western diamondback rattlesnake strikes at an intruder. The snake’s jaws are specially hinged to allow it to open them extremely wide. This is necessary because the fangs curve inwards and need to be plunged vertically into the prey. When not in use they are folded back against the roof of the mouth (see diagram). The snake’s windpipe is protruding at the bottom of its mouth — this is so that the snake can still breathe after it has a mouthful of prey.”"}, {"Source": "scarlet macaw's feather", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "produce lipochromes", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/lipochromes-create-red-feathers/", "Strategy": "Lipochromes Create Red Feathers\n\nThe feathers of scarlet macaws gain their red coloration via five lipochromes produced only in parrots.\n\n“In this first examination of the variety of colourful pigments present in parrot feathers, we studied 44 parrot species from 27 genera and found that they all use the same set of five lipochromes to colour their feathers red…Red parrot feathers also differ in colour intensity, from the light-pink hue of several cockatoos to the deep red of red lories (Eos bornea)…The only reports of these pigments in nature are from parrot feathers…There are several other lines of evidence that point to a non-dietary origin of these pigments, including (i) the absence of these pigments from diet samples of certain captive parrots (K.J.M., personal observation) and (ii) the ability of parrots to maintain striking plumage colouration in captivity despite tremendous variation in diet (which is not the case for diet-derived carotenoid colouration; reviewed in Stradi et al. 2001). Stradi et al. (2001) supposed that parrots derive these acyclic polyenal lipochromes either by the addition of acetate units to acetyl CoA or by fatty-acid desaturation. What remains unclear is why parrots are the only group of organisms capable of manufacturing/harbouring these colourants.” "}, {"Source": "poplar's tension wood", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "produce the reaction wood", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/wood-reacts-to-bending/", "Strategy": "Wood Reacts to Bending\n\nTension wood of poplars reacts to bending stresses via a specialized gelatinous wall layer.\n\n“Conifers and angiosperms evolved different strategies to achieve the bending of the stem with secondary growth. Both these strategies involve the formation of the reaction wood asymmetrically on one side of the stem. Conifers produce the compression wood (CW) on the side of the stem that needs to elongate more compared with the opposite side, while angiosperms produce the tension wood (TW) on the side of the stem that needs to shrink relative to the other side. In a typical TW, a specialized gelatinous (G) wall layer is formed during the final stage of fiber differentiation, partially replacing S3-, S2- and, in some species, also S1-layers. Many properties of TW and CW differ from normal wood (NW) in opposite ways. While the typical TW is less lignified, and has more longitudinally oriented cellulose microfibrils, higher cellulose crystallinity and higher cellulose content, the CW contains more lignin and has a flatter microfibril angle, less crystalline cellulose and lower cellulose content than NW (reviewed in Timmel 1986, Pilate et al. 2004). It is thought that the structural differences between the reaction wood and the wood on the opposite side (so-called opposite wood, OW) induce different residual growth stresses of both sides of the stem, resulting in a bending moment (Fournier et al. 1994, Bamber 2001, Almeras et al. 2005, Clair et al. 2006a).”\n \nNishikubo N, Awano T, Banasiak A, Bourquin V, Ibatullin F, Funada R, Brumer H, Teeri TT, Hayashi T, Sundberg B and others. Xyloglucan endo-transglycosylase (XET) functions in gelatinous layers of tension wood fibers in poplar – A glimpse into the mechanis"}, {"Source": "silkworm's silk-spinning organ", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "align molecule", "Function2": "enhance crystallization", "Function3": "promote coagulation", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/shearing-forces-increase-molecular-alignment/", "Strategy": "Shearing Forces Increase Molecular Alignment\n\nThe silk-spinning organ of silkworms enhances crystallization and coagulation of the liquid silk product via shearing forces that help align the molecules.\n\n“RAMSDEN (1938) observed that shearing of the viscous contents of silk glands between glass slides would cause it to coagulate. IIZUKA (1966) studied the effect of shear rate on the coagulation of fibroin solutions and also analyzed the dimensions of the spinneret of the silk worm Bombyx mori with regard to the shearing forces arising in this tube. He concluded that the shearing forces in the spinneret align molecules thus enhancing crystallization and also align the randomly oriented crystals thus promoting coagulation. The greater the shearing forces, the higher the degree of crystallinity of the product.”"}, {"Source": "pseudomonas syringae's surface proteins", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "cause ice nucleation", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/proteins-cause-ice-nucleation/", "Strategy": "Proteins Cause Ice Nucleation\n\nThe cells of Pseudomonas syringae, a plant pathogen, can cause ice nucleation via specific surface proteins.\n\n“P. syringae is one of the few plant pathogens known to be disseminated up into clouds (Jayaweera and Flanagan, 1982; Sands et al., 1982). It is also scrubbed from the air during rain (Constantinidou et al., 1990). Many strains of this bacterium are ice nucleation-active (Lindow, 1983), are known to survive freezing as well as induce freezing, and it has been suggested that they might even have a role in inciting rainfall via their ice nucleation activity (Morris et al., 2004).”\n \n“Antifreeze proteins (AFPs) inhibit the growth of ice, whereas ice-nucleation proteins (INPs) promote its formation…Although several organisms have been identified as having ice-nucleation activity, the best characterized by biochemical methods are the bacterial INPs. Of these INPs, that of Pseudomonas syringae is often used as a representative protein.”"}, {"Source": "rock squirrel's fur", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "adjust solar heat gain", "Function2": "alter coat structure or hair optical properties", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/coat-changes-with-the-seasons/", "Strategy": "Coat Changes With the Seasons\n\nThe fur of rock squirrels serves as a source of long-term, seasonal thermoregulation due to changeable hair optics and coat structure.\n\n“Physical theory predicts that animals with fur or feather coats can adjust solar heat gain independently of surface coloration or environmental factors by altering coat structure or hair optical properties. This hypothesis is tested by examining seasonal changes in the solar heat load transferred to the skin by the pelage of a desert-dwelling mammal, the rock squirrel (Spermophilus variegatus). Although coat colour remains constant, solar heat gain at low wind speeds is about 20% greater in winter coats than in summer coats. This change is in an apparently adaptive direction and is predicted to have a major effect on the animal’s heat balance in nature. The determinants of these alterations in solar heat gain are explored using an empirically validated biophysical model and are found to result from changes in hair optics and coat structure. These results suggest the existence of a previously unknown mode of long-term thermoregulation that allows adjustment of solar heat gain without affecting the animal’s external appearance.”"}, {"Source": "oak tree", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "generate pressure", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/trees-generate-pressure/", "Strategy": "Trees Generate Pressure\n\nOak trees can generate pressures of 500,000 Pa through evaporation.\n\n“Oak trees can generate pressures of 500,000 Pa through evaporation.”\n"}, {"Source": "cotton seedling's fatty acid", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protect from freezing temperature", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/fatty-acids-prevent-freezing/", "Strategy": "Fatty Acids Prevent Freezing\n\nFatty acids in cotton seedlings prevent freezing by changing the composition of the cell membranes.\n\nCotton plants prepare for cold nights by changing the composition of their cell membranes, reports Arnon Rikin and his colleagues at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater. At night, the concentrations of two unsaturated fatty acids in the membrane–linoleic and linolenic–increase. The double carbon bonds in the tails of these fatty acids create a “kink” that keeps fatty acid molecules from packing together too tightly. In effect, the membrane remains fluid, and proteins are readily able to move through. Interestingly, cotton plants exhibit this response even without light cues. That is to say, the adaptation is triggered by an internal clock, rather than by the daily light/dark cycle."}, {"Source": "cycad's cones", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "raise temperature", "Function2": "attract specific pollinators", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/thermogenesis-attracts-pollinators/", "Strategy": "Thermogenesis Attracts Pollinators\n\nThe cones of some cycads attract pollinators by elevating their temperature when pollen is ready for dispersal.\n\n“When its pollen is ready for distribution, this cycad raises the temperature of its central cone by a good two degrees. That attracts the attention of weevils. They alight on the cone and feast on the spilling pollen, getting themselves covered with it in the process.”"}, {"Source": "inner-ear receptor cell", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "convert sound signal", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/inner-ear-cells-convert-sound-signal-to-electrical-current/", "Strategy": "Inner‑ear Cells Convert Sound\nSignal to Electrical Current\n\nIon channels in inner-ear receptor cells switch electrical conductivity depending on lateral deflection of the sensors where they are located.\n\n“In vertebrates, hair cells are found in all peripheral structures used in hearing and balance. They play the key role in the mechano-electrical transduction mechanism. Inner hair cells (IHC) and outer hair cells (OHC) are found in the mammalian cochlea. Figure 1 [available in Gallery] schematically illustrates a typical inner hair cell. The apical part of the cell including the hairs (stereocilia) enters the endolymphatic fluid, which is characterized by its high electrical potential and its high K+-ion concentration. The stereocilia of one hair cell are connected through tip links and lateral links. The transmembrane voltage of 270 mV for OHC and 240 mV for IHC is mainly caused by the K+-ion concentration gradient between cell body and cortilymph. Current influx that changes the receptor potential occurs mainly through the transduction channels of the stereocilia: stereociliary displacement to the lateral side of the cochlea causes an increase of transduction channel open probability and hence depolarization of the receptor potential, whereas stereociliary displacement to the medial side results in a decrease of the transduction channel open probability and hence hyperpolarization.” "}, {"Source": "colonial nesting behavior", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "colonial nesting behavior", "Function2": "reduce territory size around the nest", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/optimizing-nest-spacing-aids-survival/", "Strategy": "Optimizing Nest Spacing Aids Survival\n\nPopulations of cliff swallows survive in areas with limited breeding sites thanks to their colonial nesting behavior.\n\n“Also of importance in the evolution of colonial nesting are the spatial restrictions which narrowly specialized behavioral characteristics impose on a species. The specialization, whether inherent or traditional, which restricts nesting gulls and alcids to small islands so limits the number of usable breeding sites that procreation of the species depends on maximum utilization of the available space. A similar situation applies in the Cliff Swallow. The special environmental requirements for nesting in this bird include importantly a protected overhanging cliff, or cliff substitute, a source of mud of suitable quality for nest building, and an open foraging area. Sites containing all these essential features in close proximity were decidedly rare in North America before European settlement, and if each adequate site because of extensive territorial requirements could support only one pair of swallows, the dispersion would have been dangerously sparse for procreation and survival of the species. Any behavioral mutations which served to reduce the size of the defended territory around the nest and thus permit colonialism would, under such conditions, have survival value and be perpetuated.”"}, {"Source": "frog skin", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "alter color", "Function2": "move pigment", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/pigments-cells-respond-to-hormones/", "Strategy": "Pigments Cells Respond to Hormones\n\nPigments in frog skin change color in response to hormones by moving melanin grains around cells.\n\n“Some frogs, such as the African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis), change colour to cope with sunlight and heat and also to improve their camouflage. They do this by activating cells in their skin that contain granules of melanin, the dark brown pigment. These colour-changing cells, called melanophores, are normally dark but can be triggered by a particular hormone released in the frog. When the hormone binds to the cell wall, it sets off a reaction that moves the pigment granules to the centre of the cell, making it look colourless. Once the hormone detaches, the melanin grains disperse throughout the cell, making it appear dark again.”"}, {"Source": "alpine snowbell's flower", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "form buds in late summer", "Function2": "develop beneath snow in winter", "Function3": "store bountiful amounts of sugar", "Function4": "use snow to maintain temperature", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/flowers-accommodate-short-growing-season/", "Strategy": "Flowers Accommodate Short Growing Season\n\nFlowers of the alpine snowbell bloom during a short growing season by forming buds in late summer and developing them beneath the snow in winter.\n\nIntroduction\n\nHigh in the Alps and other European mountain ranges, the tiny pink dwarf snowbell (Soldanella pusilla) spends much of the year buried under many feet of snow. But because its blossom began forming the previous growing season, when it’s finally freed from frost sometime in July, the plant is ready to go.\n\nShortly after emerging—and often while still surrounded by snow—it blooms and begins to attract bees. This quick response allows it to complete its reproductive cycle and produce mature seed in the few short weeks between snowmelt and the beginning of the next winter season.\n \nThe Strategy\n\nThe dwarf snowbell uses multiple adaptations to fit its reproductive cycle into such a short season. Beginning in the summer, it forms its flower buds, which then spend the first part of the winter dormant under the snow, poised to grow. It also stores bountiful amounts of sugar, which will provide energy for survival, growth, and development in the absence of sun.\n\nAs air temperatures plummet below freezing, it uses the insulating properties of snow to maintain its temperature at or near a tolerable 32 °F (0 °C), avoiding tissue damage from internal ice crystals.\n\nAnd remarkably, the dwarf snowbell doesn’t rely on external cues such as daylength—which would not be helpful under such heavy snow cover—to determine when to start developing its blossom. Rather, it uses an internal clock whose workings are not yet fully understood. Once the snow is reduced to a depth of 6 inches (15 centimeters) or so, the plant’s reddish flower stalk and pink flower absorb and radiate sunlight onto the snow around the plant. Thanks to the plant’s short stature, that heat then creates a warm patch in its immediate vicinity that helps the remaining snow covering the plant to melt.\n\nOnce the snow is reduced to a depth of 6 inches (15 centimeters) or so, the plant’s reddish flower stalk and pink flower absorb and radiate sunlight onto the snow around the plant\n\nWhen the dwarf snowbell is finally free from the snow, it has yet one more adaptation that comes into play. Both the flower stalk and flower are spring-loaded, so the stalk can quickly go from its horizontal position under the snow to a vertical position that helps it attract the bumblebees that pollinate it.\n\nShould the flowers for some reason fail to emerge in time, the dwarf snowbell has a backup plan: it will reproduce vegetatively, creating clones of itself."}, {"Source": "guillemot's egg", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "prevent falling off", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/egg-shape-prevents-falls/", "Strategy": "Egg Shape Prevents Falls\n\n“Some marine birds, such as the guillemot, which lives in northern seas, lay their pear-shaped eggs without the shelter of a nest directly onto the bare windy rock ledge of the rookery. The center of gravity is far from the center of the egg. When the egg starts to roll on the sloping rock, it goes into a curved course and returns all by itself to a position of equilibrium. By its own dynamics, the egg protects itself from falling off. Presumably, all those guillemot eggs that did not have this property were destroyed.”"}, {"Source": "snapdragon's mutant gene", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "maximize sunlight capture", "Function2": "uniform cell growth", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/mutant-gene-flattens-leaves/", "Strategy": "Mutant Gene Flattens Leaves\n\nMutant gene of snapdragons enhances photosynthesis by causing leaves to grow flat through uniform cell growth.\n\nPlants usually grow flat leaves to maximize the amount of sunlight they capture for photosynthesis. And now we know how. Unchecked, a leaf is more likely to be curved than flat. The leaf will buckle if cells near the edge grow more rapidly than cells near the center, and if the opposite happens the leaf becomes cup-shaped. Now it appears that the snapdragon uses a gene called CIN to ensure that cells in all regions of the leaf grow at a uniform rate, keeping the surface flat. "}, {"Source": "sundew's sticky hair", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "change position", "Function2": "bend towards the insect", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/hairs-change-position-quickly/", "Strategy": "Hairs Change Position Quickly\n\nSticky hairs on the leaves of sundews change position in response to touch via expedient differential cell growth.\n\nCape Sundews Trap Bugs In A Sticky Situation\n\n“A few leaves, however, have been turned into active traps. Sundews grow in European bogs and marshes. Three-quarters of the family live in western Australia…The leaves of all are covered with hairs that on the outer margins may be half an inch long. Each of them, provided that the weather is not too dry, carries on its tip a glistening sticky bead…Insects too must find them attractive, for in spite of the fact that these leaves carry no enticements of nectar, insects are drawn to them. When one alights, it inevitably sticks to a hair. As it struggles, it touches other hairs and becomes further entangled. Neighbouring hairs, even if they have not been touched, are able to sense that a catch has been made and they bend towards it. If the insect is a large one and has been caught near the edge of the leaf, the hairs will lean over and convey the captive towards the centre. There, a whole group of hairs arch over it. The glistening beads contain not only glue but a digestive fluid that soon begins to dissolve the insect’s body. The hairs then start to absorb their victim’s substance. If the captured insect is particularly large, the whole leaf may fold to enclose it and complete the process.\n\n“These movements of the hairs are achieved by a swift differential growth of the cells of one side. Once initiated, this proceeds at an extraordinary speed. An outward pointing hair can turn through 180 degrees to point inwards in less than a minute.”"}, {"Source": "giraffes and other ungulates' tongues", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protect tongue", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/tongue-protected-from-thorns/", "Strategy": "Tongue Protected From Thorns\n\nThe tongues and mouths of giraffes and other ungulates are protected when eating thorny plants because they are leathery.\n\n“Yet giraffe and camels and goats have developed tongues that are so long, mobile and dexterous that they can select and grasp any particular shoot that they want, and the linings to their mouths seem to be so leathery that they can close around the thorns without damage of any kind.”"}, {"Source": "titan arum plant's oils", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "release scent", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/oils-vaporize-to-create-scent/", "Strategy": "Oils Vaporize to Create Scent\n\nOils in the titan arum plant are volatilized to release its unique scent by raising the internal temperature.\n\n“To produce its perfume, the plant [titan arum] raises its internal temperature several degrees above that of its surroundings and vaporises oils secreted in its heart.”\n"}, {"Source": "pancake tortoise's shell", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "flexible shell", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/shell-changes-shape/", "Strategy": "Shell Changes Shape\n\nThe shell of the pancake tortoise allows it to wedge into small spaces by being flexible at the bridges.\n\n“Most terrestrial species have firm, dense shells such as those of the gopher tortoises (Gopherus polyphemus). However, shells may be flexible at the bridges, as with pancake tortoises (Malacochercus tonerii), which allows for the animals to wedge into crevices to escape predation.”"}, {"Source": "pistol shrimp's claw", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "create localized pressure wave", "Function2": "generate explosive plasma ball", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/claw-snaps-shut/", "Strategy": "Claw Snaps Shut\n\nA specialized claw of the pistol shrimp creates a localized pressure wave by bubble collapse.\n\n“This process is known as cavitation, and the energy generated by it almost defies belief; the collapsing gas bubbles create explosive plasma balls that, for an instant, reach 5000 C – almost the temperature of the Sun.”"}, {"Source": "styela sea squirt's stalk", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "adjust to changing flow force", "Function2": "efficient filter feeding", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/flexible-stalk-adjusts-to-flow-forces/", "Strategy": "Flexible Stalk Adjusts to Flow Forces\n\nThe stalk of Styela sea squirts adjusts to changing flow forces for efficient filter feeding due to its flexible structure.\n\n“An equivalent scheme serves the same function in at least one tunicate or ascidian (fig. 7.3b), a sessile marine animal about as distantly related to a caddisfly as are we. These ‘sea squirts’ have the relevant plumbing inside themselves rather than in some external domicile, but the fundamental problem of suspension feeding remains – how to move water through a separation device in such a way that the yield from food exceeds the cost of moving the water. The particular ascidian, Styela, takes advantage of local water motion to pass water through itself, but to do so it must contend with the rapidly changing direction of coastal wave surge. It has, though, quite a flexible stalk, and it manages to reorient like a weather vane so the input opening always confronts the flow (Young and Braithwaite 1980)”"}, {"Source": "flea's hind legs", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "apply pressure", "Function2": "release pressure", "Function3": "propel far", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/legs-propel-insect-far/", "Strategy": "Legs Propel Insect Far\n\nThe hind legs of fleas allow it to leap far because they have a protein called resilin that stores energy and releases it to extend the hind legs.\n\nA Flea's Fantastic Jump Takes More Than Muscle\n\n“The flea owes its incredible leaping abilities to two things: the first is a specialized set of leg muscles; the second is a rubbery pad of protein called resilin that is located in the flea’s hind legs. The leg muscles apply pressure to the pad. When the pressure is suddenly released, the pad powerfully extends the hind legs and propels the flea great distances.”"}, {"Source": "taeniophyllum orchid's green, ribbon-like roots", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "carry out photosynthesis", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/photosynthesis-in-low-light-conditions/", "Strategy": "Photosynthesis in Low‑light Conditions\n\nThe green, ribbon-like roots of Taeniophyllum orchids assist in food production because they have been modified to carry out photosynthesis.\n\n“One orchid, taeniophyllum, has roots that are even more versatile. Its scientific name means, rather unattractively, ‘tapeworm leaf’. Its roots have not only developed into flat, tapeworm-like shapes several yards long that writhe statically all over the branch on which the plant sits, but they have also become green and manufacture the orchid’s food. The true leaves, no longer needed, have been reduced to tiny scales on the minute stem that carries the flowers.”"}, {"Source": "marine mussel's byssal thread", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "form byssal threads", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/liquid-crystal-forms-byssal-threads/", "Strategy": "Liquid Crystal Forms Byssal Threads\n\nByssal threads of marine mussels form quickly via liquid crystal phase proteins.\n\n“In marine mussels (Mytilus), byssal threads are made in minutes from prefabricated smectic polymer liquid crystals by a process resembling reaction injection molding. The mesogens in these arrays are known to be natural block copolymers with rodlike collagen cores.”"}, {"Source": "copepod's surface layer", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "produce interference colors", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/microscopic-plates-produce-interference-colors/", "Strategy": "Microscopic Plates Produce Interference Colors\n\nThe surface layer of some copepods produces brilliant flashes of interference colors via microscopic plates that reflect light.\n\n“A strange copepod called Sapphirina shows dramatic interference colours. Microscopic plates in its surface layers are so arranged as to produce a flash of colour when viewed from certain angles. From other angles, the copepod appears quite transparent.”\n "}, {"Source": "blanket octopus' arm", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "distract predators", "Function2": "shed if necessary", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/deployable-web-distracts-predators/", "Strategy": "Deployable Web Distracts Predators\n\nThe membrane attached to some arms of the blanket octopus serves as a defense mechanism because it expands to distract predators and can be shed if necessary.\n\n“The appearance of the female is striking due to the wide, deep web attached to arms I and II (Portmann 1952), for which the name ‘blanket’ or ‘handkerchief’ octopus has been given (Voss and Williamson 1971). The web is most extensive between arms I and II and it can be expanded or contracted to a remarkable degree. Contractions of the web are due to transverse bands of muscle, each surrounded by elastic fibres which probably allow the web to expand after autotomy. Besides this the edge of the web, parallel with the arm, has a row of ‘pouches’ lined by glands; these may have a role in the attachment of the clusters of stalked eggs (Portmann 1952). Autotomy of the web occurs along visible fracture lines when the animal is distressed. The dorsal arms and web are held rolled back when the animal swims, but spread out if disturbed. The web undoubtedly has several functions, as it does in Argonauta…The web when fully extended was 600mm long and 300mm wide, and the animal had a mantle length of 180 mm.”"}, {"Source": "beetle's wing", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "fold wings", "Function2": "deploy wings", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/wings-are-deployable/", "Strategy": "Wings Are Deployable\n\nThe wings of beetles are folded and stored under fore-wings and deploy for flight thanks to sprung wing joints.\n\n“Beetles use their fore-wings for a different purpose altogether. These creatures are the heavy armoured tanks of the insect world and they spend a great deal of their time on the ground, barging their way through the vegetable litter, scrabbling in the soil or gnawing into wood. Such activities could easily damage delicate wings. The beetles protect theirs by turning the front pair into stiff thick covers which fit neatly over the top of the abdomen. The wings are stowed neatly beneath, carefully and ingeniously folded. The wing veins have sprung joints in them. When the wing covers are lifted, the joints unlock and the wings spring open. As the beetle lumbers into the air, the stiff wing covers are usually held out to the side, a posture that inevitably hampers efficient flight. Flower beetles, however, have managed to deal with this problem. They have notches at the sides of the wing covers near the hinges so that the covers can be replaced over the abdomen leaving the wings extended and beating.”"}, {"Source": "bivalve mollusks' ligament", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "reopen closed shells", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/ligament-used-to-reopen-shells/", "Strategy": "Ligament Used to Reopen Shells\n\nA ligament in bivalve mollusks can reopen closed shells due to the presence of abductin, an elastic protein.\n\n“Another protein rubber is abductin found in the shell-opening ligaments of bivalve mollusks. One or two adductor muscles hold the two halfshells or valves of a bivalve closed (the edible part of a scallop is one of these muscles). Closing compresses the ligament, so its elastic resiliency can reopen the shell if the muscles relax. Interestingly, scallops, which swim by repeatedly clapping their valves together, recover a greater fraction of the work done on their abductin than do clams and other more sedentary forms.”"}, {"Source": "magnetosome", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "detect earth's magnetic field", "Function2": "simplify navigation", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/orienting-using-earths-magnetic-field/", "Strategy": "The Bacteria That Ride Magnetic Field Lines\n\nBiologically produced crystals help some bacteria detect Earth's magnetic field to simplify navigation.\n\nIntroduction\n\nAt winter’s end, somewhere in the Arctic, you look around to see the night sky dance with green bands of light that reflect on the snow below, painting the white landscape a deep jade.\n\nThe aurora, or northern or southern lights, occur when high-energy particles from solar flares smash into gas molecules in our atmosphere. And the light these collisions produce travels along invisible magnetic field lines that wrap Earth in a spaghetti network called the magnetosphere.\n\nWhen high energy particles collide with molecules in our atmosphere, the northernand southern lights ignite the sky along Earth’s fluctuating magnetic field lines. \n\nThe magnetosphere exists because our planet is a giant magnet. Scientists think electric currents generated by molten metal lava in the earth’s outer crust creates the field. We’re lucky it exists because it blocks out high levels of radiation that would otherwise penetrate our atmosphere and wreak havoc on all life. It also enables us to orient ourselves on the landscape using compasses.\nSome of the first forms of life on Earth also made use of this phenomenon and evolved to have tiny, nanoscale compass needles embedded inside them. Some of these magnetotactic bacteria still follow Earth’s invisible magnetic field lines to this day.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nThe magnet-directed movement of these aquatic bacteria is called “magnetotaxis.” It doesn’t pull bacteria along geomagnetic field lines like a magnet attracts metal, but only aligns their single-celled bodies with those lines. The bacteria must still wiggle their flagella to move forward or backward.\n\nMagnetotactic Bacteria Under a Microscope\n\nThe bacteria swim through saturated soils and mud at the bottom of bodies of freshwater to find areas which contain less dissolved oxygen, in which they thrive. Scientists think that their magnet-directed mode of movement simplifies scouting for these regions because it reduces the number dimensions in which the bacteria can search.\nMagnetotactic bacteria have magnetosomes, which are organelles with fatty membranes surrounding magnetic, nanosized crystals. The crystals vary in length from 35 to 120 nanometers, and each type of bacteria usually makes either magnetite (Fe3O4) or greigite (Fe3S4). Scientists have discovered only one type of bacteria that makes both crystal types. The shapes of the crystals vary across organisms but are usually cubes, rectangular prisms, or pointed forms.\n"}, {"Source": "mosquito's hair on antennae", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "move hairs", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/hydration-used-to-move-hairs/", "Strategy": "Hydration Used to Move Hairs\n\nThe hairs on the antennae of some male mosquitoes are elevated by hydrating protein pads adjacent to each hair socket.\n\n“At least one case of motion driven by hydration occurs in animals–the mechanism with which the males of at least one genus of mosquitoes erect the hairs on their antennae (Nijhout and Sheffield 1979). Presumably, an antenna with recumbent hairs has less drag than one with erect hairs, but only with erect hairs can a male detect the hum of a female in flight. (Females, being larger, have a lower wingbeat frequency and thus buzz at a lower pitch; a tuning fork humming such a siren song will attract males.) Adjacent to the socket of a hair is an annular pad of homogeneous protein (fig. 22.2); the angle of erection of the hair tracks the angle of unfolding of the pad. During unfolding and erection the pad increases in volume by 25-30 percent while the cells just beneath it decrease in size.” (Vogel 2003:444-445)"}, {"Source": "eastern bar-tailed godwit's metabolism", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "absorb and rebuild tissue", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/organ-changes-enable-long-migration/", "Strategy": "Organ Changes Enable Long Migration\n\nThe metabolism of the eastern bar-tailed godwit allows it to survive long-distance migration by absorbing and then rebuilding tissue from its organs.\n\n“A grotesque phenomenon known as autophagy or autocannibalism, in which an animal eats portions of its own body, can be used as an aid to migration. Intriguingly, the eastern bar-tailed godwit (Limosa lapponica baueri), a wading bird, exhibits a similar but more subtle behavior that appears to assist its long-distance migration. As revealed in 1998 by Groningen University researcher Dr. Theunis Piersma and Dr. Robert Gill from the U.S. Geological Survey, before setting out on its 6,800 mile (11,000 km) migration from Alaska to New Zealand, this bird builds up huge amounts of fat to sustain it on its flight. In order to provide itself with enough room to house all of this extra fuel, yet also keep its weight down for flying, the godwit absorbs up to 25 percent of the tissue comprising its liver, kidneys, and alimentary canal. Only when the bird completes its migration are these organs reformed in their entirety. This is the first time that partial organ absorption and subsequent reconstitution has been documented in a species of migratory bird.”"}, {"Source": "scouring horsetail's stem", "Application": "airplane wings", "Function1": "vary stiffness", "Function2": "adapt to changing outer conditions", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/stems-vary-stiffness/", "Strategy": "Stems Vary Stiffness\n\nStems of scouring horsetail vary their stiffness by having rings of supportive tissues that react to changes in turgor.\n\n“Plants with hollow axes, e.g. various horsetails and grasses, serve as\ngenerators of biological concepts for technical structures with\nvariable stiffness. Their structure is characterised by a thin outer\nring of strengthening tissue stabilised by a lining of parenchyma cells\n(Fig. 1A-C). The hollow stems are divided into shorter segments\n(internodes) by transverse walls and stem thickenings at the so called\nnodes. The nodes significantly reduce the danger of local buckling in\nthese light-weight structures. The stability of these stems depends\nsignificantly on the internal pressure (turgor) of the parenchymatous\ncells. If the turgor pressure is reduced, e.g. by water deficiency,\nstiffness and stability of the stems decrease. In some species–such as\nthe Brazilian Giant Horsetail (Equisetum giganteum)…the resistance to\novalisation is extremely turgor-dependent. In other horsetail\nspecies–such as the Dutch Rush (E. hyemale)–the outer ring of\nstrengthening tissue is connected via wedge-shaped elements with an\ninner ring of strengthening tissue forming a mechanically resistant\nsandwich structure (Fig. 1D, E). These stems are also stabilised by the\npressurised lining of parenchymatous cells but depend much less on the\nturgor pressure of the parenchyma cells. The mechanical stability\nresisting stem ovalisation is diminished by only about 20% due to\nreduction of the turgor pressure.\n“Potential technical\nimplementations are manifold, inspired by plants with mechanical\nproperties of the stem varying with the internal pressure of the\npressurised cellular lining. These include light-weight structures with\nchambered pressure-stabilised pneumatic structures that feature a\nsegmental variation of stiffness and the ability to adapt their\nstiffness or form to changing outer conditions, facilitated either\nadaptively or via integrated active control. Envisaged technical\napplications for these types of biomimetic technical smart materials\ninclude: (1) shells of airplane wings and other aircraft (adaptation to\nchanging aerodynamics); (2) shells of buildings of innovative\nconstruction; (3) car parts, e.g. aerodynamically adjustable spoilers.”"}, {"Source": "human skin", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "serve multiple functions", "Function2": "sensing, healing, actuation", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/skin-is-a-multifunctional-material/", "Strategy": "Healing, Feeling, Skin Does It All\n\nMultiple components allow skin to heal, feel, and more.\n\n“Nature offers numerous examples of materials that serve multiple functions. Biological materials routinely contain sensing, healing, actuation, and other functions built into the primary structures of an organism. The human skin, for instance, consists of many layers of cells, each of which contains oil and perspiration glands, sensory receptors, hair follicles, blood vessels, and other components with functions other than providing the basic structure and protection for the internal organs. These structures have evolved in nature over eons to the level of seamless integration and perfection with which they serve their functions.”"}, {"Source": "fly's thorax", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "beat wings", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/vibration-moves-wings/", "Strategy": "Vibrating Thorax Sets Flies’ Wings A‑flutter\n\nQuick upper-body motions move insect wings an astounding 1,000 beats per second.\n\n“Flies are capable of beating their wings at speeds up to an astonishing 1000 beats a second. Some flies no longer use muscles directly attached to the bases of the wings. Instead they vibrate the whole thorax, a cylinder constructed of strong pliable chitin, making it click in and out like a bulging metal tin. The thorax is coupled to the wings by an ingenious structure at the wing base, and its contractions causes them to beat up and down.”"}, {"Source": "weevils' hairs", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "produce metallic blue and green coloring", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/hairs-create-colors/", "Strategy": "Hairs Create Colors\n\nHairs of weevils produce metallic blue and green coloring by having fine, scaly structure.\n\n“Other insects, such as weevils, owe their magnificent sky blue or metallic green colours to a clothing of fine scaly hairs.”"}, {"Source": "ray's pectoral fin", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "generate electricity", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/electric-organs-generate-volts-2/", "Strategy": "Electric Organs Generate Volts\n\nThe pectoral fin of rays can kill prey by generating a jolt of 200 volts from electric organs composed of parallel stacked columns of electroplaques.\n\n“A fish’s electric organs are composed of electroplaques–flattened cells stacked in vertical columns like piles of coins. Each electroplaque normally produces little more than 0.1 volt, but, since the individual cells are linked in series per column and the columns themselves are linked in parallel, the overall charge is greatly increased…The most potent marine species of electric fish is the torpedo, also known as the electric ray, the majority of which live in the Mediterranean and the subtropical Atlantic. Its power to generate electricity has been known since ancient Greek and Roman times and stems from a pair of large electric organs located in its big round pectoral fin, which is just behind each eye. Large torpedoes can generate a fish-killing jolt of up to 200 volts.”"}, {"Source": "woodlice's exoskeleton", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "excrete gaseous ammonia", "Function2": "remove waste", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/exoskeletons-excrete-nitrogen-waste/", "Strategy": "Exoskeletons Excrete Nitrogen Waste\n\nExoskeletons of woodlice help them remove waste by excreting gaseous ammonia.\n\n“Terrestrial isopods (suborder Oniscidea) excrete most nitrogen diurnally as volatile ammonia, and ammonia-loaded animals accumulate nonessential amino acids, which may constitute the major nocturnal nitrogen pool. This study explored the relationship between ammonia excretion, glutamine storage/mobilization, and water balance, in two sympatric species Ligidium lapetum (section Diplocheta), a hygric species; and Armadillidium vulgare (Section Crinocheta), a xeric species capable of water-vapor absorption (WVA). Ammonia excretion (12-h), tissue glutamine levels, and water contents were measured following field collection of animals at dusk and dawn. In both species, diurnal ammonia excretion exceeded nocturnal excretion four- to fivefold while glutamine levels increased four- to sevenfold during the night. Most glutamine was accumulated in the somatic tissues (‘body wall’). While data support the role of glutamine in nocturnal nitrogen storage, potential nitrogen mobilization from glutamine breakdown (162 µmol g–1 in A. vulgare) exceeds measured ammonia excretion (2.5 µmol g–1) over 60-fold. This may serve to generate the high hemolymph ammonia concentrations (and high PNH3) seen during volatilization. The energetic cost of ammonia volatilization is discussed in the light of these findings. Mean water contents were similar at dusk and dawn in both species, indicating that diel cycles of water depletion and replenishment were not occurring.”"}, {"Source": "turacos' plumage", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "provide vivid colors", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/pigments-provide-vivid-colors/", "Strategy": "Pigments Provide Vivid Colors\n\nThe plumage of turacos gains its vivid green and red coloration from unique, copper-based pigments.\n\n“Turacos have two unique, copper-based pigments: turacoverdin (green) and turacin (red). Turacoverdin is the more physiologically extensive pigment; its prevalence can be correlated to lushness of habitat.” "}, {"Source": "american goldfinch's feathers", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "produce yellow color", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/carotenoids-create-yellow-color/", "Strategy": "Carotenoids Create Yellow Color\n\nThe feathers of the American goldfinch appear yellow in color due to carotenoids.\n\n“The coloration of feathers can be caused by carotenoids (usually producing yellow, orange and red), melanins (usually producing brown, black and grey), other pigments (such as found in some parrot feathers) or by nano-scale reflective tissues (usually producing UV-blue, white and iridescent coloration; Gill 1995). Coloration produced by the latter mechanism is typically referred to as ‘structural coloration.'” "}, {"Source": "virus protein shell", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "minimum free energy structure", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/shell-is-minimum-free-energy-structure/", "Strategy": "Shell Is Minimum Free Energy Structure\n\nThe protein shell of viruses provides maximum internal volume in the most economical conformation by adopting icosahedral symmetry.\n\n“There are several reasons why viruses adopt icosahedral symmetry. One is that triangulating a dome into 20 is the best way of producing a shell of equivalently bonded identical structures. It is the minimum free energy structure.”"}, {"Source": "honey ant's abdomen", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "store nectar", "Function2": "expandable abdomen", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/abdomens-store-nectar/", "Strategy": "Abdomens Store Nectar\n\nThe bodies of some honey ants are used for liquid storage via their expandable abdomen.\n\n“In Australia, the honeypot ants collect nectar and force-feed it to workers of a special caste until their abdomens are distended to the size of peas and their skins stretched so thin that they are quite transparent. The workers then hang them up by their forelegs in underground galleries, like living storage jars.”"}, {"Source": "african swallowtail butterfly's wings", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "have brilliant color", "Function2": "produce light", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/wings-have-bright-colors/", "Strategy": "Wings Have Bright Colors\n\nWings of African swallowtail butterflies have brilliant colors thanks to a combination of nanoscale structures and pigments.\n\n“A certain African swallowtail, Papilo nireus, owes its gaudiness to the same combination of a photonic crystal and a reflector. Only in this case the structures are made of natural cuticle material in the scales in the wing. This butterfly is unusual in that it combines nanoscale structures and a fluorescent pigment. The pigment fills the holes in the crystal. The wavelength of light produced when it fluoresces precisely matches the crystal’s regularity, so the light can propagate only up, out of the crystal, or down, where it strikes another cuticle layer that acts as a reflector. So all of the light is directed toward the viewer, making the markings startlingly bright.”"}, {"Source": "alveoli in lungs", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "reduce surface tension", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/wetting-agent-reduces-surface-tension/", "Strategy": "Wetting Agent Reduces Surface Tension\n\nAlveoli in mammalian lungs manage surface tension through use of a wetting agent whose concentration varies with alveolar expansion.\n\n“The individual alveoli have somewhat the same problem as the pair of lungs–why doesn’t one alveolus expand to the point of explosion…before the others begin to inflate?…Lungs filled with air take more force to inflate than do lungs deliberately filled with a salt solution. With air inside, the outward pressure difference across the alveolar walls must work against tissue and the surface tension of the layer of water inside the alveoli. The latter opposes the formation of additional air-water interface as the alveoli expand. The surface tension, though, is drastically reduced by a wetting agent secreted by cells in the alveolar walls. But, and here’s the trick, the effectiveness of the wetting agent depends on its concentration, which falls as the alveoli expand. Thus the force of surface tension rises sharply as an alveolus inflates, opposing further inflation. As a result of this wetting agent (or surfactant or detergent), the alveolar wall has a functionally curved stress-strain plot…and the requisite nonlinear elasticity.”"}, {"Source": "male frigatebird's gular pouch", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "attract mate", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/gular-pouch-used-to-attract-mate/", "Strategy": "Gular Pouch Used to Attract Mate\n\nMale frigatebirds attract mates with an elastic, red gular pouch that is inflatable.\n\n“A male frigatebird or Man-o-war bird has selected a suitable nest site and is advertising for a mate by inflating its crimson throat pouch. As soon as the first egg is laid, the pouch will be deflated.” "}, {"Source": "spittle bubble", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "optimally pack sphere", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/optimally-packing-spheres/", "Strategy": "Optimally Packing Spheres\n\nThe bubbles produced by spittle bugs and other organisms are spheres that are packed optimally because bubble geometry eliminates air between their surfaces.\n\n“Bubbles are commonly encountered in nature, across many phyla and habitats—from the slimy protective bubbles of the spittle bugs to the bubble eggs of many water-loving vertebrates, including many species of fish and amphibians, particularly frogs. Bubbles serve as insulation, moisturizer, and protection from predators. Spittle bugs use recycled sap from grass stems converted to a soapy liquid that they pump into foamy bubbles using their tails…Frog eggs and spittle bug bubbles self-cushion when packed in an array and naturally leave little air amongst them. This is because nature’s bubbles join according to three principles of soap bubble geometry. First, a compound bubble consists of flat or smoothly curved surfaces joined together. Second, the surfaces meet in only two ways: either three surfaces merge along a curve (edge), or six surfaces at a vertex. Third, when surfaces come together at a curve, or curves and surfaces at a point, they do so at equal angles. These three principles allow bubbles to eliminate air space between their flexible membranes, thereby optimally packing spheres.”"}, {"Source": "skimmer bird's lower mandible", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "disturb phosphorescent plankton", "Function2": "attract fish", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/light-attracts-fish/", "Strategy": "Light Attracts Fish\n\nThe lower mandible of skimmer birds is used to improve their nighttime fishing technique by disturbing phosphorescent plankton in the water, attracting fish to the surface.\n\n“The skimmer…has a unique fishing technique. It hunts at dusk or by night, flying low across the water, opening its beak and trailing its lower mandible in the water as it flies. This creates a line of light in its wake, which attracts fish. The bird then returns along the same path to pick up the fish, its beak snapping shut on contact with an edible object.”"}, {"Source": "legume seed", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "generate internal pressure", "Function2": "absorb large amount of water", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/hydration-increases-internal-pressure/", "Strategy": "Hydration Increases Internal Pressure\n\nThe seeds of legumes can generate tremendous internal pressures by absorbing large amounts of water.\n\n“If you take some dry legume seeds and immerse them in water they swell up. If they’re put in a closed chamber into which water can pass but out of which they can’t squeeze or ooze, then their swelling will push outward on the chamber with surprising force…The affinity of many polysaccharides and proteins for water is extreme–the resulting pressures may reach thousands of atmospheres. (Salisbury and Ross [1969] give references to experiments and calculations.) Wetting of a small quantity of dry seeds accidentally left underneath can lead to the fracture of concrete pavement.” "}, {"Source": "blowfly maggot's skin", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "waterproof", "Function2": "strengthened", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/maggot-skin-strengthens-as-it-dries/", "Strategy": "Maggot Skin Strengthens As It Dries\n\nSkin of blowfly maggots grows more waterproof as it dries because it forms strong, stable, cooperative structures when water is reduced.\n\n“The cuticle of a maggot goes through a mechanical transition when it dries, increasing in stiffness by about an order of magnitude (e.g. from 0.5 GPa to 5 GPa) as the water content drops from about 1 g/g (weight of water per unit dry weight) to 0.4 g/g. Thus stiffness represents the loss of freezable water and is more or less diagnostic of a material stabilized by hydrogen bonds. Further loss in water results in a smaller increase in stiffness. In natural systems the water content is controlled by the addition of phenolic residues, resulting in tanning or sclerotisation, which drives the matrix components towards co-operative interaction and makes the material permanently waterproof.”"}, {"Source": "oilbird's eyes", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "see in the dark", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/eyes-see-in-the-dark/", "Strategy": "Eyes See in the Dark\n\nEyes of oilbirds allow them to see in dark caves by having rod receptors arranged in a banked structure, providing the highest photoreceptor density recorded in vertebrate eyes.\n\n“An extreme example of a low light-level lifestyle among flying birds is provided by the oilbird, Steatornis caripensis (Steatornithidae, Caprimulgiformes). Oilbirds breed and roost in caves, often at sufficient depth that no daylight can penetrate, and forage for fruits at night. Using standard microscopy techniques we investigated the retinal structure of oilbird eyes and used an ophthalmoscopic reflex technique to determine the parameters of these birds’ visual fields. The retina is dominated by small rod receptors (diameter 1.3±0.2 μm; length 18.6±0.6 μm) arranged in a banked structure that is unique among terrestrial vertebrates. This arrangement achieves a photoreceptor density that is the highest so far recorded (≈1,000,000 rods mm–2) in any vertebrate eye. Cone photoreceptors are, however, present in low numbers. The eye is relatively small (axial length 16.1±0.2 mm) with a maximum pupil diameter of 9.0±0.0 mm, achieving a light-gathering capacity that is the highest recorded in a bird (f-number ≈1.07). The binocular field has a maximum width of 38° and extends vertically through 100° with the bill projecting towards the lower periphery; a topography that suggests that vision is not used to control bill position. We propose that oilbird eyes are at one end of the continuum that juxtaposes the conflicting fundamental visual capacities of sensitivity and resolution. Thus, while oilbird visual sensitivity may be close to a maximum, visual resolution must be low. This explains why these birds employ other sensory cues, including olfaction and echolocation, in the control of their behaviour in low-light-level environments.”\n\n“Within caves, and above the tree canopy at night, oilbirds would seem well equipped to detect the lowest light levels that may occur there and hence be able to use vision for general orientation, but not for tasks involving high spatial resolution. This general orientation is perhaps complemented by tactile cues from the prominent rictal bristles (Fig. 1a) at close range. At an intermediate distance, echolocation and other auditory signals may provide cues for the presence of objects and conspecifics, while olfaction may provide cues to the presence of fruit food sources at greater distances.”"}, {"Source": "male moth", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "no mouthparts", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/conserving-energy/", "Strategy": "Conserving Energy\n\nSome male moths have no mouthparts in order to conserve energy because their exclusive concern is mating.\n\n“By complete contrast, some insects have no mouthparts at all. The short life of an adult male moth, for example, may be concerned exclusively with finding a mate and reproducing; and as feeding would be a waste of precious time it dispenses with mouthparts completely, and never feeds.”"}, {"Source": "armadillo", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "reduce surface area", "Function2": "protect vital organs", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/rolling-into-a-ball-for-protection-2/", "Strategy": "Rolling Into a Ball for Protection\n\nArmadillos and other creatures protect themselves from predators by rolling into a ball and reducing their surface area.\n\n“Many larger creatures recognize the value of having the least possible surface area. Rolling into a ball is a simple but effective form of defence, used by creatures as diverse as the woodlouse, the hedgehog, and the armadillo. The economy of shape is made even more effective by adding some form of flexible armour-plating on the surface of the sphere. All the vulnerable and vital organs and limbs are tucked away inside the protective casing, presenting a predator with a frustrating ball game instead of a meal.”\n "}, {"Source": "fruit fly's indirect flight muscles", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "high wingbeat frequency", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/fly-has-fast-wingbeat/", "Strategy": "Fly Has Fast Wingbeat\n\nThe indirect flight muscles of the fruit fly allow high wingbeat frequencies via a fast actomyosin reaction.\n\n“The evolution of flight in small insects was accompanied by striking adaptations of the thoracic musculature that enabled very high wing beat frequencies. At the cellular and protein filament level, a stretch activation mechanism evolved that allowed high-oscillatory work to be achieved at very high frequencies as contraction and nerve stimulus became asynchronous. At the molecular level, critical adaptations occurred within the motor protein myosin II, because its elementary interactions with actin set the speed of sarcomere contraction…In conclusion, we have shown that in the fastest known muscle type, insect asynchronous IFM, constraints on strong binding steps of the cross-bridge cycle are unleashed by moving the rate-limiting step of the cycle to be closely associated with phosphate release. The constraints on strong binding are also relaxed by equipping the muscle with a high density of mitochondria that not only supplies the large quantities of MgATP fuel required for energetically costly flight (2, 25) but likely also to maintain an unusually high [MgATP].”"}, {"Source": "tall sea anemone's stalk", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "expose broadside to flow", "Function2": "feed on suspended matter", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/stalk-structure-improves-feeding-position/", "Strategy": "Stalk Structure Improves Feeding Position\n\nThe stalk of a tall sea anemone maximizes the anemone's feeding postion by bending at its narrowest part, just below its crown of tentacles.\n\nClonal plumose anemone, various degrees of bending.  \n\n“In some cases, nature capitalizes on the way hollow tubes bend. A tall sea anemone, Metridium, has an area of its columnar body just beneath the crown of tentacles that is narrower than anywhere else, as in figure 18.9. The material properties of the stalk don’t vary, but when a gentle water current is present, the stalk bends at this point rather than at the bottom, and the tentacles are exposed broadside to the flow in the best position for feeding on suspended matter (Koehl 1977b). It doesn’t take much narrowing to concentrate the bending–I [the second moment of area], as equation (18.1) shows, depends strongly on radius.”"}, {"Source": "reef coral's polyp", "Application": "sun-cream", "Function1": "optimize the amount of light", "Function2": "get all the light they need", "Function3": "shield from ultra-violet rays", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/optimizing-exposure-to-sunlight/", "Strategy": "Optimizing Exposure to Sunlight\n\nReef corals optimize the amount of light available to the algae they host by branching in patterns similar to those found in plants.\n\n“Why, then, do reef corals grow into such plant-like shapes? Because, although the polyps are not themselves plants, they have plants within them. The cells in the inner layers of the polyp’s tissues contain tiny cells of an alga, complete with their grains of photosynthesising chlorophyll. And the polyp looks after its captives very well indeed, building its stony cup in a shape that ensures that they can get all the light they need.\n\nAlgae very similar to those in the corals float free in the open ocean. But very few can live in the seas around coral reefs for these waters, though rich in dissolved oxygen, are very poor in nutrients. Algae, like any other plants, need nitrates and phosphates, and that is exactly what the coral polyps, like any other animal, excrete in their waste-products. So those algae that are tucked away in the polyp’s tissues, are provided with all the raw materials they need in order to flourish, yet are safe from the raids of hungry vegetarian grazers.\n\nBut the polyps extract a high rent from their lodgers. They secrete a digestive solution within their cells that weakens the skins of the algae and causes them to leak. Some 80% of all the food photosynthesised by the algae passes out of them and into the polyp’s cells. The polyps are, as a consequence, so well-nourished that they have sufficient energy to spend on building their protective limestone skeletons. And the algae perform a further service. They manufacture a chemical that acts like a high-factor sun-cream shielding both themselves and their polyp hosts from the injurious ultra-violet rays, which in these tropical waters are very strong indeed.”"}, {"Source": "python's jaw", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "swallow huge prey", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/jaw-swallows-large-prey/", "Strategy": "Jaw Swallows Large Prey\n\nThe jaws of pythons allow the snakes to swallow huge prey because of their multibar linkages.\n\n“We mammals make no great use of multibar linkages, but a lot of other vertebrates depend on them. The most famous are snakes that can swallow items of prey whose diameters and cross sections exceed those of themselves. How pythons (genus Python) manage was carefully analyzed by Frazzetta (1966), who regarded their skull and jaws as linkages with no fewer than eight bars. Such snakes use two such linkages, one on each side of the head, with a lot of flexibility in between. The setup permits the mouth to gape sufficiently to accommodate huge prey, which then get digested at leisure.”"}, {"Source": "fish egg", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "buoyant", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/eggs-are-buoyant/", "Strategy": "Eggs Are Buoyant\n\nThe eggs of many fish are buoyant due to the presence of discrete oil droplets within each egg.\n\n“These fish eggs, equally supported by water on all sides, have retained an almost pure spherical form, and so have the tiny oil droplets inside them, used to make the eggs buoyant.”\n"}, {"Source": "cuttlefish's skin", "Application": "smart phone being sought by its owner could change its color to", "Function1": "blend in with the surroundings", "Function2": "adjust color and surface texture", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/skin-chromatophores-aid-in-hiding-and-communicating/", "Strategy": "Adaptive Camouflage Helps\nBlend Into the Environment\n\nThe skin of cuttlefish changes color rapidly using elastic pigment sacs called chromatophores, in order to evade predators.\n\nIntroduction\n\nThe idea of turning invisible is so intriguing to us humans that every generation invents new superheroes and villains with this ability in the stories we tell. But it’s not really fiction. In the real world, cephalopods such as cuttlefish can use dynamic camouflage to blend in with their surroundings on demand. No matter the background, in a matter of seconds, poof, they’re gone.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nCuttlefish are able to match colors and surface textures of their surrounding environments by adjusting the pigment and iridescence of their skin, which is composed of several layers.\n\nOn the skin surface, chromatophores (tiny sacs filled with red, yellow, or brown pigment) ab¬sorb light of various wavelengths. Once vis¬ual input is processed, the cephalopod sends a signal to a nerve fiber, which is connected to a muscle. That muscle relaxes and contracts to change the size and shape of the chromato¬phore. Each color chromatophore is controlled by a different nerve, and when the attached muscle contracts, it flattens and stretches the pigment sack outward, expanding the color on the skin. When that muscle relaxes, the chro¬matophore closes back up, and the color dis¬appears. As many as two hundred of these may fill a patch of skin the size of a pencil eraser, like a shimmering pixel display.\n\nThe innermost layer of skin, composed of leuc¬ophores, reflects ambient light. These broadband light reflectors give the cephalopods a ‘base coat’ that helps them match the brightness of their surroundings.\n\nBetween the colorful chromatophores and the light-scattering leucophores is a reflective lay¬er of skin made up of iridophores. Iridophores use structure to reflect incoming light, to take advantage of other colors provided by the environment. Iridophores selectively reflect light to create pink, yellow, green, blue, or silver coloration.\n\nThe combination of these skin layers allows cephalopods like the cuttlefish to blend in quickly with virtually any background.\n\nThe Potential\n\nTechnologies which control how much an object stands out or blends in have many different potential applications. “Smart” crosswalks, for example, could help to make crossing pedestrians more obvious to drivers and self-driving vehicles, and a truly smart phone being sought by its owner could change its color to contrast with the couch cushions it’s tucked between. The chromatophores of cuttlefish also give us the idea of materials that change colors with force or bending. This could be very helpful in everything from visual indicators of car tires getting low on air, to structural elements of bridges deforming and indicating they’re in need of repair."}, {"Source": "halobacteria", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "capture light energy", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/pigments-photosynthesize-without-co2/", "Strategy": "Bacteria “Photosynthesize”\nWithout Chlorophyll\n\nHalobacteria produce chemical energy by capturing light energy with rhodopsin pigments and using it to pump protons out of the cell, setting up a proton gradient used to generate ATP.\n\n“Pumps and selective uptake devices need fuel – biological energy – and halobacteria, unlike Dunaliella, are not able to photosynthesise energy-yielding organic matter from carbon dioxide. They need pre-formed organic matter as food, and supplies of this are likely to be intermittent. However, their membranes do possess a unique way of obtaining energy from light. In their membranes are patches of purple pigments called rhodopsins. These are light-sensitive. Actually, they are chemically related to pigments in the retinas of our eyes, the light receptors which enable us to see. Not that halobacteria can see; in their case the pigments capture light energy and use it to generate a substance called ATP, which is the universal source of biological energy in cells…In the process of generating ATP, ions are swapped between the interior and exterior of the cell such that most of the sodium ends up outside and potassium is retained: light helps the ion pump work. This is a special kind of energy-generating photosynthesis, unaccompanied by carbon dioxide fixation, and halobacteria are the only organisms in which it is known.”"}, {"Source": "spotted salamander's cell", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "provide photosynthetic products", "Function2": "increase the oxygen content of the water", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/symbiotic-algae-provide-photosynthetic-products/", "Strategy": "Symbiotic Algae Provide\nPhotosynthetic Products\n\nAlgae encapsulated in cells of spotted salamander may provide photosynthetic products (oxygen and carbohydrate) by internal symbiosis.\n\n“[T]he single-celled alga Oophila amblystomatis…has long been understood to enjoy a symbiotic relationship with\nthe spotted salamander, which lays its eggs in bodies of water. However,\nthe symbiosis was thought to occur between the salamander embryo and\nalgae living outside it — with the embryo producing nitrogen-rich waste\nthat is useful to algae, and the algae increasing the oxygen content of\nthe water in the immediate vicinity of the respiring embryos.\n“At a presentation on 28 July at the Ninth International Congress of\nVertebrate Morphology in Punta del Este, Uruguay, Ryan Kerney of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, reported that\nthese algae are, in fact, commonly located inside cells all over the\nspotted salamander’s body. Moreover, there are signs that intracellular\nalgae may be directly providing the products of photosynthesis — oxygen\nand carbohydrate — to the salamander cells that encapsulate them … Because vertebrate cells have what is known as an adaptive immune system\n— which destroys biological material not considered ‘self’ — it was\nthought to be impossible for a symbiont to live stably inside them. But,\nin this case, the salamander cells have either turned their internal\nimmune system off, or the algae have somehow bypassed it.”"}, {"Source": "sessile barnacle", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "optimize space", "Function2": "decrease average mass", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/optimizing-size-aids-survival/", "Strategy": "Optimizing Size Aids Survival\n\nPopulations of sessile barnacles optimize space where physical habitat is limited by decreasing the average mass of an individual barnacle as population density increases.\n\n“Space optimization is a concern for a number of creatures, particularly in situations where physical habitat is limited. In these situations, members of a population optimize space utilization depending on population size. The resulting pattern of space use reflects competitive and cooperative processes that are more complex than optimization patterns due to material or energy resource efficiency alone, as seen in many of our previous examples. The patterns of space utilization in colonial organisms are not as regular as those seen in the Fibonacci sequences, hexagons, or other examples presented herein, and therefore are not studied in the same contexts. Some trends, however, have been noted, particularly with regards to the relationship of individual mass to the population density—primarily, as density increases in a space limited environment the average mass of the individual decreases. Interestingly, for a wide variety of species, including barnacles, this relationship is close to the exponential constant of –3/2.”"}, {"Source": "crossbill", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "spread from regular foraging locations", "Function2": "travel great distances in search of new abundant food sources", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/managing-irregular-food-supplies/", "Strategy": "Managing Irregular Food Supplies\n\nCrossbills respond to irregular food supplies by periodically spreading from their regular foraging locations great distances in search of new abundant food sources.\n\n“By its very nature, irruption is common among birds, especially certain northern species. It is often associated with irregular food supplies, such as seeds, fruit, and prey that are abundant at some times and not at others. Crossbills, for instance, periodically irrupt in response to a scarcity of conifer seeds within their normal distribution range in the conifer forests of the northern hemisphere. These birds will travel great distances beyond this range during years in which food is scarce…Several northern birds of prey, notably such species as the snowy owl (Nyctea scandiaca), short-eared owl (Asio flammeus), North American great horned owl (Bubo virginianus), rough-legged buzzard (Buteo lagopus), and goshawk (Accipiter gentilis), undergo comparable irruptions during those years in which their prey’s numbers are at their lowest ebb within their species’ normal cycle of abundance-rarity. Moreover, because during previous years when prey was abundant the owls’ birth rate increased, so their population now has to live on less prey. The birds are thus forced to leave their traditional grounds in search of food.”"}, {"Source": "mangrove seed", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "float for some time", "Function2": "root after 10 days", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/seeds-float-to-the-best-conditions/", "Strategy": "Seeds Float to the Best Conditions\n\nSeeds of mangroves find optimal conditions by reacting to time passage and light conditions.\n\n“All mangroves disperse their offspring by water. A distinctive feature of the majority of mangrove species is that they produce unusually large propagating structures or propagules…The long, pointed appearance of Rhizophora propagules hanging on the parent tree has led to the belief that they plummet like darts into the mud below and so immediately establish themselves…The reality is more complex. Rhizophora propagules generally float for some time before rooting themselves. Initially, floating is horizontal. Over a period of a a month or so they shift to a vertical position. This makes it more likely that the tip will drag in the mud surface and result in the propagule stranding when the tide recedes. Roots first appear after 10 days or so, and many of the propagules lose bouyancy [sic] and sink. Presumably before this has happened the propagule is not ready to establish itself as a seedling. By 40 days, virtually all propagules show root growth (Banus and Kolehmainen 1975). Most will strand in a horizontal position and erect themselves after rooting in the mud…Propagules which do not successfully root after 30 days or so may regain buoyancy and float off again in a horizontal position. They may remain viable for a year or more (Rabinowitz 1978b). Occasionally, propagules are still viable after being transported tens of kilometers inland by hurricanes…The timing of these events is affected by circumstances. In sunny conditions, virtually all floating Rhizophora propagules pivot to the vertical by 30 days and root within a further 10 days or so; about half of shaded propagules are still floating horizontally after several months. This behaviour will facilitate settling in forest clearings rather than directly under adult trees (Banus and Kolehmainen 1975).”"}, {"Source": "peatland plant", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "large root biomass", "Function2": "large above-ground biomass", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/surviving-low-nutrient-low-light-conditions/", "Strategy": "Surviving Low Nutrient, Low Light Conditions\n\nPlants in peatlands survive low nutrients and low light thanks to their perennial life cycle, which ensures a large biomass above and below ground.\n\n“Virtually all true mire vascular plants are perennial. This is a most effective way to ensure a large biomass, both below and above ground. In a nutrient-poor environment, a relatively large root biomass is required to obtain enough resources, and this cannot easily be built up within one season. Also, the large above-ground biomass which may be necessary for light capture in wooded mires can be built only by perennials.”"}, {"Source": "nematodes", "Application": "natural pesticide", "Function1": "target insects", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/pheromones-turn-nematodes-into-pest-killing-machines/", "Strategy": "Pheromones Turn Nematodes\nInto Pest‑killing Machines\n\nApplying pheromones to nematodes turns them into the ultimate natural pesticide, drastically increasing destruction of insects\n\nIntroduction\n\nDo roundworms make you squeamish? If so, it’s understandable. They have no eyes, they wriggle unnervingly, and many of the best known species are parasites. There is good reason, though, to check this attitude toward the squirmy creatures.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nA few nematode species have evolved to target insects (weevils, borers, beetles, and moths, just to name a few) that humans deem “pests” because they destroy our crops. Farmers have begun employing them as a natural pesticide––a more environmentally-friendly alternative to chemicals.\n\nStudies have now shown that pheromones called called ascarosides play a key role in triggering the critical dispersal phase of their life cycles, when young nematodes known as “infective juveniles” (IJs) will search through soil until encountering an insect they can infect.\n\nWhen scientists applied ascarosides to IJs, more of the young nematodes began moving toward their target host, more successfully invaded the host, and more successfully killed the host.\n\nOnce inside, the IJs release bacteria that kill the host. They then feed on the body as they grow into adults and reproduce––sometimes for multiple generations. Finally, when every edible shred of the host has been consumed, a combination of chemical and environmental cues brings on the dispersal phase, releasing IJs into the soil to search for a new host and begin the cycle anew."}, {"Source": "humpback whale", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "corral prey", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/bubbles-corral-prey/", "Strategy": "Bubbles Corral Prey\n\nHumpback whales control movement of prey by blowing spiraling nets of bubbles underwater.\n\n“Behaviourally, humpback whales capture prey by engaging in complex feeding manoeuvres that are often accompanied by the apparently directed use of air bubbles. The ability of bubble barriers to corral or herd fish has been reported by a number of authors (e.g., Smith, 1961; Blaxter & Batty, 1985; Sharpe & Dill, 1997). Bubble use by humpback whales has been observed in many of their feeding habitats and is reported to occur in a variety of configurations. These bubble-feeding behaviours appear to vary in nature among both individuals and regions; for example, bubble clouds (the production of a single or multiple bursts of seltzer-sized bubbles) are commonly observed from humpback whales in the Gulf of Maine, but never in Alaskan waters.\n\n“Of the various bubble configurations reported, the most complex appears to be the bubble net (Jurasz & Jurasz, 1978; Watkins & Schevill, 1979; Hain et al., 1982). Existing descriptions of this unique and complex behavior are currently derived only from surface observations, predominately Jurasz & Jurasz (1979) and Hain et al. (1982). As described by Jurasz & Jurasz (1979), bubble nets are rings of distinctive bubbles that appear at the surface in a closed circle or figure ‘9’. In the Gulf of Maine, bubble nets have been further described by Hain et al. (1982) as a ring formed by a series of discrete bubble columns, blown at 3–5 m depth, by a whale that is rotated inward with the flippers in a vertical plane. The nets were described as incorporating 1.25–2 revolutions with smaller bubbles grading into larger bubbles as the net was closed. In both descriptions, whales fed in the centre of the completed bubble net at or near the surface.”\n"}, {"Source": "naked mole-rat queen's colony", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "cooperation", "Function2": "communal strategy", "Function3": "division of labor", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/naked-mole-rat-queens-hire-babysitters-to-care-for-young/", "Strategy": "Naked Mole‑rat Queens Hire\nBabysitters to Care for Young\n\nNaked mole-rats ensure colony survival by dividing work and supporting a single breeding queen\n\nIntroduction\n\nHoney bees are often praised for their efficient, organized colonies. But they’re not the only ones in the animal kingdom that deserve admiration for their commitment to cooperation. Naked mole-rats show the same super-social behavior.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nBoth bees and naked mole-rats are eusocial. They live in multigenerational family groups with a single queen. All other individuals have specific jobs, either supporting the queen’s reproduction or fulfilling the colony’s daily survival needs, such as foraging and defense. This communal strategy helps the population survive in their unique ecological niche.\n\nThe naked mole-rat is a conspicuously hairless species of rodent that lives entirely underground in the driest regions of Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia. Living in large colonies of up to 300 members, they have evolved remarkable abilities to survive in closed spaces. They can live for up to 18 minutes without oxygen and are unharmed by carbon dioxide levels many times higher than what’s found aboveground.\n\nIn a single group, there is usually only one dominant breeding female and a handful of breeding males. They divide their labor so that nonbreeding individuals become foragers, nest defenders or alloparents—adults that care for the young but are not the biological parents of those young.\n\nAlloparents huddle in the nest to create warmth for the mole-rat “pups,” retrieve pups that fall out of the nest, transport them when the colony moves to a new nest and evacuate them during colony disturbances. They also help feed the pups in a most unusual way. Young mole-rats that are weaned off their true mother’s milk will eat their alloparents’ caecotrophes, or partially digested fecal pellets. That’s right—mole-rat pups eat their alloparents’ poop!\n\nSome researchers argue that naked mole-rats evolved eusociality because it is advantageous for animals living in an environment where food is scarce and hard to find. Imagine digging in random directions through loads of dirt until you stumble upon a tuber—better to have compatriots who will search in different areas and give a holler when they find something good. Others explain that eusociality increases the nest’s overall survival rate when nonbreeding workers stay at home to look after the pups. This ensures that their whole population continues to thrive even if some members don’t reproduce. And a recent theory puts more emphasis on the queen: When a breeding female can stay home instead of venturing out to find food, she can eat and give birth without risk of encountering a predator.\n\nThe Potential\n\nWhatever the evolutionary explanation, it is clear that eusociality is an effective survival strategy for naked mole-rats. Perhaps we could take a few lessons from them, too. As individuals, they put cooperation above competition for the betterment of everyone. And in a world of dwindling space and limited resources, humans might begin to place higher social value on those who forgo reproduction and choose to support the continuation of our species in other ways. A family that works together is a family that thrives."}, {"Source": "common reed", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "transport gases", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/wetland-plants-get-air-to-waterlogged-roots/", "Strategy": "How Wetland Plants Get\nAir to Waterlogged Roots\n\nCommon reeds and other wetland plants transport gases through a network of spaces between their cells.\n\nIntroduction\n\nIn a reedy marshland in spring, the wind rustles through the fronds, dragonflies buzz through the air, and the strange song of an American bittern booms across the land. It is a thriving ecosystem, hosting a wide variety of plants and animals. The plants in such a wetland, however, face a major challenge—growing in soil so waterlogged that it���s harder for oxygen to reach their roots.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nPlants take in carbon dioxide through their leaves and use the carbon as material to build their structures. But they take in oxygen through their roots to provide energy to carry out growth and repair.\n\nEven though the roots of land plants are buried, they can extract oxygen from air pockets within the soil. Most of the oxygen enters the roots through diffusion, when molecules are driven to move from areas with higher concentrations to areas with lower ones. In very wet soil, this becomes much more difficult because oxygen diffusion in water is 10,000 times slower than in air. So reeds (such as the common reed, Phragmites australis) have developed another way to breathe that’s very similar to using a snorkel.\n\nAir enters into common reeds from broken stems or dead plants that are all connected via underwater structures called rhizomes. Many wetland plant species have rhizomes that grow horizontally just below the surface of the soil, with many stems growing up and many roots growing down. Air taken in through one broken stem or dead plant can reach other healthy sections through this network.\n\nThe oxygen-carrying air moves through gaps in the plant’s tissues, called aerenchyma. If glass beads poured into a cylindrical vase represented the cells inside a plant stem, the space between the beads would be the aerenchyma, which form when cells separate from one another or collapse.\n\nThrough flow draws air down into the broken stems of some reeds, sending oxygen from the stems down into the rhizomes.\n\nThe aerenchyma spaces rely on pressure gradients to drive the gasses from areas of high pressure to areas of low pressure. In some cases, air is drawn into living sections of the plant through the stomata (gas-exchange holes) of the leaf sheaths, sending oxygen from the stems down into the rhizomes (from where it can diffuse into the roots), and pushing stale air out of broken stems.\n\nIn other cases, broken stems of different heights create a passive ventilation system. This is because of the Bernoulli principle: the faster air moves, the lower its pressure becomes. Since air closer to the ground is slower due to friction and turbulence, the air around higher stems is faster, and has lower pressure. This pulls stale air out of the taller broken stems and draws oxygen-rich fresh air into the shorter broken stems.\n\nThe removal of stale air can be as important as the intake of fresh air. Gases like carbon dioxide (which roots produce via cellular respiration of oxygen) and ethylene are drawn upward from the roots, into the rhizomes, and eventually out into the air. Though plants form ethylene to act as a kind of hormone that influences growth, research shows that some plant roots thrive under low ethylene concentrations while higher concentrations can stunt their growth. Therefore, the ability of wetland plants to vent this gas can help them stay healthy and keep growing."}, {"Source": "eurasian diving bell spider", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "build an airy home", "Function2": "trap air bubble", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/spider-creates-underwater-air-tank/", "Strategy": "Spider Builds an Underwater Bubble House\n\nThe Eurasian diving bell spider uses silk and goo to make an airy home for itself beneath the surface of a pond.\n\nIntroduction\n\nMost spiders weave webs in open spaces to capture insects. When the European water spider weaves a web, however, it’s in a dramatically different setting, with a dramatically different function. Stretched between parts of underwater plants, this spider’s web holds a spider-sized bubble of air beneath the surface of a pond. It serves as both home base and a literal breath of fresh air for its weaver.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nA European water spider begins constructing its home under the surface of a pond or standing water in a wetland in much the same way land-living spiders build their webs: by extruding silken threads from spinnerets in its abdomen and fastening them to plants. It then moves back and forth between the anchors, first producing parallel strands and then crossing them with others. It lightly coats the threads with a protein-based goo it also produces from its body. Both the silk and the goo are hydrophilic, meaning they attract water. Together, they create a loosely woven sheet of spider material and water that traps air bubbles below instead of letting them rise to the surface.\n\nNow it’s time to gather some air. The spider swims to the surface, sticks the back end of its abdomen up in the air, and spreads its rear legs. The abdomen is covered with tiny, feather-shaped water-repelling hairs set into small grooves. As the spider submerges, the hairs trap air in a glistening bubble, which is held in place with the help of the legs. The spider carries the bubble beneath the web and releases it. The bubble rises until it reaches the web, but the thread and goo combo prevents it from going any farther. The spider goes back for more until eventually it builds up an air chamber big enough to provide the oxygen it needs.\n\nAs the spider breathes inside its bubble home it uses up oxygen. That causes oxygen trapped in the water around it to diffuse into the bubble, replacing what the spider depleted. Similarly, the high concentration of exhaled carbon dioxide inside diffuses out of the bubble into the surrounding water. If the oxygen concentration declines more rapidly than diffusion can replenish, the spider simply returns to the surface to grab some more bubbles.\""}, {"Source": "ray-finned fish's skin", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "alter color", "Function2": "produce skin patterns", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/pigment-granules-assist-hiding/", "Strategy": "Pigment Granules Assist Hiding\n\nSkin of ray-finned fish changes color in response to light levels and patterns via movement of granules in pigment cells.\n\n“Many fish in the teleost group, such as the minnow, change colour in response to the overall reflectivity of their background. Light reaching their retina from above is compared in the brain to that reflected from the background below. The interpretation is transmitted to the skin pigment cells via adrenergic nerves, which control pigment movement. Teleost skin contains pigment cells of different colours: melanophores (black), erythrophores (red), xanthophores (yellow) and iridiophores (iridescent). Pigment granules disperse through the cell from the centre. The area covered by the pigment at any time determines that cell’s contribution to the skin tone. Many flatfish, including flounder, go further than overall reflectivity and develop skin patterns according to the light and dark divisions of their background. This seems to involve a more discriminating visual interpretation and produces distinct areas of skin with predominantly, but not exclusively, one type of pigment cell. For example, black patches contain mainly melanophores and light patches mainly iridiophores, which can produce the chequerboard appearance seen in the picture.”"}, {"Source": "cranefly's hairs", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "repel water", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/hairs-repel-water/", "Strategy": "Hairs Repel Water\n\nHairs of the cranefly repel water due to their microstructure and arrangement on wings and legs.\n\n“Water droplets placed on this insect’s [cranefly] wings will spontaneously roll off the surface. In addition, the insect can stand on water bodies without its legs penetrating the water surface. The legs and wings of this insect possess thousands of tiny hairs with intricate surface topographies comprising a series of ridges running longitudinally along the long axis of the hair fibre. Here we demonstrate that this fine hair structure enhances the ability of the hairs to resist penetration into water bodies.”"}, {"Source": "temnothorax ant's nest", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "adjust to colony growth or dimunition", "Function2": "shed and reconstruct their nests", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/nests-are-dynamic/", "Strategy": "Nests Are Dynamic\n\nThe colonies of Temnothorax ants adjust to colony growth or dimunition by shedding and reconstructing their nests.\n\n“The ontogeny of wall building by colonies of the ant Temnothorax [formerly Leptothorax] albipennis involves discontinuous rebuilding events that are reminiscent of moulting in insects…Our results suggest for the first time that history influences wall building in ants when worker density decreases (e.g. with colony diminution) as well as when it increases (e.g. with colony growth) as shown by earlier work. Furthermore, we found that ants used a greater number of the larger building blocks (big sand grains) both after cavity expansion and, more surprisingly, also after cavity contraction. The pattern of nest ‘moulting’ we experimentally manipulated and analysed should provide insights into possible trade-offs between the various functions and structural properties of the nest that these animals may have to optimize.”"}, {"Source": "ralstonia metallidurans bacteria", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "precipitate toxic gold", "Function2": "detoxify cell environment", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/dissolved-gold-is-precipitated/", "Strategy": "Dissolved Gold Is Precipitated\n\nRalstonia metallidurans bacteria can pull toxic dissolved gold out of solution and precipitate it.\n\n“Frank Reith, a geomicrobiologist at the Cooperative Research Centre for Landscape Environments and Mineral Exploration in Kensington, Australia, and three colleagues collected gold grains from two Australian mines. Most of the grains bore the distinctive mounds, they discovered, and the mounds were covered with a thin layer of slime rich in bacteria. DNA analysis showed that each grain harbored as many as thirty species of bacteria that were distinct from the species in the surrounding soils. One species, almost certainly Ralstonia metallidurans, was present on all the grains.\n\nSubsequent experiments showed that the ubiquitous R. metallidurans can pull dissolved gold–which is highly toxic to most life forms–out of solution and precipitate it as harmless particles of solid gold. The details of the process remain to be understood, but in nature it enables the bacteria to live in toxic soils and to contribute to the creation of solid gold. (Science 313:233-6, 2006)”\n \n“Enzymatically catalysed\nprecipitation of gold has been observed in thermophilic and hyperthermophilic\nbacteria and archaea (for example, Thermotoga maritime, Pyrobaculum\nislandicum), and their activity led to the formation of gold- and\nsilver-bearing sinters in New Zealand’s hot spring systems. Sulphatereducing bacteria (SRB), for example, Desulfovibrio\nsp., may be involved in the formation of goldbearing sulphide minerals\nin deep subsurface environments; over geological timescales this may\ncontribute to the formation of economic deposits. Iron- and\nsulphur-oxidizing bacteria (for example, Acidothiobacillus ferrooxidans, A. thiooxidans)\nare known to breakdown gold-hosting sulphide minerals in zones of\nprimary mineralization, and release associated gold in the process.\nThese and other bacteria (for example, actinobacteria) produce\nthiosulphate, which is known to oxidize gold and form stable,\ntransportable complexes. Other microbial processes, for example,\nexcretion of amino acids and cyanide, may control gold solubilization\nin auriferous top- and rhizosphere soils. A number of bacteria and\narchaea are capable of actively catalysing the precipitation of toxic\ngold(I/III) complexes. Reductive precipitation of these complexes may\nimprove survival rates of bacterial populations that are capable of (1)\ndetoxifying the immediate cell environment by detecting, excreting and\nreducing gold complexes, possibly using P-type ATPase efflux pumps as\nwell as membrane vesicles (for example, Salmonella enterica, Cupriavidus (Ralstonia) metallidurans, Plectonema boryanum); (2) gaining metabolic energy by utilizing gold-complexing ligands (for example, thiosulphate by A. ferrooxidans) or (3) using gold as metal centre in enzymes (Micrococcus luteus)…This may suggest\nthat cyanobacteria have played a role in the formation of the Witwatersrand\nQPC, the world’s largest gold deposit.”"}, {"Source": "echinoderm tube feet", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "allow movement", "Function2": "allow feeding", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/pressure-allows-movement/", "Strategy": "Pressure Allows Movement\n\nLegs and tubes in echinoderms such as sea stars allow movement and feeding by use of hydrostatic pressure.\n\n“Their [echinoderms’] bodies work by unique exploitation of hydrostatic principles. Feet, each a thin tube ending in a sucker and kept firm by the pressure of water within, wave and curl in rows along the arms. The water for this system circulates quite separately from that in the body cavity. It is drawn through a pore into a channel surrounding the mouth and circulated throughout the body and into the myriads of tube feet. When a drifting particle of food touches an arm, tube feet fasten on to it and pass it on from one to another until it reaches the gutter that runs down the upper surface of the arm to the mouth at the centre.”\n"}, {"Source": "moth wing's scale", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "camouflage", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/wing-scales-help-camouflage-from-sonar/", "Strategy": "Wing Scales Help Camouflage From Sonar\n\nThe scales on moth wings help camouflage them from predatory bats because their uneven shape prevents the bats' sonar from detecting them clearly.\n\n“The moth’s first defense again comes from those fuzzy scales it has all over its body. To us they just seem ungainly, a mistake. But because of their uneven shape, they give the bat only a fuzzy outline on its sonar scope.”"}, {"Source": "snake's jaws", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "swallow eggs whole", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/jaws-swallow-eggs-whole/", "Strategy": "Jaws Swallow Eggs Whole\n\nThe jaws of a snake found in Africa allow it to subsist solely on eggs, which it can swallow whole thanks to multibar linkages.\n\n“The members of another genus of snake, Dasypeltis, of quite a different lineage (colubrids rather than boids) eat only eggs, which they swallow whole and break in their esophagi. The eggs, like python prey, exceed the snakes’ cross sections. Eggs don’t fight back, and these oophagous snakes construct lighter skulls. But their bones are more firmly attached, and their impressive gape depends on a jaw with three hinge points along its length on each side."}, {"Source": "jumping kangaroo's leg tendons", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "store work", "Function2": "transfer force", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/collagenous-tendons-store-work/", "Strategy": "Collagenous Tendons Store Work\n\nCollagenous tendons in the legs of jumping kangaroos allow them to recover work done on the legs in landing by transferring much of the force of the muscles to bones.\n\n“What about the biological role of collagenous tendons? They usually run between the ends of a muscle and its attachments to bones, so the force (and shortening) of the muscle is transmitted to the bones. Work is stored–in a running person or hopping kangaroo about 40-50 percent of the work done on a leg in landing is recovered as it pushes off again. The leg tendons do most of that storage despite their low mass relative to bones, muscles, or the animal as a whole.”"}, {"Source": "moray eel's mouth", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "grab and swallow prey", "Function2": "transport prey", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/extra-jaws-help-hold-transport-prey/", "Strategy": "Extra Jaws Help Hold, Transport Prey\n\nThe mouth of moray eels grabs and swallows prey with the help of internal secondary jaws.\n\n“[T]he moray eel (Muraena retifera) overcomes reduced suction capacity by launching raptorial pharyngeal jaws out of its throat and into its oral cavity, where the jaws grasp the struggling prey animal and transport it back to the throat and into the oesophagus. This is the first described case of a vertebrate using a second set of jaws to both restrain and transport prey, and is the only alternative to the hydraulic prey transport reported in teleost fishes. The extreme mobility of the moray pharyngeal jaws is made possible by elongation of the muscles that control the jaws, coupled with reduction of adjacent gill-arch structures. The discovery that pharyngeal jaws can reach up from behind the skull to grasp prey in the oral jaws reveals a major innovation that may have contributed to the success of moray eels as apex predators hunting within the complex matrix of coral reefs.”"}, {"Source": "haircap moss's shoots", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "transport water", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/tissues-absorb-nitrogen/", "Strategy": "Tissues Absorb Nitrogen\n\nThe shoots of haircap moss obtain nitrogen from soil via water-conducting tissues called hydroids.\n\n“Polytrichum alpinum [Polytrichastrum alpinum] (class Polytrichospida) is predominantly endohydric, transporting water up from underlying substrate by means of water-conducting hydroids, whereas Racomitrium lanuginosum (class Bryopsida) is ectohydric and mostly absorbs water from precipitation.”"}, {"Source": "orb weaving spider web", "Application": "glues", "Function1": "stretch and deform to absorb the energy", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/orb-weaver-web-glue-stays-sticky-when-wet/", "Strategy": "Glue Stays Sticky When Wet\n\nWeb glue of orb-weaver spiders is elastic and sticky when wet because of moisture-absorbing salts.\n\nOrb-weaver spiders construct spiral webs for capturing prey. These webs have remarkable physical properties and are capable of withstanding impacts from comparatively large prey insects travelling at high speeds. When an insect hits a web, the strands stretch and deform to absorb the energy without tearing and then rebound to their original position ready for the next impact. In order for prey to remain trapped, the web threads are also coated in a sticky glue with remarkable properties.\n\nOrb-weaver web glue contains glycoproteins, that is, proteins that have carbohydrate (or sugar) attached to them. These carbohydrate groups mean the glue can form large numbers of hydrogen bonds. Hydrogen bonds are very weak bonds, however, very large numbers of such weak forces can multiply up to form very strong interactions. In the case of orb-weaver web glue, there are lots of hydrogen bonding opportunities on a single glycoprotein, lots of glycoproteins in a single glue droplet, lots of droplets on a web strand, and lots of strands in a web. The combination of so many weak bonds at every hierarchical level results in very strong total interaction between prey and web and ensures potential food is not bounced off as the web rebounds.\n\nAs well as glycoproteins, glue droplets also contain high concentrations of salts. These salts are hygroscopic (they absorb moisture from the atmosphere), keeping the glue proteins wet. This enables the glycoproteins to move around inside the droplet, forming and reforming bonds. As a result, when an impact with a flying insect occurs, the glue also behaves elastically, stretching out and absorbing the impact energy without becoming detached from the web, before rebounding back to the droplet configuration, coating the hapless insect and effectively trapping it.\n\nDifferent species of spider have different salts and salt concentrations in their glue droplets that are tuned to the humidity of their native habitats. Man-made glues become less effective under high humidity, but orb-weaver glues use the salts to tune how much water they absorb from the atmosphere, enabling them to become even more sticky in the presence of moisture."}, {"Source": "cloud forest", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "absorb water", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/trees-absorb-water-directly-from-clouds/", "Strategy": "Trees Absorb Water Directly From Clouds\n\nTrees in cloud forests cope with the dry season by absorbing water from clouds directly through their leaves.\n\nPlants need water to survive. They often absorb rain water through their roots and use this water to transport nutrients into their stem, branches, and leaves.\n\nPlants also use water as a building block to grow the trunk/stem, leaves, and other parts of their structure. Water molecules (H2O) are made up of two hydrogen molecules and one oxygen molecule. When it rains, plants take up the water from the soil in through their roots and separate the hydrogen atoms from each oxygen atom. They then combine the hydrogen atoms with carbon to create a variety of different structures, including wood for their trunks. About 7% of a piece of dry wood is actually made of hydrogen atoms that trees obtained from the rain.\n\nBut what happens when there isn’t any rain? Even in the wettest forests, there are times of the year when there may be no rainfall. In mountainous forests in tropical regions, for example, months may go by with little to no rainfall. Many of the trees in these forests however, have a trick: they are very good at getting water out of low-moving clouds. But instead of using their roots, they use their leaves to capture and absorb water.\n\nThese forests, known as “cloud forests”, are often covered throughout much of the year in low-hanging clouds. These clouds are much closer to the ground than other clouds, and as breezes move these clouds through the forest, they touch the leaves of the trees. The water from the clouds condenses onto the leaves, where it is absorbed into the branches, stem, and roots of the tree.\n\nMany trees are able to do this, not only the trees living in cloud forests. But the trees in cloud forests are especially good at it — they are able to absorb up to 20% more water directly through their leaves than forests just a few hundred feet lower down on the mountain."}, {"Source": "bee's hind legs", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "carry various pollen", "Function2": "mix pollen with liquid", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/hairy-hind-legs-carry-variously-sized-pollen/", "Strategy": "Hairy Hind Legs Carry Variously‑sized Pollen\n\nHairy hind legs on bees can carry a variety of pollen sizes by mixing pollen grains with liquid.\n\nFlower pollen is a major source of protein and nutrients that all bees need at some stage in their life cycle. Pollen collection is carried out only by female bees, which have specialized body parts that enable them to collect and transport pollen grains back to the nest. Modified parts of the female bee’s hind legs, for instance, are used to collect and store pollen externally. These structures are rows of small hairs (called scopae) or flattened plates rimmed with curved hairs (called corbicula) that function like brushes and baskets that can hold the dust-like pollen grains in place while the bee forages.\n\nThe size of pollen grains from different flowers can range from 5 to 210 μm, and pollen grain surfaces can similarly vary in their structure and texture. As a result, many species of bees specialize on a narrow range of flower types and pollen. The density and bushiness of the bees’ scopal hairs have been shaped through co-evolution to function best with specific sizes and shapes of pollen.\n\nOther bees, however, can be more flexible in the types of pollen they collect. One strategy that enables this flexibility is mixing collected pollen with liquid, in the form of nectar, saliva, or floral oils. Moistening the pollen as it’s collected enables the grains to be packed and shaped together into a more concentrated package. Pollen-collecting structures on the bee’s legs needn’t be specialized to transport individual pollen grains; they can be more simplified and transport packages consisting of any size and shape of pollen. Female mining bees (of the family Andrenidae), for example, add nectar to their pollen to moisten it. The scopal hairs on their hind legs tend to be less specialized, too: they are short and sparse with moderate branching. Bees that feed on floral oils and pollen have long and stiff scopal guard hairs with a bushier underlayer of short, flexible, and branched hairs. In some species, this underlayer consists of separate hairs, and in other species, it consists of branches off the main long hairs. Both of these arrangements function the same: the bushy underlayer sops up oil, while the longer guard hairs hold onto the pollen."}, {"Source": "aphid's powdery wax", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "coating waste", "Function2": "create non-stick liquid marbles", "Function3": "efficient waste removal", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/powdery-wax-allows-for-efficient-waste-removal/", "Strategy": "Powdery Wax Allows for\nEfficient Waste Removal\n\nPowdery wax secreted by aphids makes sticky honeydew waste manageable by coating it and creating non-stick “liquid marbles.”\n\nGall-dwelling aphids are insects that make their home in a potentially sticky situation. They live inside plant galls, which are enlarged and hollow outgrowths on stems or leaves that form in response to chemical cues from the aphids. The gall provides both food and protection for the insect, but living in an enclosed space presents unique challenges that their free-living relatives don’t experience.\n\nAphids feed on sugar-rich sap from their host plant and excrete a viscous, sugary liquid called honeydew. They must dispose of this sticky waste product or risk becoming covered in it. Honeydew is particularly hard to handle at small length scales, where surface tension dominates over gravitational forces. If the sticky substance spreads, it can drown the aphid or present an ideal environment for the growth of harmful pathogens. Free-living aphids can fling the honeydew away or move to another location, but gall-dwelling aphids have to use another strategy to manage their waste.\n\nThe poplar spiral gall aphid (Pemphigus spyrothecae) is one species of social aphid that lives in colonies in spiral-shaped galls on black poplar. This aphid secretes a powdery, hydrophobic (water-repelling) wax from special cells on the outer surface of its abdomen. The wax is initially secreted as small threads that arrange into skeins about 10-20 μm in diameter, which then break down into a fine filamentous powder.  It has yet to be fully characterized, but comprises a mixture of compounds similar to candle wax. This powder coats the gall’s interior walls, creating a microtextured surface that, due to its physical structure and chemical composition, is hydrophobic. When an aphid excretes honeydew, the droplet is coated in wax strands it produces at the same time. The droplets are then covered with additional powdery wax as they get moved around inside the gall. Wax-coated droplets don’t stick to the aphid or gall walls, and can be disposed of simply by rolling them out of the gall opening.\n\nThe wax-covered honeydew droplets form spheres of liquid called “liquid marbles” that can easily roll around on a smooth surface and not wet it. In addition, because the honeydew is kept in small discrete droplets and not allowed to coalesce into bigger drops, the marbles roll faster and take less time to move. Together, the aphid colony creates a non-stick microhabitat with an effective and efficient waste-removal system."}, {"Source": "black-tailed prairie dog's burrow", "Application": "passive ventilation", "Function1": "create passive ventilation", "Function2": "alter air pressure", "Function3": "generate passive flow", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/asymmetric-burrow-openings-create-passive-ventilation/", "Strategy": "Asymmetric Burrow Openings\nCreate Passive Ventilation\n\nDifferences in position and shape of burrow openings of black-tailed prairie dogs create passive ventilation from wind energy by altering air pressure.\n\nPrairie dogs are highly social rodents that build extensive underground burrows in the plains of North America to house their family groups. The burrows can reach 10 m (32 ft) in length, and this size means that diffusion alone is not sufficient to replace used air inside the burrow with fresh air. The way that a prairie dog builds the openings to its burrow, however, helps to harness wind energy from the windy plains and create passive ventilation through the burrow’s tunnels.\n\nAs air flows across a surface, a gradient in flow speed forms, where air moves more slowly the closer it is to the surface. The prairie dog is able to take advantage of this gradient by building a mound with an elevated opening upwind and a mound with a lower opening downwind. Wind velocity then is faster over the higher opening than the lower opening. Since an increase in speed creates a decrease in pressure (according to what is called “Bernoulli’s principle”), the burrow now has openings with two different air pressures on them. The result of this difference is one-way air flow through the burrow as air rushes out the higher opening and is drawn in to the lower opening.\n\nThe mounds around the burrow openings serve additional functions for the prairie dog, like providing a perch to watch for predators. Other organisms use a similar arrangement of openings to generate passive flow, including sea sponges and limpets."}, {"Source": "golden-scale snail's shell", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protect itself", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/triple-layered-armored-shell-protects-from-predators/", "Strategy": "Triple Layered Armored Shell\nProtects From Predators\n\nThe shell of the golden-scale snail protects from attack with a specialized tri-layered composition\n\nAt the bottom of the Indian Ocean are large hydrothermal vents that spew hot water and minerals. They also provide an ecosystem for a variety of bizarre species adapted for living in harsh conditions. One such species is the golden scale snail (Chrysomallon squamiferum, sometimes called the scaly-foot) which feeds off of the vent’s nutrients. Adhered to the vent structures, the snail is vulnerable to predators such as crabs and venomous snails that can puncture or crush the scaly-foot snail. To protect itself, the snail uses a hard, armor-like shell with a tri-layered composition. Each layer has distinct chemical and physical properties that enable them to play different roles in managing forces from predatory attacks.\n\nThe outer layer is a thin organic shell reinforced by greigite (iron sulfide) particles spewed out by the thermal vents. Most mollusks build their shells from inside out, and the golden-scale snail does that in addition to using the thermal vent’s iron sulfide deposits. When an intruding crab claw, for instance, does start cracking the outer layer, its particular microscopic structure localizes the damage as “sacrificial microcracks” around the iron sulfide particles. That is, many small, manageable cracks form right around the site of impact, instead of one large crack that could severely damage the whole shell.\n\nThe middle layer is a thick, dense layer of organic material that is pliant in nature, meaning it easily deforms. This property enables the middle layer to act as a shock absorber, relieving the pressure of a crab’s grasp and protecting against a poisonous snail’s smashing blow. It could be compared to a dense marshmallow underneath an eggshell. The outer layer and middle layer relieve most, if not all, of the shock.\n\nAny remaining mechanical energy reaches the calcified inner layer. It is the last layer of defense and if any forces are strong enough to impact it, they could permanently damage the snail. The inner layer is like a brick wall behind the marshmallow-egg shell complex."}, {"Source": "egyptian clover", "Application": "land-usage", "Function1": "regulate the uptake and distribution of salt ions", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/symbiosis-enables-growth-in-salty-soil/", "Strategy": "Symbiosis Enables Growth in Salty Soil\n\nMycorrhiza allow Egyptian clover to grow in salty soil by regulating the uptake and distribution of salt ions into the plant.\n\nIntroduction\n\nSalty soil represents an extremely harsh environment for plant growth. It causes, among other challenges, an osmotic imbalance that prevents water uptake by roots, prevents the uptake of vital nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorous, and prevents the ability to maintain a proper sodium/potassium balance in the plant cells. Mycorrhiza is the fungal net that forms on and in the roots of many plants as a mutualistic symbiote.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nCertain mycorrhiza allow host plants to grow in soil that would normally be too salty for it in its pure state. For example, the fungal net associated with the berseem clover (Trifolium alexandrinum) effectively allows the plant to uptake water, nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium using a number of biochemical means such as storing excess salt ions in vacuoles (internal storage spaces), putting the breaks on the transport of salt ions within the host plant, and tapping the surrounding soil for nutrients by extending the fungal network through a greater volume of soil than would be possible for the plant roots alone.\n\nThe Potential\n\nAs we continue to develop land and clear it to grow crops, finding fertile areas to farm will become increasingly important. Understanding how nature overcomes challenges to grow plants in high-saline soils as well as other inhospitable environments will help us optimize land-usage. And it might not just be for farming. Perhaps we’d use challenging landscapes to grow plants strictly to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere with the goal of mitigating climate change."}, {"Source": "honeybee's diet", "Application": "new treatments and management styles to improve the health of honeybees", "Function1": "maintain immune system", "Function2": "diverse diet", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/the-honey-bee-maintains-immune-function/", "Strategy": "Diverse Food Sources Keep Honeybees Healthy\n\nHoneybee immune systems depend more on protein diversity than quantity.\n\nIntroduction\n\nA well-rounded diet is required to get the nutrients our bodies need to function—this is true as true for humans as it is for any other living thing. In this case, let’s take a closer look at the diet of the honeybee (Apis mellifera). Experiments and observations have revealed how carefully the honeybee’s immune system is maintained through diet: a lack of diverse protein sources reduces the ability of its immune system to function and increases the honeybee’s susceptibility to disease.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nImmune system maintenance requires a lot of energy and resources, including a consistent supply of protein from pollen. A single source of protein is not enough to fulfill the honeybee’s dietary needs, so a habitat that offers pollen sources from a variety of plants is ideal. A honeybee colony overridden by disease likely does not have access to the food resources it needs to sustain immune function, which can indicate that the bees live in a degraded ecosystem.\n\nThe impact of a diverse diet on the honeybee’s immunity can be measured through its blood cell concentration, fat body content, phenoloxidase activity and glucose oxidase (GOX) activity.\n\nThe first three measures relate to the immune function of individuals. Blood cell concentration and phenoloxidase activity measure a bee’s ability to identify, trap, and remove parasites. Fat bodies are where antimicrobial peptides are made.\n\nThe fourth measure relates to the colony as a whole. GOX allows a colony to be sterilized through the production of hydrogen peroxide, which has antiseptic properties. These antiseptic products are secreted into honey and other larval food.\n\nExperimentally, it has been shown that increasing the amount of protein in a honeybee’s diet did not significantly improve its immunity, but increasing the diversity of the honeybee’s diet did.\n\nBiological Strategy\n\nEnvironmental Disturbance Promotes Diversity Wet prairie ecosystem \n\nGrasses of wet prairies in South Florida thrive by being adapted to fire during the growing season.\n\nThe Potential\n\nThe decline of honey bees has been attributed to many different causes, including susceptibility to disease due to weakened immune systems. The understanding that the diversity of food sources is important for individual and colony immunity can lead to new treatments and management styles to improve the health of honeybees everywhere.\n\nIn addition, the specific chemistry of honeybee health could inspire new therapies for bees, other invertebrates, and other animals as well.\n\nFinally, a closer examination of the interplay between individual and colony immune functions could lead to insights for better management of the health of other communities, including human ones.\n"}, {"Source": "puss moth caterpillar's tail filament", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protect from predator", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/squirting-toxins-protect-from-predators/", "Strategy": "Squirting Toxins Protect From Predators\n\nTail filaments of Puss Moth caterpillars protect from predators by squirting formic acid.\n\n“The pussmoth caterpillar browses head-down on leaves. Its body colour is exactly that of its food plant, but if an intruder shakes the branch, and alarms it, the caterpillar suddenly lifts its head from its meal, exposing a scarlet face. Simultaneously it protrudes a pair of blood-red filaments from its tail and squirts formic acid.”"}, {"Source": "echidna's snout", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "respire", "Function2": "move soil", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/movements-aerate-soil/", "Strategy": "Movements Aerate Soil\n\nThe echidna respires while buried underground by using its snout to move the soil around its head, enabling access to the air trapped between soil particles.\n\n“Short-beaked echidnas have an impressive ability to submerge completely into soil or sand and remain there, cryptic, for long periods. This poses questions about how they manage their respiration, cut off from a free flow of gases…it was noticed that echidnas often showed periodic movements of the anterior part of the body, as if such movements were a deliberate effort to flush the tidal air space surrounding their nostrils. These ‘flushing movements’ were subsequently found to temporarily increase the levels of interstitial oxygen in the soil around the head region. Flushing movements were more frequent while VO2 was higher during the burrowing process, and also in substrate with lower fa. We conclude that oxygen supply to buried echidnas is maintained by diffusion through the soil augmented by periodic flushing movements, which ventilate the tidal airspace that surrounds the nostrils.”"}, {"Source": "american white pelican", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "concentrate prey", "Function2": "increase catch", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/cooperative-herding-catches-more-food/", "Strategy": "Cooperative Herding Catches More Food\n\nCooperative herding behavior by the American white pelican catches more food by concentrating prey.\n\nThe American white pelican is a large waterbird that lives across North America, breeding in the interior of the continent and spending its winters on the coasts. Unlike its relative the brown pelican, the American white pelican rarely plunge-dives for food. It typically swims on the surface of the water and grabs or scoops up fish and other prey with its pouch-shaped bill.\n\nOne strategy that these pelicans can use to increase their catch is cooperative feeding. In cooperative feeding behavior, groups of pelicans (usually less than 20) work together while swimming to herd small schooling fish into a dense ball or toward shallow water, where it’s difficult to escape. This behavior can start when the presence of pelicans attracts more pelicans to the area and a group forms. The pelicans then form a line or semicircle on one side of the schooling fish and begin to swim toward each other, closing in on the school. Once one pelican strikes at a fish in the dense school, the other birds immediately begin to strike, as well.\n\nSome researchers have observed that smaller groups of pelicans (between two and six) are the most successful at catching prey using this cooperative herding behavior. The most effective group size likely depends on several factors, including prey density and whether too many birds increases the chance of a premature strike that could scare fish away."}, {"Source": "striped anemone's tentacles", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "recognize specific molecules", "Function2": "trigger cellular activities", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/stinging-cells-target-prey/", "Strategy": "Stinging Cells Target Prey\n\nStinging cells of sea anemones effectively target prey using a combination of physical and chemical cues.\n\nIntroduction \n\nSea anemones are soft, spineless marine animals that mostly stay attached to underwater surfaces. An anemone resembles an upside-down jellyfish: they have a stout cylindrical body topped with a circular array of tentacles surrounding the mouth. Anemones feed and defend themselves with their tentacles, which contain numerous stinging cells called cnidocytes. A hair-like trigger projects from the cnidocyte, and when this trigger is touched, the stinging cell ejects a tiny toxin-filled or sticky harpoon (called a cnida or nematocyst) into the offending object. While cnidocytes are typically triggered by physical touch, a blind and immobile anemone can differentiate between a falling inedible pebble and swimming tasty prey.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nIn the striped anemone, Diadumene lineata, the tentacles specialized for capturing prey are sensitive to specific chemicals that prey produce. For instance, small prey animals like crustaceans and fish are covered in a thin layer of mucus. This mucus contains specific molecules recognized by chemical-sensing cells (chemoreceptors) in the anemone’s tentacles. When mucus activates the chemoreceptors, this triggers a series of cellular activities in and around the cnidocyte that eventually cause the hair-like trigger to lengthen. This lengthening causes the hair to vibrate, or resonate, more readily at lower frequencies, much like how longer strings in a piano play lower notes. The hair-like trigger seems to become more sensitive to lower-frequency movements that match the frequencies at which small prey swim. In the absence of mucus, the hair-like trigger is normally sensitive to higher-frequency movements. The anemone’s chemoreceptors thus fine-tune how cnidocytes respond to physical touch. Cnidocytes are more likely to fire when the object moving through the tentacles is a mucus-covered swimming prey."}, {"Source": "red mangrove forest", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protect shorelines", "Function2": "slow down and scatter wave energy", "Function3": "reduce wave energy", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/mangrove-forests-calm-coastal-waters/", "Strategy": "Mangrove Forests Calm Coastal Waters\n\nRoots of red mangrove forests protect coastal shorelines by absorbing energy from waves.\n\nClimate change is bringing stronger and more intense storms to coastal areas across the world. Powerful storm surges and other types of large waves carry enormous amounts of energy. When they wash up on a shoreline, they can cause rapid erosion, major damage to buildings, and loss of human life. Mangrove forests can protect shorelines from damage by powerful waves. The forests’ layered architecture helps to slow down and scatter wave energy so that it loses power before it reaches the shore.\n\nAlso called mangrove swamps, these dense ecosystems occur in tropical and sub-tropical coastal waters. They are dominated by tree and shrub species that have unusual root shapes. For example, “prop roots,” or “stilt roots,” look like multiple legs branching out from the base of the tree trunk, anchoring the tree in the soil. Other species have “knee roots” emerging like bent knees from the soil. They anchor the tree and also help the main roots, nestled in oxygen poor soils, to get oxygen. A third type of roots are tall finger-shaped growths poking out of the soil near the main plant. These are called pneumatophores, and also aid in gas exchange. A wave rolling into a mangrove forest at high speed is met by a dense tangle of obstacles and it loses more and more energy as it gets sliced up by all the hurdles in its path. Scientists found that a wave can lose up to two-thirds of its energy after moving just 100 meters into a mangrove forest. The further it travels through the mangrove forest, the more energy it loses. The special root structures create so much friction and drag on the water that when the wave finally reaches the shoreline it has often been reduced to a gentle ripple.\n\nHow much the wave slows down depends on how high it is, of course. Because the obstacles of the mangrove forest are close to the ground, they might not have as much of an effect on higher, more powerful waves. The forest canopy, however, can have the same type of effect as the mangrove roots on an incoming wave. Waves that are high enough to reach the height of the canopy – with its thick trunks, sprawling branches, and numerous leaves – get broken up and dissipated much the same way that shallow waves do. Overall, the dense mangrove ecosystem and forest canopy can be very beneficial to shoreline communities by helping to protect them during storms.\n"}, {"Source": "hagfish slime", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "enable rapid slime formation", "Function2": "withstand and transfer pulling forces", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/mucin-strands-enable-rapid-slime-formation/", "Strategy": "Mucin Strands Enable Rapid Slime Formation\n\nMucin strands in hagfish slime enable rapid slime formation by transmitting forces from flowing water.\n\nHagfishes are marine fishes that are infamous for their slime. When threatened by a biting predator, a hagfish responds by releasing small amounts of thick slime concentrate out of glands lining its body (see the related strategy here). This slime concentrate then explodes into a ~1L volume of dilute slime in a fraction of a second. What enables this rapid slime formation?\n\nMucins are protein and carbohydrate molecules that partly make up mucus. Hagfish slime contains thin protein threads interspersed in a dilute mucus. In the slime concentrate, those protein threads are initially wound up into 150 μm-long bundles (skeins). Part of the rapid slime expansion in seawater involves those skeins unraveling into threads 100 times longer. For the Atlantic hagfish, Myxine glutinosa, these threads won’t deploy on their own: active mixing and mucins are needed to enable thread unraveling. Hagfish slime mucins are contained within membrane-bound vesicles that are ~7 μm long, and these vesicles are released along with the thread skeins in the slime concentrate.\n\nOne leading model for how whole slime forms in the Atlantic hagfish proposes that mucins swell and elongate into sticky strands when they come into contact with seawater. Ions and water rushing into the mucin vesicles cause them to swell, while fluid flow forces cause them to stretch. The mucin strands then attach to the thread skeins at multiple points, creating interconnected networks. The mucins are malleable enough to stretch and strong enough to withstand and transfer pulling forces between the flowing water and thread skeins. The threads, which are still wound up when mucin attaches, are unravelled by disruptive forces transmitted from the actively mixing water by the mucin strands.\nBiologists are still uncovering how slime forms in other species of hagfish. In the Atlantic hagfish’s Pacific relative, Eptatretus stoutii, thread skeins can spontaneously unravel on their own. As vigorous thrashing often accompanies sliming during a predator attack, however, most hagfish naturally provide the mixing needed to form a large mass of slime."}, {"Source": "ant colony", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "distribute food", "Function2": "quickly respond to food shortage", "Function3": "endure and recover from distress", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/ant-colonies-respond-quickly-to-distribute-food/", "Strategy": "Ant Colonies Respond\nQuickly to Distribute Food\n\nAnt colonies distribute food effectively and safely after famine using a decentralized response to quickly spread food.\n\nIntroduction\n\nA society consists of individuals, each with its own role, in a structured community. A society can be centralized or decentralized. A centralized society consists of a single individual or group of individuals that function as a type of “control center.” This control center has the power to plan and control how the society works. They make decisions first and then they distribute this information to other members of the society. However, in this system it takes time to make group decisions and assign tasks.\n\nOn the other hand, a decentralized society does not have a control center. Instead, individuals make decisions independently or in small groups. This allows individuals to act more quickly because information does not have to go through a centralized group first.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nAnt colonies are an example of a decentralized society. An ant can have interactions with nearby individuals, or take cues from the local environment to help make its decisions. For example, ants who have found food can quickly direct other ants to it without needing to check with the ‘control center’ first. They signal to other ants about where food is by emitting chemical signals from their bodies known as pheromones. Other ants will follow this signal, which will lead them to the food source. This decentralized response enables ants to act quickly and allows for resiliency, which is the ability to endure and recover from distress. An ant’s response to food shortages or famine is an example of resiliency.\n\nAn ant can have interactions with nearby individuals, or take cues from the local environment to help make its decisions . . . without needing to check with the ‘control center’ first.\n\nAnts can experience food shortages for a variety of reasons. For example, bad weather can disrupt a food source or other ant colonies can compete for the same food source. When ants in a famine find food, they quickly spread it to other ants living in the same nest. Normally, ants each have their own roles in the colony. These roles are completed within the limited areas of the nest. However, when a famine occurs, the ants can move anywhere in the nest to help spread food. In order to feed everyone quickly, foragers (the ants who collect food) move deeper into the nest to pass food to more individuals. Ants that take care of the young usually live deep in the nest. In times of famine, they move to the edges of the nest to receive food from foragers more quickly.\n\nBecause ants need to find and spread food quickly during a famine, they often settle for a lower quality of food, which sometimes may contain harmful chemicals. Ants normally wouldn’t eat these foods, but one way to reduce the chances of eating harmful food is to have multiple food sources. Multiple foragers will travel out in different directions from the nest to find different food sources during a famine. Having multiple food sources dilutes harmful chemicals coming from one particular source. Another solution is to use living “silos” where an individual ant stores and tests a food source for harmful chemicals. The ant may die, but the colony would be saved from a food source that was harmful. All of these are quick and coordinated decentralized responses by individual ants. Together, these actions help a colony survive famine."}, {"Source": "striped kribensis fish (pelvicachromis taeniatus)", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "visualize near-infrared wavelength of light", "Function2": "see beyond red", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/the-fish-that-see-in-the-dark/", "Strategy": "The Fish That See in the Dark\n\nSome fish visualize near-infrared wavelengths of light by feeding their red-light-sensing cone cells with vitamin A2.\n\nIntroduction\n\nAfter a long, hot day, the sun sets over the mountaintops staining the sky a deep crimson. Sunsets are red and orange because the sun’s light passes through more atmospheric gases when it’s low on the horizon. At these low elevations, air molecules scatter so much short-wavelength blue light that only longer red and orange wavelengths reach our eyes. Red is actually the longest wavelength on the “visible spectrum,” defined as the range of light that humans can see.\n\nBut many animals see beyond what we see. Some birds, butterflies, and bees see ultraviolet (UV) light, which has wavelengths shorter than the violet light that our retinae can detect. Scientists previously thought that infrared light was unsuitable for visual perception because its longer-than-red wavelengths would produce too much visual noise. But that turns out just to be an old fish story. Several animals, including the striped kribensis fish (Pelvicachromis taeniatus), manage to see beyond red very well indeed.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nThe rainbow arching across the sky is perhaps the most iconic illustration of the visible spectrum, with wavelengths of light ranging from 400 nanometers (violet) to 780 nanometers (red). Just beyond that lies a region of light called “near-infrared,” which encompasses wavelengths between 780 and 1,000 nanometers. Several types of freshwater fish are known to see near-infrared light.\n\nTo understand how fish see such long wavelengths of light, we need to understand a bit about the process that enables humans, fish, and other vertebrates to see at all—phototransduction. In this process, light passes into the pupil, focuses across the eye’s lens, and strikes the retina, which contains hundreds of millions of photoreceptor cells. Like other sensing receptor cells, these cells convert information to electric signals that the brain can interpret.\n\nPhotoreceptor cells come in two different shapes, each with a distinct role in vision. Rod-shaped photoreceptors help with light contrast and allow us to see at lower light levels. Walking through a dark room, rod receptors help you navigate even if you can’t distinguish colors. At higher light levels, three types of cone-shaped photoreceptors—red, green, and blue—help us see colors because they’re sensitive to different wavelengths of light.\n\nLooking up on a clear day, blue cone receptors activate and stimulate nerve cells that cause our brains to perceive the sky as “blue.” In a forest in the spring, green receptors fire as we scan our eyes across leafy treetops. Focusing on a northern cardinal perched on a branch, red receptors alert our brains to the brilliant bird’s beauty. The three types of cone receptors work together to paint our brains’ perceptions with all the colors of the rainbow. As we take in different views, changes in the quantity, intensity, and duration at which the various cone receptors fire combine to create a “full color” image of the scene.\n\nVitamin A, which comes in two forms, is part of the protein complexes that make up the rod and cone cells. In humans and most other vertebrates, vitamin A1, commonly called retinol, is the dominant form. According to a 2015 study, some fish can see longer wavelengths of light because they have an enzyme that converts vitamin A1 to vitamin A2 (called dehydroretinol). Vitamin A2 appears to shift the sensitivity of red cone cells to longer wavelengths, allowing fish that have this particular enzyme to see near-infrared light."}, {"Source": "hissing cockroach's respiratory system", "Application": "air filtration designs", "Function1": "create one-way airflow", "Function2": "unidirectional airflow", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/body-pores-open-and-close-to-push-breath-through-cockroaches/", "Strategy": "Body Pores Open and Close to\nPush Breath Through Cockroaches\n\nThe respiratory system of the hissing cockroach creates one-way airflow using valves and active pumping.\n\nIntroduction \n\nThe Madagascar hissing cockroach (Gromphadorhina portentosa ) is a large and active insect. During periods of activity, its relatively fast metabolism means that its tissues use a lot of oxygen and produce a lot of carbon dioxide. The passive process of diffusion alone cannot move these gases between the external atmosphere and the cockroach’s internal respiratory system, so it uses active ventilation to pump air into and out of its body.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nIn all insects, the respiratory system consists of a network of branching tubes, called tracheae, that develop from inward folds of the insect’s exoskeleton. These tubes connect an insect’s internal, metabolizing tissues to the outside air via pores, called spiracles, that line both sides of the insect’s thorax (mid-section) and abdomen (rear section). Muscle-controlled valves enable the pores to open and close.\n\nIn the hissing cockroach, thoracic and abdominal pores appear to open and close at different times to help create a mostly one-way flow of air through the respiratory system from front to back. This is in contrast to the two-way airflow that mammalian lungs create, where air enters and exits through the same tubes.\n\nFor the hissing cockroach to breathe in, the abdominal pores close and the abdomen expands, which sucks oxygen-rich air in through the open thoracic pores. This air then travels through respiratory tubes and reaches the cockroach’s tissues. Oxygen is taken up, while carbon dioxide is released.\n\nTo breathe out and remove the carbon dioxide, the abdominal pores open and the abdomen contracts, which forces the spent air out of the abdominal pores. Abdominal contraction is actively powered by muscles, while expansion is a passive result of the abdomen relaxing and returning to its resting shape.\n\nConstricting tubes between the abdomen and thorax can help prevent backflow during contraction. This coordinated system of valves and pumps in the cockroach creates a cyclic, unidirectional airflow into the thoracic pores and out of the abdominal pores. In general, unidirectional airflow enables more efficient gas exchange because fresh air and spent air don’t mix together in the respiratory spaces.\n\nThe Potential\n\nStudying the unidirectional respiratory systems of hissing cockroaches could lead to more efficient ventilation and air filtration designs. Designs for medical equipment such as face masks, oxygen concentrating machines, and breathe-assist devices might also improve by emulating the coordinated pushing and pulling of air through cockroach body pores."}, {"Source": "lymph system", "Application": "dynamic coatings", "Function1": "pressure differences", "Function2": "muscle contractions", "Function3": "one-way valves", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/how-the-lymph-system-pumps-with-no-pump/", "Strategy": "How the Lymph System Pumps With No Pump\n\nThe lymphatic system uses pressure, muscle contractions, and one-way valves to squeeze fluid through a network of vessels without the need for a pump.\n\nIntroduction\n\nEven while wildflower blooms explode across the jagged landscape, patches of snow linger atop mountain crests. At 12,095 feet in elevation, Colorado’s Independence Pass stands along the Continental Divide—a mountainous line that separates water flow across the Americas. Down each slope, snowmelt drains through soil, vegetation, tributaries, lakes, and rivers in a tortuous path east towards the Atlantic Ocean or west towards the Pacific. Along the way, cities and towns siphon the water that people need to live. But before water reaches our faucets, we have to treat it for pollutants it may have picked up during its journey.\n\nOur bodies also need a drainage system to collect, treat, and recycle fluid that leaks into surrounding tissue. About 90% of the blood that supplies the body’s tissues with oxygen and nutrients returns to the heart via veins. But about 10% of it leaks across capillaries into the surrounding tissue. In vertebrates, the lymphatic system collects this spilled material along with cellular waste products within its own network of vessels and returns them to the circulatory system.\n\nThe lymph system also helps absorb dietary fat and fat-soluble vitamins. And it plays a role critical to our immunity. As fluid moves through lymphatic vessels, it passes through lymph nodes that contain high concentrations of lymphocytes (types of white blood cells), which attack pathogens like bacteria, viruses, and fungi.\n\nIn the circulatory system, the heart pumps the blood in a continuous loop. But without a  central “pump”, the lymph system must divide and conquer the task of moving its fluid.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nLymph fluid flows through the body using a combination of pressure differences, muscle contractions, and one-way valves.\n\nLike blood vessels, lymphatic capillaries permeate most of the body’s tissues. Lymphatic capillary cells overlap one another like the horizontal slats in closed window blinds. As fluid accumulates in tissue outside of lymphatic capillaries, the pressure increases and pushes on the overlapping cells, opening them slightly inwards. The waste material enters the lymphatic vessels through gaps, which relieves the external pressure. As the pressure outside the lymphatic capillaries reduces, the flaps close again, trapping the fluid inside.\n\nJust as water flows naturally from high to low pressure, higher pressure in the lymphatic capillaries propels fluid through the system. In addition, as surrounding muscles contract during motion, they compress lymphatic vessels and push the fluid forward. Complementing that, larger lymph vessels themselves have smooth muscle cells on their outer walls that help squeeze the vessels that propel the fluid. In contrast to the centralized collection of muscle cells that make up the heart, smooth muscle cells distributed throughout the lymphatic vessels contract only as needed—sometimes strongly and suddenly, and sometimes in a cascading wave.\n\nThroughout the system, one-way flap valves inside lymph vessels prevent backflow and keep the fluid moving in one direction—towards veins in the neck called subclavian veins. At the subclavian veins, the lymph waste products enter the bloodstream and can either be reused or filtered through the liver and kidneys.\n\nThe Potential\n\nInstead of using high-power pumps to transport fluids through long pipelines, dynamic coatings could mimic the effects of smooth muscle tissue inside lymph vessels. A system of one-way valves could reduce energy requirements, contributing to fewer greenhouse gas emissions. Perhaps drug delivery systems could rely on common muscle movements such as walking to spread medicine in specific parts of the body. What else can we learn by studying how animals recycle plasma and other compounds in blood?\n"}, {"Source": "phagocytosis", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "engulf whole particles", "Function2": "wrap whole particles", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/cells-engulf-whole-solid-particles/", "Strategy": "Cells Engulf Whole Solid Particles\n\nLiving cells engulf whole solid particles by wrapping them in cell membrane that forms internal compartments.\n\nWhether in single-celled organisms or multicellular animals, individual living cells are constantly taking in materials from outside the cell. These materials can be nutrients, or they can be debris or microorganisms that need to be contained and processed. Many kinds of small molecules can diffuse across the cell’s outer membrane, or travel through special embedded channels. Taking in larger materials, however, requires a different strategy.\n\nOne strategy for capturing large materials is phagocytosis, or “cell eating.” Phagocytosis is a process where a cell engulfs whole particles by wrapping them in its own membrane before processing them internally. For instance, specialized cells of the immune system in humans can envelop invading microorganisms or dead cells whole using phagocytosis. These specialized cells first recognize an object to ingest when surface receptors on the cell bind to surface molecules on the object. The cell then sends membranous folds (called pseudopods) outward and around the object until it is completely enclosed. When the tips of the pseudopods meet, they fuse back together. This process is facilitated by strands of actin proteins, which can easily lengthen or shorten to enable cell movement. The fusion of the cell’s membrane folds creates an internal membranous compartment (a phagosome) containing the ingested object. Some single-celled organisms, like certain protozoa, use the same phagocytic process to ingest whole bacteria as food.\n\nIn both cases, the newly-bound object can be processed when the phagosome fuses with other internal compartments containing digestive enzymes. This process is similar to two soapy bubbles coming together and forming a larger, single bubble. The enzymes combine with the ingested object, breaking it down into nutrients or waste materials that can be used in cellular processes or expelled."}, {"Source": "polar bear's fur", "Application": "solar thermal collectors", "Function1": "gather heat", "Function2": "retain heat", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/fur-absorbs-infrared-radiation-to-prevent-heat-loss/", "Strategy": "See‑Through Polar Bear\nFur Traps Light and Heat\n\nChamber-cored fibers capture sunlight, gather heat, and retain both to keep their owner warm.\n\nIntroduction\n\nNorth of the Arctic circle, where polar bears roam, temperatures can drop to –58°F (–50°C) on a blustery day. But these massive creatures are barely fazed by the chill. They wander the ice. They build dens in the snow. They swim and dive and sleep under the stars––or the midnight sun. Part of the secret is their calorie-heavy diet of seal blubber. But equally important is their fur coat.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nThe coat is made up of two distinct layers: a short and dense underfur layer next to the skin, and an outer layer of longer and coarser guard hairs.\n\nThe guard hairs appear white, but are actually made up of a light-scattering translucent cylinder surrounding a chambered core. This sophisticated structure not only absorbs heat from the environment but also prevents the heat that radiates from the bear’s body from easily escaping into the air around it.\n\nWhen sunlight hits the hair, the outside reflects a small amount back into the environment, giving the bear a bright white appearance. Most of the light, however, travels through the translucent sheath, where it hits and is reflected by the core. Depending on the angle at which the light hits the core, it bounces around within the hair or it bounces out to another hair, where the process is repeated.\n\nSome of the light energy transforms into heat in the process. Some of it bounces deeper and deeper into the bear’s coat until it finally is absorbed by the bear’s black skin, which re-radiates it as heat. The tightly packed inner fur holds the heat close to the animal, helping to keep it warm.\n\nMany animals that live in cold climates have hair with a hollow core. In polar bear hair, the core’s chambers add extra insulating value. As a result, when the bear encounters an increase in the temperature around it—say, by entering water hovering near 32°F (0°C)—the chambered core can absorb the additional heat and hold it for longer than a hollow-cored hair might.\n\nThe Potential\n\nIndigenous people of the far north have long relied on clothing made from polar bear fur to keep themselves warm. In addition to using the fur itself, we might take inspiration from the unique interior structure of the individual hairs to  design synthetic fibers and textiles for cold-weather wear that hold heat better than conventional ones.. Other temperature-related applications might include boosting the efficiency and flexibility of solar thermal collectors; improving building insulation for heating or cooling; and designing containers to keep the temperatures of food and medicine in safe ranges during transport or in areas where refrigeration is unavailable.\n\nIf we consider more generally the concept of altering the transmission of electromagnetic radiation, further adaptations of the concepts might include enhancing solar photovoltaic performance, customizing greenhouse lighting for optimizing plant growth; and providing smart lighting for homes."}, {"Source": "mediterranean montane forests", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "increase soil potassium concentration", "Function2": "reduce transpiration rate", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/nurse-shrubs-promote-ecosystem-regeneration/", "Strategy": "Nurse Shrubs Promote Ecosystem Regeneration\n\nPioneering nurse shrubs in Mediterranean montane forests promote ecosystem regeneration by increasing shade above ground and potassium below ground.\n\nRecovering from large disturbances, such as deforestation or forest fires, is a lengthy process. A clearing goes through multiple steps, with different plants starting to regrow in a process called succession. Smaller, weedier plants typically grow first, priming the area for larger, more long-lived ones (like shrubs and trees). This type of multi-step succession occurs in Mediterranean montane forest environments as well, with “nurse” shrubs providing protected conditions for larger trees.\n\nThese nurse shrubs prepare the area in two ways: by creating a shaded environment and by depositing higher concentrations of potassium into the soil. The shaded environment promotes tree seedling growth through the canopy effect: a group of effects including lower air temperatures, lower soil temperatures, and higher water levels. All of these effects together help create the perfect environment for seedlings.\n\nSecond, nurse shrubs increase soil potassium concentrations by trapping windblown particles in their branches and by generating organic litter such as broken twigs and fallen leaves. During the dry season, when water is scarce, higher levels of potassium help protect the new tree saplings from drought by reducing transpiration rates (the plant equivalent of sweating). This accumulation of potassium reduces transpiration losses by affecting the osmotic gradient (the comparable concentrations of two solutions separated by a semipermeable membrane). By increasing the potassium levels within the plant, the gradient is increased, causing water to diffuse into the plant as it tries to maintain equal concentrations on each side of the membrane. In essence, by increasing its own potassium concentration, a plant can hold on to water better. In such a way, these nurse shrubs play a key role in ecosystem succession."}, {"Source": "numbat's fur", "Application": "movable hairlike systems", "Function1": "insulating properties", "Function2": "regulate heat", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/thinner-fur-keeps-numbats-warmer/", "Strategy": "Thinner Fur Keeps Numbats Warmer\n\nBy making their hairs stand up, numbats expose more skin to the sun and create an insulating layer of air to reduce heat loss.\n\nIntroduction\n\nIn the animal kingdom, marsupials have several characteristics that set them apart. But even among marsupials, the numbat stands alone.\n\nMarsupials are found primarily in and around Australia. They are perhaps best known as the mammals that are born prematurely and continue to develop in pouches. Numbats, however, are pouchless; babies simply cling to their mothers for six or seven months until they get too big to carry around.\n\nAnd while most marsupials are nocturnal, numbats are active exclusively during the day. That’s because of their diet. Unlike most marsupials, which generally eat plants, fruits, and sometimes insects, numbats are entirely carnivorous. More particularly, they are termitivorous. They eat nothing but termites, which come out by day.\n\nGiven their singular schedule and diet, numbats have had to adapt to maintain ideal body temperatures. A major way they do that is with another feature that sets them apart. Unlike most marsupials, which have thick fur coats, numbats have sparse pelts—which counterintuitively help regulate their body temperatures and keep them warm.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nSince numbats don’t get enough fuel from termites to maintain body heat, they rely on absorbing heat from the sun. Their pelts have shorter hairs and fewer hairs per square inch, compared with other marsupials and diurnal mammals. So their sparse coats are not made to insulate against the cold, but rather to expose more skin area to the sun, maximizing the amount of solar radiation they absorb.\n\nThey also make their pelt hairs stand up straight. The scientific term for this is piloerection. It happens to people when they get goosebumps.\n\nPiloerection traps layers of motionless body-heated air close to the skin surface. These layers block heat loss from the body, creating a blanket that helps insulate numbats from cold. As temperatures drop or cold winds pick up, numbats effectively reduce heat loss by erecting their pelts. Altogether, numbat pelts strike a balance between regulating how much heat gets in and how much is allowed out.\n\nThe Potential\n\nThe insulating properties of piloerection offer ideas for designing movable hairlike systems, from microscopic to architectural, that can regulate heat in response to changing environmental conditions such as temperature, sunlight, winds, and humidity. These systems could be applied to fabrics, materials, and structures that efficiently capture heat and prevent heat loss and could lead to innovative fabrics or buildings that keep people safe and comfortable."}, {"Source": "mammalian cell's sodium channel", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "regulate fluid transport", "Function2": "generate currents", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/sodium-concentration-controls-fluid-transport/", "Strategy": "Sodium Concentration Controls Fluid Transport\n\nSodium channels in mammalian cells regulate fluid transport by cilia via changing fluid levels.\n\nCilia are tiny hair-like tufts on the surface of cells. They are found in many eukaryotes, from single-celled organisms to large animals. In humans they are found on the cells that line the airways, in the oviduct that carries the egg to the uterus, and in the ventricles (cavities) in the brain. Cilia beat in a coordinated rhythm in order to transport materials in one direction. In the airways, they clear contamination from the lungs with the help of mucus, in the oviduct they transport the egg, and in brain ventricles they generate currents in cerebrospinal fluid.\n\nBeating cilia have two distinct phases: a power stroke that moves liquid forward, and a return stroke that prepares them for the next power stroke. Cilia rely on the surrounding liquid to sweep particles along with the flow. Without the appropriate quantity or consistency of liquid, the cilia cannot generate currents. As a result, transport can be regulated by controlling the liquid. In the oviduct, for example, liquid is only present during ovulation.\n\nIn order to alter the quantity and consistency of the liquid bathing the cilia, water must pass through the membranes of the cells that line the tissue. Water passes passively through the cell membrane depending on the concentration of salts on each side. Salt transport is tightly controlled by the cell and these ions cannot easily pass through the membrane. Water will pass through a semi-permeable membrane like that of the cell until the concentration of salts is the same on each side. In this way, if there is a higher concentration of salt on one side, water will move towards that side until the concentrations are balanced. Cells take advantage of this to regulate the amount of liquid that is bathing cilia. By actively pumping sodium ions into the space, they draw water out of the cell and bathe the cilia, promoting their action and allowing transport. To switch off cilia, cells pump sodium ions back inside the cell, drawing the water out of the space and preventing their action."}, {"Source": "forest tree", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "transport water", "Function2": "exchange nutrient", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/mycorrhizal-fungi-distribute-water-between-plants/", "Strategy": "Mycorrhizal Fungi Distribute\nWater Between Plants\n\nMycorrhizal network sustains diversity in a forest by transporting nutrients and water.\n\nMycorrhizal fungi, or mycorrhizae, live inside or attached to plant roots. The two types of organisms help each other to survive; that is, they are symbiotic. Fungi help plants to uptake soil nutrients in exchange for sugars produced by the plants. In forests, mycorrhizae form long strands called hyphae that run between trees, acting as connectors.  This giant underground transportation network is called the “common mycorrhizal network” or CMN.  The CMN uses chemical communication to exchange nutrients between trees on an “as-needed” basis.  Besides nutrients, the CMN also helps trees get water that their own roots would not be able to reach.\n\nWhen deep soils are moist and shallow soils are dry, trees pull water upward through their tap roots, which are deep in the soil, up to the shallow roots. Evaporation through the leaves and from the soil surface act like a drinking straw, pulling water through the plant and soil.  Mycorrhizal fungi can grab that water coming up from the deep tap root of one tree, send it along the highways of the CMN, and deposit it in the roots of a distant tree. With the mycorrhizae’s help, trees with roots too shallow to suck up water from deep soil can still get the water they need.  Whether trees are stressed from drought or are just a tiny seedling competing for water in a forest of giant adults, mycorrhizae help them survive.  Mycorrhizae can move water between trees of the same species, and between trees of different species.  By creating cooperation between species, the invisible underground network shapes the community of forest trees that we see above ground.\n\nWe do not yet know exactly how this microscopic highway in the soil works to move water around.  We do know that the active area of the fungus is the rhizomorph.  This is a special structure where nutrient and water exchange between the fungus and its host plants happens.  Both fungi and plants have proteins called aquaporins in their cell membranes. Aquaporins act like gates to allow water in or out of the cell. If both the rhizomorph aquaporins and the plant cell’s aquaporins are open at the same time, water can move between them.  There remains many mysteries to be uncovered about how symbiotic fungi and plants interact to distribute water in a forest.\n\nClimate change is presenting us with challenges related to water, food, and nutrient availability.  Some places may have shortages, while others have excess. The relationship between forest trees and the fungi that help them share resources based on need might help us solve these problems."}, {"Source": "nepenthes pitcher plant and treeshrew", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "provide nutrients", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/relationship-provides-nutrients/", "Strategy": "Relationship Provides Nutrients\n\nNepenthes pitcher plants and treeshrews maintain a mutually beneficial relationship by exchanging nutrients.\n\nIn Borneo’s tropical forests, a large, carnivorous pitcher plant, Nepenthes rajah, and a small mammal called a treeshrew have a great relationship. The pitcher plant lures the treeshrew in for some delicious nectar. While there, the mammal marks its feeding spot by dropping nitrogen-rich feces into the pitcher.\n\nPitcher plants have special leaves that form a tall jug, called a pitcher. They are best known for luring insects, especially ants, to the rounded rims of their pitchers. The rim of the pitcher has a slippery surface that causes insects to lose their grip and fall inside. Juices then digest the insects to release nutrients. However, Nepenthes rajah lives in a nutrient-poor area in the mountains that doesn’t have a lot of insects. So attracting, but not eating, the treeshrew is a good solution for getting additional nitrogen. At the same time, the treeshrew also gets fed. Nitrogen is important for photosynthesis and it helps the plant build leaves, roots, and stems.\n\nNepenthes rajah doesn’t have slippery surfaces because it’s not going to eat the treeshrew. Instead it has a special trick to get treeshrews do what the plant needs. Over the top of the pitcher is a lid, kind of like a toilet bowl lid (watch video). The lid angles upward over the top of the pitcher, and the nectar is on the edge of the lid. The distance from the nectar to the front of the pitcher’s opening is the exact same length as the treeshrew. This forces the animal to straddle the rim as it licks the nectar off the lid, and its feces drop directly into the pitcher.\n\nThis plant-mammal story can teach us the importance of meeting our own needs while also helping other people. Because it’s good for both parties, the relationship is likely to continue."}, {"Source": "gall fly larva", "Application": "freezing human biological material", "Function1": "survive freezing", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/how-flies-survive-freezing/", "Strategy": "How Flies Survive Freezing\n\nSpecialized proteins in gall fly larvae create channels that push freezing water out of their cells and let natural anti-freeze flow into them.\n\nIntroduction\n\nIn fields and gardens around the world, the tips of goldenrods sparkle with tiny pops of yellow along many spindly branches. Over 100 species of these flowers exist, and most grow natively in North America. They’re late bloomers, ideal for sustaining late-season pollinators.\n\nBut they’re not just good for bees and butterflies. Throughout much of North America and especially in central regions, Goldenrod gall flies depend on some of these plants for their winter homes. In the spring, adult female gall flies lay eggs on newly sprouted stems. When an egg hatches, the larva chews its way into the stem. As a result, the stem develops a fat knot called a gall that becomes the larva’s shelter. It’s believed (though not known for sure), that the gall is a result of hormone-driven growth, stimulated by the larva’s saliva. The goldenrod, otherwise indifferent to its guest, continues to grow upward, eventually blooming and dying off in the fall. The larva stays enclosed within the gall throughout winter until warm temperatures stimulate it to transition to a pupa and then adult.\n\nIt might seem like wintering inside of a walnut-shaped abode would insulate the larva from the cold, but it doesn’t. Goldenrod gall fly larvae are “freeze-tolerant,” meaning they can freeze down to temperatures of -112°F (-80°C) during winter then thaw in the spring completely uninjured.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nIf you’ve ever left a glass bottle full of water in the freezer, you learned the hard way that water expands when it freezes. Living cells are essentially membranes filled with water, and most would rupture (and die) if frozen. So how do gall flies survive?\n\nThe answer depends on how water moves in and out of cells. Water can diffuse across cellular membranes, driven to find an equilibrium between what’s inside the cell and what’s outside. Or water can pass through a class of proteins called aquaporins that work like doorways. These long snake-like proteins—with five loops connecting six helices that cross cell membranes—open pores, through which water can flow.\n\nAll living organisms, including humans, have aquaporin proteins, but they only impart freeze-tolerance to certain species of insects, fish, reptiles, and amphibians. Scientists at Miami University proved that these proteins are critical to freeze protection; when they inhibited the proteins’ function, the gall fly tissue could no longer survive extreme cold. As a result, the researchers concluded these aquaporin channels push water from cells before it can freeze, expand, and rupture cell membranes, which would cause the cells to burst and die.\n\nIn a later study, the same researchers verified this pushing effect, demonstrating that the aquaporin channels in gall flies allow water to flow across the membrane nine times faster than it would by diffusion. Furthermore, the number of these specialized channels increases in larval cells as the temperature cools. When the scientists compared protein abundance in October to that in December, they found the colder weather added almost 40% more aquaporins throughout the insect’s body. Perhaps most importantly, they measured the highest quantity in the brain—the organ that needs the most freeze-protection to ensure survival.\n\nTo augment the insect’s freeze protection, a related group of proteins called aquaglyceroporins open channels for glycerol to enter cells. Glycerol is similar to glycol—the main component in car engine antifreeze—and both are alcohols. Unlike a bottle of water, a bottle of vodka in the freezer is fine because alcohols tend to have very low freezing points. So while the aquaporin channels pump out water to protect membranes from rupturing, aquaglyceroporin channels pump in more “anti-freeze” to slow the rate and reduce the extent of freezing.\n\nThe Potential \n\nMuch of science fiction assumes that humans will one day be frozen in pods to endure eons spent in intergalactic travel without aging. While this may or may not be possible in the distant future, there are ways to improve how we freeze human biological material that could actually save many lives right here on Earth.\n\nWith the exception of plasma, most of the components in donated blood cannot be frozen. Although red blood cells can be frozen for emergency use, thawing them is expensive and requires trained staff and specialized equipment."}, {"Source": "baby bird's fecal sac", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "ease clearance of waste", "Function2": "maintain a clean nest", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/fecal-sacs-help-keep-nests-clean/", "Strategy": "Fecal Sacs Help Keep Nests Clean\n\nFecal sacs produced by baby birds enable parents to maintain a clean nest by easing clearance of waste.\n\nBaby birds can stay in nests for many weeks before fledging (learning to fly). The Eastern bluebird takes 3 weeks to fledge, while larger birds like crows take 5 weeks. During that time, the nestlings are confined to a very small space that must be kept clean to prevent infection.\n\nBirds do not urinate and defecate separately, instead they excrete all their waste in one action. Nestlings of some species excrete over the side of the nest, however for others this can attract predators and put the offspring at risk. In order to enable the parents to remove the waste and dispose of it elsewhere, the nestlings of many bird species defecate into fecal sacs. These membranous sacs collect the waste in a tidy parcel that the adult can easily collect and carry away.\n\nThe nestlings of different species of birds use different methods to draw attention to the sacs so that the parents notice them. Some have specialized shivering or presenting behaviors, while others deposit the sacs on the rim of the nest."}, {"Source": "basking shark's mouth", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "keep the microbes from getting stuck", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/filters-prevent-clogging/", "Strategy": "How Fish Keep Their Food\nFilters From Clogging\n\nSwirl-inducing structures separate microscopic particles from water without clogging up.\n\nIntroduction\n\nA basking shark (Cetorhinus maximus) swims through ocean waters off the coast of Great Britain, holding its massive mouth wide open. Seawater—and millions of microscopic animals—flow into the gape, which is big enough to engulf a yoga ball. The water flows out through the gills on the sides of the giant fish’s mouth. But the zooplankton are not so lucky.\n\nBrushlike structures on the sides of the gills interrupt their travels, diverting the tiny creatures toward the big fish’s stomach instead. And, amazingly, they do so without getting all clogged up. A marvelous arrangement of rib-like structures and spaces in between helps keep the microbes from getting stuck in the filters by creating swirls that keep them in place until they can be swallowed.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nWhen a filter-feeding fish opens its mouth, microorganism-laden water flows in. Instead of moving directly through the gills, though, most of the water flows parallel to them. The gills’ main structure is a series of  hard, rib-like arches, which bear rows of smaller protruding spines called gill rakers. Together, these structures form a series of grooves with porous bottoms. The grooves are like alleys coming off the main path that water takes as it flows toward the back of the fish’s mouth. The water that interacts with the grooves gets redirected into them and exits the oral cavity through the porous gill rakers. If the main flow of the water were going directly through the gills, eventually the rakers would become clogged with particles. Since the mainstream flow is perpendicular to the gill alleys, it lifts and transports most of the filtered food particles toward the throat.\n\nEven this kind of crossflow filter can clog over time though. In some fish, like the basking shark and the paddlefish (Polyodon spathula), a second mechanism appears to prevent clogging further.\n\nIn these fish, each gill arch has a long protruding fin that creates especially deep grooves between them. As water flows across the edge of the gill arch, some of it is pulled down into the groove where it swirls up and is trapped by the flow above it. This vortex stays within the groove and helps prevent clogging by continuously forcing food particles to gather at the corners of the groove or stay suspended in the swirling water. This keeps particles out of the way of the gill raker filter where water exits. Additional structures, like the gill cover and muscle bands associated with the gills, appear to enable the fish to slightly modify the path of the vortex and capture food that collects in the grooves."}, {"Source": "eagle's beak", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "hold squirming prey", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/beak-holds-squirming-prey/", "Strategy": "Beak Holds Squirming Prey\n\nThe strong, hooked beaks of eagles hold squirming prey thanks to the sharp, pointed tip.\n\n“The beaks of birds of prey, such as eagles, are almost always very strong and hooked, with a sharp pointed tip for holding wriggling prey."}, {"Source": "marine viruses", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "enhance photosynthesis", "Function2": "increase cyanophage fitness", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/gene-transfers-enhance-photosynthesis/", "Strategy": "Gene Transfers Enhance Photosynthesis\n\nMarine viruses (called cyanophages) that infect cyanobacteria enhance photosynthesis in their hosts by displacing host photosynthesis genes with viral-encoded homologues.\n\n“Cyanophages are double-stranded DNA viruses belonging to three morphologically defined families: Podoviridae, Myoviridae, and Siphoviridae [3–5,9,10]. Among the cyanophages, podoviruses and siphoviruses tend to be very host-specific, whereas myoviruses generally have a broader host range, even across genera [5], and thus are potential vectors for horizontal gene transfer via transduction. The movement of genes between organisms is an important mechanism in evolution. As agents of gene transfer, phages play a role in host evolution by supplying the host with new genetic material [11–15] and by displacing ‘host’ genes with viral-encoded homologues [16–18]…Because maximal cyanophage production is dependent on photosynthesis [31,33], and the host PsbA protein turns over rapidly [34] and declines during infection [31], expression of these phage-encoded genes likely enhances photosynthesis during infection, thus increasing cyanophage fitness.”"}, {"Source": "tree leaves", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "take in pollutants", "Function2": "break down pollutants", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/leaves-remove-pollution/", "Strategy": "Leaves Remove Pollution\n\nTree leaves take in pollutants from the atmosphere and use enzymes to break them down.\n\nWhen we drive our cars we burn gasoline this  produces air pollution such as volatile organic compounds, or VOC’s.  In the atmosphere, VOC’s combine with oxygen to form oVOC’s. oVOC’s can cause damage in many ways. For example, they can turn into aerosols. These tiny particles can affect how sunlight gets through the atmosphere, which negatively impacts the climate.  Aerosols can also cause serious respiratory problems such as asthma and emphysema when people breathe them in. Some oVOC’s combine with other chemicals in the air to create different pollutants, such as ozone. When ozone is in the air at ground level, it can be a harmful toxin. Luckily, though, tree leaves are able to take up oVOC’s from the atmosphere and break them down so they are less harmful.\n\nTrees control how gases enter their leaves by opening and closing pores on the underside of their leaves, called stomata.  After trees take up an oVOC, they quickly start producing an enzyme that breaks down the pollutant so that it can be useful, and not toxic, for the plant. It turns out that if ozone is also present, trees will uptake and break down even more oVOC’s. This means that as the harmful oVOC’s and other pollutants in the atmosphere increase, trees respond by producing more enzymes to remove them even faster. However, there is a limit to how much the trees can keep pace, and at some point trees reach their maximum uptake.\n\nUsing this system, trees can turn harmful chemicals into useful ones. The toxins do not build up in the plant because the plant produces more enzymes as pollution levels rise, and the enzymes are produced only when they are needed."}, {"Source": "bacteria's special molecules", "Application": "cleaning up oil spills", "Function1": "digest oil", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/special-molecules-enable-bacteria-to-break-down-oil/", "Strategy": "Special Molecules Enable\nBacteria to Break Down Oil\n\nUnique molecules from bacteria help them digest petroleum, vegetable oil, and coal.\n\nBacteria come from some of the planet’s most ancient forms of life. Often, bacteria have impressive abilities that are rare in other creatures. Some bacteria, for instance, can actually eat fossil fuels, like petroleum (used to make gasoline) or coal. This ability enables bacteria to survive in places that many other species can’t.\n\nLike all species, including humans, bacteria need water to help them break down or digest food. But bacteria can also break down fossil fuels, which are oils, and oil and water don’t mix together. So how do these bacteria manage to use water to help them digest oils anyway?\n\nNormally, water molecules like to stick together, which results in oil being pushed out, keeping the two liquids separated. This happens because the structure of a water molecule gives it a negative charge on one side and a positive charge on the other. (This is what is known as a “polar” molecule.) That means one water molecule’s positive end likes to stick to the neighboring molecule’s negative end, making water cling together like a pack of weak magnets. As a result, oil (a non-polar molecule) gets pushed out and stays separated from water.\n\nSome bacteria make special molecules called surfactants that help them pry water molecules apart, so that water can mix more easily with other substances. These special molecules have one end that is attracted to water (also known as hydrophilic, or “water-loving”) and one end that is repelled by water (hydrophobic, or “water-fearing”). So, while one end of a surfactant molecule attaches to a water molecule, the other end of the surfactant pushes other water molecules away. The result is that water no longer sticks together as well. This enables other substances like oil to fill in the spaces and come in closer contact with water. Two liquids which previously didn’t mix all of a sudden can mix together. Once mixed together in water, bacteria can begin to digest or break down the oil  into simpler molecules and atoms, like hydrogen and carbon (the component parts of oils).\n\nThe actinobacteria are a large class of bacteria that includes 54 known families. They are able to make many different kinds of surfactants. Actinobacteria produce surfactant molecules having different shapes, sizes, and chemical behaviors. All of these different qualities make these surfactants behave slightly differently and enable the actinobacteria to digest many different oil-based food sources. Molecular methods of changing how oil is distributed can help people clean up wildlife and the environment in the case of oil spills. Bacterial surfactants were used to help clean up the Exxon Valdez oil spill, for example, and have been shown to clean shorelines contaminated with spilled oil. These surfactants are not only effective at breaking down oil, but are also biodegradable themselves, becoming a harmless part of the environment after use."}, {"Source": "termite's hindgut", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "fix atmospheric nitrogen", "Function2": "nitrogenase enzyme", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/nitrogen-fixed-for-termites/", "Strategy": "Nitrogen Fixed for Termites\n\nSpirochete bacteria found in the hindgut of termites fix atmospheric nitrogen for termite nutrition via nitrogenase enzymes.\n\n“Our results reveal a new dimension to the metabolic diversity within the Spirochaetes and now extend to 6 (of 18) the number of phyla within the domain Bacteria that contain N2-fixing representatives (11, 25). They also reveal a role for spirochetes in termite nitrogen nutrition. Two observations suggest that N2 fixation by spirochetes is important to termite nitrogen economy. First, spirochetes are unusually abundant in termite guts, accounting for as much as 50% of all prokaryotes (26). Second, many of the spirochete NifHs characterized in this study were identical or nearly identical to NifH clones obtained from a variety of termites, including NiMs known to be expressed in termite guts (Fig. 2), suggesting a spirochete origin for the latter…Our results also reveal a heretofore unrecognized role for free-living spirochetes in global N cycling.”"}, {"Source": "ice plant's leaves", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "store water", "Function2": "retain water", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/surface-cells-store-water/", "Strategy": "Surface Cells Store Water\n\nThe leaves of ice plants store water in surface bladder-like cells.\n\nThe ice plant, which is native to southern and eastern Africa, is named for the small, transparent bladders that cover its leaves and make the plant look like it’s covered with frozen dew. These bladders are called epidermal bladder cells; they are modified versions of hair-like structures that cover the surfaces of many plants. Epidermal bladder cells act as numerous small reservoirs that are especially helpful during times of drought and high salinity. They retain water and also sequester excess salt to keep it away from tissues that are more sensitive to high salinity."}, {"Source": "bushbaby's legs", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "store elastic energy", "Function2": "spring forward", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/tendons-store-energy/", "Strategy": "Tendons Store Energy\n\nThe legs of the bushbaby allow it to jump twelve times its body length by storing energy in tendons.\n\nThese agile creatures can leap swiftly between the branches of trees in woodland and savannah regions of Africa south of the Sahara and on nearby islands. They are small (18 cm/7 in.) primates with thick, wooly fur and large eyes. One remarkable feature of the bushbaby is that it can jump up to 2.25 m (7 ft.), which is 12 times its body length! The bushbaby accomplishes this feat with the help of extremely strong, stretchy tendons in its back legs. When a bushbaby prepares to leap, it uses muscles to stretch those tendons and store elastic energy in them. Then when the bushbaby jumps, those tendons release their stored energy like catapults to help the animal spring forward. A long tail helps give the bushbaby control during the leap."}, {"Source": "desert welwitschia's long leaves", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "collect water", "Function2": "absorb water", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/leaves-channel-dew-as-water-source/", "Strategy": "Leaves Channel Dew As Water Source\n\nThe long leaves of desert Welwitschia capture water by collecting dew and channeling it into the ground where a large tap root can absorb it.\n\n“Further inland, one of the oddest of all plants manages to survive largely on dew. Welwitschia is related to the conifers and the cycads and consists of just two long strap-like leaves that sprout from a central swollen trunk only a few inches high. The leaves grow continuously from their base and become very long indeed. They would doubtless be even longer were it not for the desert winds which, blowing them back and forth, frays the ends into tatters. Even as it is, these leaves may be twenty yards long and lie curled in untidy heaps around the stunted trunk. They collect droplets of dew and channel them down runnels into the ground where the water is absorbed and stored in an immense conical tap root.”"}, {"Source": "orchid's aerial roots", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "absorb water", "Function2": "absorb nutrient", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/aerial-roots-rapidly-absorb-water-and-nutrients/", "Strategy": "Aerial Roots Rapidly\nAbsorb Water and Nutrients\n\nAerial roots on orchids rapidly absorb water and nutrients\n\nOrchids are a diverse family of plants that includes species adapted to life high above the ground in humid rainforests. These orchids are epiphytes that grow on other plants. To collect water, some epiphytic orchids dangle their roots in the air and absorb moisture directly from the atmosphere, from rain, and from water that drips off vegetation above it. Others spread their roots over the surfaces of tree branches and collect water as it trickles over the tree’s surfaces."}, {"Source": "bladderwort's capsule", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "trap small prey", "Function2": "absorb water", "Function3": "create a partial vacuum", "Function4": "resettable valve mechanism", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/buckling-valve-sucks-in-prey/", "Strategy": "Buckling Valve Sucks in Prey\n\nTiny transparent capsules found on bladderworts trap small prey via a resettable, vacuum-driven valve mechanism.\n\n“Bladderworts also thrive here [on the Roraima tepui]. They are water plants found in wetlands in many parts of the world, including Britain, and they are so successful in trapping animals that they do not grow roots of any kind. Their traps, the bladders from which they get their name, are tiny transparent capsules. Glands on the inner surface of these are able to absorb water, and in doing so create a partial vacuum within. Each has a tiny door fringed with sensitive bristles. If a small water creature, such as a mosquito larva, touches one of these, the bristle acts as a lever, slightly distorting the edge of the door so that it no longer fits tightly on the rim. Water rushes in, sweeping the door inwards and with it, the little organism that touched the hair. The swirl of water within the capsule pushes the door back again and the prey is imprisoned. The whole action is completed within a fraction of a second. Once again, the glands start to suck out the water. Another set secretes digestive acids and the captive is killed, dissolved and consumed. The bladderwort has fed. Within two hours, the bladder’s partial vacuum has been restored and the trap is reset.”"}, {"Source": "wild petunia's seed capsule", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "spring seed capsule", "Function2": "release seed", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/lower-water-content-releases-seeds/", "Strategy": "Lower Water Content Releases Seeds\n\nThe seed capsules of some wild petunias spring open explosively when they reach a certain degree of dryness.\n\n“Some seed capsules have a particularly neat way of achieving motility by varying water content. Witztum and Schulgasser (1995) showed that the two halves of the capsule (as in fig. 22.1) store energy as they dry; at a certain dryness (or, in some, when the top of the capsule is wetted) the seam joining them gives way suddenly. The capsule halves spring outward, which not only releases the seeds within, but expels them explosively at speeds up to 12 meters per second (27 miles per hour); they travel up to about 3 meters. The springing mechanism, as they point out, matches that of the bimetallic strips we use for thermometers and thermostats–differential expansion of longitudinally joined layers produces the stress that springing relieves.”"}, {"Source": "northern elephant seal's nasal turbinates", "Application": "water and heat recapturing systems", "Function1": "reduce water loss", "Function2": "reduce water loss", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/nasal-turbinates-reduce-water-loss/", "Strategy": "Nasal Turbinates Reduce Water Loss\n\nThe nasal turbinates of the northern elephant seal reduce water loss via countercurrent heat exchange.\n\nDuring the breeding season northern elephant seal males go without food and water for three months and weaned pups may fast for 2-3 months. Their only source of water is that produced by metabolizing their fat stores. Therefore, like animals in arid environments, they must conserve water by minimizing water loss.\n\nRespiration can be a significant cause of water loss. Species like the elephant seal, penguin, reindeer, camel, kangaroo rat have a particularly effective so-called temporal counter-current exchange mechanism in their nasal passages that minimizes the amount of water lost from the respiratory system. The nasal turbinates are important structural and functional components of this mechanism. This is a series of boney, shelf-like structures in the nasal passageway covered with a well-vascularized layer of moist tissue and mucus. Inhaled air passing over this surface is warmed and moistened, and the surfaces cool due to evaporation. When the animal exhales, warm, water-saturated air from the lungs passes across the cooled nasal turbinate surfaces and water condenses out of it, staying within the nasal passages rather than being lost to the outside air. Those species with the highest percentage respiratory water recovery (e.g., 92% in the elephant seal compared to 24% in the sheep), have the most complex nasal turbinate structure. The key features of the more elaborate nasal turbinates are their very large surface area and the short distance from that surface to the middle of the airstream.\n\nDesigns of nasal turbinates in marine mammals like the elephant seal may offer inspiration for the design of more effective human-constructed water and heat recapturing systems."}, {"Source": "plant's pigment molecule", "Application": "solar cells", "Function1": "absorb solar energy", "Function2": "transfer solar energy", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/pigment-molecules-absorb-and-transfer-solar-energy/", "Strategy": "Pigment Molecules Absorb\nand Transfer Solar Energy\n\nPigment molecules in plants absorb and transfer solar energy using a special arrangement that funnels light toward a reaction center.\n\nThe process of photosynthesis in plants involves a series of steps and reactions that use solar energy, water, and carbon dioxide to produce organic compounds. One of the first steps in this complex process depends on chlorophyll and other pigment molecules.\n\nChlorophyll is the green pigment molecule that makes plants appear green. In photosynthetic plant cells, chlorophyll molecules are embedded in stacked membranes (thylakoids) contained in special membrane-bound organelles called chloroplasts. The chlorophyll molecules are arranged in discrete units called photosystems, each of which contains hundreds of pigment molecules (chlorophyll plus others) arranged into an “antenna complex” surrounding a reaction center.\n\nWhen light hits a pigment molecule in the antenna complex, the light energy “excites” the molecule, causing its electrons to jump to a higher level of energy. This excited state is temporary, and when the electrons fall back to a lower energy level, energy is released. This released energy can be transferred to a neighboring pigment molecule and so on, creating a chain of excited pigment molecules that ultimately deliver the energy to the photosystem’s reaction center. The reaction center contains special chlorophyll molecules that have a specific response to absorbing energy: rather than transferring only energy, the chlorophyll’s resulting high-energy electrons are transferred themselves to an electron-acceptor molecule, which begins the flow of electrons that plays a key role in the rest of photosynthesis.\n\nDye-sensitized solar cells are an example of a plant-inspired technology, where light sensitive dye molecules (commonly containing the metal ruthenium, but organic dyes are being developed, as well) are used to absorb and transfer solar energy. Dye-sensitized solar cells are alternatives to more expensive silicon-based solar cells."}, {"Source": "fish-pole bamboo's leaf", "Application": "water repellency", "Function1": "channel excess water", "Function2": "prevent water block stomata", "Function3": "make leaves self-cleaning", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/young-leaves-channel-water/", "Strategy": "Young Leaves Channel Water\n\nYoung leaves of bamboo channel excess water using a combination of hydrophobic and hydrophilic surfaces.\n\nIntroduction\n\nPlants need carbon dioxide to carry out photosynthesis, and they take it in through pores in their leaves called stomata. When it rains, water can collect on leaves and block stomata, stalling photosynthesis. In order to prevent this, most plants have a waxy coating that ensures water runs off their leaves quickly. In shady and humid places such as those where bamboo most commonly grows, water condenses easily, and simple waxy surfaces might not be enough to protect them.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nThe young leaves of the fish-pole bamboo, Phyllostachys aurea, have strongly hydrophobic margins that cause water to form beads that roll easily across their surfaces. This “super-hydrophobicity” comes from epicuticular wax, which repels water chemically. The wax forms into countless needle-like plates that trap air between the surface of the leaf and the water droplet and minimize the contact area between the water and the surface, increasing repellency and preventing the drop from spreading. The mechanism is very similar to that used by the sacred lotus and, like the lotus, it makes the leaves self-cleaning, as rolling water droplets pick up and remove contaminating particles.\n\nThe bamboo leaves are particularly effective at directing water away because they have a central channel that is hydrophilic. The wax that coats the leaf surfaces in the channel is flat and has a slightly different chemical composition that makes water spread across the surface instead of forming beads. The concave shape of the leaf guides droplets from the margin to the central channel, where they collect and form a continuous flow down the leaf to its tip, where water drips harmlessly away.\n\nThe Potential\n\nTexture-based approaches to water repellency (i.e., Lotus Effect) are highly promising, but may not be as effective for applications in particularly humid conditions. The fish-pole bamboo’s strategy for hydrophobicity adds an additional dimension to texture-based water repellency that could prove helpful in the wettest environments.\n\nApplications include replacing chemical approaches and improving texture-based approaches to liquid repellency on clothing, upholstery, vehicles, buildings, solar panels, the inside of bottles, and other technological surfaces where repellency and dryness are valuable."}, {"Source": "yeti crab's fiber-covered claws", "Application": "sustainable agriculture", "Function1": "produce food", "Function2": "convert methane to food", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/fibers-promote-growth-of-edible-bacteria/", "Strategy": "Fibers Promote Growth of Edible Bacteria\n\nThe yeti crab uses its fiber-covered claws to farm methane-fixing bacteria for food.\n\nIntroduction\n\nHarnessing the power of the sun to produce energy is at the root of most food chains on Earth. Through photosynthesis, plants combine light energy with water and carbon dioxide and convert it to sugars and oxygen, creating the lush, green world around us. But in the deep sea, far from the sunshine at the surface, organisms have evolved to rely on different sources of energy.\n\nTwo of these sources, hydrothermal vents and cold seeps, have been found to support communities of creatures that are found nowhere else on Earth. One of these, the appropriately named yeti crab (Kiwa puravida), with its large, furry-looking claws, appears to farm the bacteria that it feeds on in a clever example of symbiosis.\n\nWith their claws waving rhythmically through methane seeps,yeti crabs cultivate a home grown source of food for themselves.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nCold seeps occur where gases diffuse through shallow openings in the shifting seafloor. One of these gases is methane, which some bacteria can harness to produce food through chemosynthesis.\n\nUsing a deep sea submersible, scientists discovered the yeti crab at a methane seep off the coast of Costa Rica. They watched as the crabs waved their claws back and forth over the methane seep, and seemed to push away, rather than prey on, small shrimp around them. Intrigued, the researchers collected a few crabs and brought them back to the lab to investigate further.\n\nBy examining stomach contents and chemicals in their tissue, the researchers confirmed that the crabs feed primarily on these bacteria, though they may also supplement this diet with other organisms swept from the seafloor.\n\nUsing behavioral and physical adaptations, the crabs facilitate the growth and harvesting of these bacteria. Specialized hairs, called setae, are found along the bodies of crabs, taking various forms depending on their specific location. Unlike with other crab species, the claws of yeti crabs are densely covered in specialized bristle-like setae. These provide a base for the methane-fixing bacteria to grow on. The claw-waving action appears to help the bacteria grow by increasing access to nutrients from the methane seep and oxygen in the water column. The crabs can then scrape the bacteria off their claws using other more comb-like setae near their mouths.\n\nAt five times actual speed, the motions of the yeti crabharvesting bacteria become more instantly recognizable.\n\nThe Potential\n\nThe yeti crab’s adaptation to a harsh and resource-limited environment offers a model for sustainable human systems. With behavioral and physical adaptations, the crab is able to harness a plentiful resource to produce food, creating abundance in a landscape otherwise void of the nutrients needed to support life.\n\nMethane gas doesn’t just occur naturally at deep sea vents––it is also a common by-product of human activities, including landfill creation and livestock farming. Once released into the atmosphere, it acts as a potent greenhouse gas 84 times stronger than carbon dioxide. This is why most of the methane produced at human-made facilities is burned, or “flared,” which converts it to carbon dioxide, although it is sometimes captured and used to generate electricity.\n\nHarnessing this methane gas has the potential to use a waste by-product for sustainable agriculture. Research is already underway in this field, with efforts to produce high-protein food by drying methane-fixing bacteria to produce feed pellets. These pellets could then be fed to livestock or farmed fish, with a greatly reduced water and land footprint compared to more conventional sources of feed like soy or wheat.\n\nThe key to the sustainability of this method is to use methane that is being released from other human sources, which focuses on reducing waste at the source. With its clever adaptations, the yeti crab could provide clues for more effective ways to harness an under-utilized resource to help address pressing issues of food security, land use change, and water scarcity around the world."}, {"Source": "mangrove leaf", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "regulate salt concentration", "Function2": "accumulate excess salt", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/leaves-accumulate-excess-salt/", "Strategy": "Leaves Accumulate Excess Salt\n\nThe leaves of some mangroves regulate salt concentrations by accumulating excess salt in special compartments within their cells.\n\nMangroves are small shrubs or trees that grow in the presence of salt water along coastlines. Constant exposure to salt water can lead to an imbalance of ions within the plant’s cells, which can have toxic effects on enzymes or interfere with water absorption. To address this, the cells control their internal environment by keeping sodium, potassium, and chloride ions at a stable concentration. Mangroves can survive in especially salty environmental conditions using various strategies that regulate how much salt ends up in their tissues. For example, certain species exclude salt by preventing salt from entering the roots, some excrete excess salt through glands in their leaves, while others accumulate ions in special compartments in their leaves.\n\nIon sequestration is one mechanism used to relieve the negative effects of salt stress.  Mangroves reduce the amount of sodium ions, for example, in the cell’s main compartment by moving excess sodium into a special membrane-enclosed compartment called a vacuole. By sequestering excess ions into vacuoles, the cell’s main compartment maintains a balanced concentration of ions.\n\nThese ions are transported into the vacuole with special proteins embedded in the vacuole membrane, such as proton (hydrogen ion) pumps and sodium-hydrogen antiporters. These membrane proteins work together to build a high concentration of sodium ions in the vacuole. Because the ions are moving from an area of low concentration to a high concentration (against its concentration gradient), this requires energy. First, proton pumps use the energy-rich molecule, ATP, to move protons into the vacuole and establish a proton gradient. This proton gradient functions as stored energy. With the help of the sodium-hydrogen antiporters, the protons flow down their concentration gradient out of the vacuole and into the cell’s main compartment. This releases the stored energy, which is then used to transport sodium ions into the vacuole. The sodium ion concentration in the vacuole builds and the ions remain there until the leaf matures and falls."}, {"Source": "forest tree", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "transport water and nutrient", "Function2": "share sugar", "Function3": "send chemical signal", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/fungal-network-distributes-resources/", "Strategy": "Underground Network Distributes Resources\n\nMycorrhizal network sustains diversity in a forest by transporting nutrients and water.\n\nIntroduction\n\nIn a Douglas-fir and pine forest in North America there are trees of all ages, ranging from tiny seedlings to giants that are hundreds of years old. Hidden in the soil is a vast network made up of millions of miles of thin threads called mycelium. Most of the mycelium spread throughout this forest are mycorrhizal fungi. These are fungi that live in a mutualistic partnership with trees and other plants.\n\nThe mycelium acts like an internet network but instead of moving electronic information around, they transport water and chemicals to keep the trees alive and communicating with each other. This network has been called the “Wood Wide Web”.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nOn the internet, nodes are individual computers and the network moves information among them. Hubs are places that connect lots of nodes together and have a lot of information traveling through them, such as Google. The nodes of the Wood Wide Web are all the individual trees in the forest. The oldest trees, which are often also the tallest and largest, are the ‘hubs’ because they have the most connections running through them.\n\nMycelia form the connections between all the nodes in the Wood Wide Web. The mycelia wrap around the fine roots of the hub tree and other vegetation, snuggling so close that water, nutrients, and other chemicals can move between the cells of the roots and fungi. A hub tree has more access to sunlight than smaller trees because of its size. Sometimes that results in it producing too much sugar through photosynthesis. When this happens, it sends the sugar out through the mycelium network to be used by its own seedlings and even other species of trees. The fungi take some of the sugar as it passes between trees and use it for themselves.\n\nWater is also shared among the fungi and plants in the network. The water and nutrients increase seedling growth and help other trees survive. At another time, if the hub tree is stressed and needs water or nutrients, the mycelium and other trees can send them back to the hub tree.\n\nBut this isn’t just about one hub tree. It’s about a hub tree connected to a seedling connected to a sapling, connected to another hub tree, and so on. Researchers at a study site in Canada discovered that one tree was connected to 47 others through this network. Sixty percent of the tree species in the world are associated with these mycorrhizal fungi. Most trees form symbioses with a wide variety of fungal species (there are more than 5000 of them) and each species of fungus can have relationships with a wide variety of trees.\n\nBesides sharing nutrients and water, the network also sends warnings. If a tree is attacked by a bark beetle, it sends out a chemical signal, called a defense signal. The mycelium passes this signal along to other nearby trees. When they get the signal, they reinforce their chemical defenses, which makes it easier for them to fight off an attack when it comes.\n \n"}, {"Source": "pitcher plant's internal walls", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "prevent insects from escaping", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/walls-keep-insect-feet-from-sticking/", "Strategy": "Walls Keep Insect Feet From Sticking\n\nThe internal walls of pitcher plants prevent insects from escaping by clogging their feet with a flaky, waxy substance and being rough.\n\n“The plant lures animals, from insects to amphibians to rats and even birds, into a modified leaf that forms a bowl. It does this by a combination of color, nectar, and scent.”"}, {"Source": "jack pine's roots", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "share resources", "Function2": "create a stronger, more resilient overall system", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/root-grafting-enhances-growth/", "Strategy": "Root Grafting Enhances Growth\n\nRoots of jack pines distribute limited resources by forming underground connections between trees.\n\nIntroduction\n\nAbove the surface, jack pines (Pinus banksiana) in a stand seem to be independent individuals. A look beneath the soil, however, reveals a different story.\n\nA hardy tree found in the northern U.S. and Canada, jack pine thrives on sandy and thin soil and is often among the first tree species to come back after a fire. It commonly grows in stands, sometimes interspersed with other tree species such as black spruce. But it’s the connections they make with others of their own species that give them an advantage when facing such harsh environments.\n\nOnce a graft forms, trees can share resources through the connected roots, often among multiple individuals connected by the unseen web beneath the soil.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nWhen one jack pine tree’s roots run into the roots of another, they may press into each other. The roots begin to add cells along the pressure points until the bark between them breaks through.\n\nAs the tissues from the two plants contact each other directly, the individual cells start to stick together. The surrounding tissue deposits sugar molecules, creating an even stronger bond. New cells develop and eventually form xylem and phloem, the woody vessels that carry food, nutrients and water.\n\nThe result is a shared root structure that often contains root material from both trees. Once a graft forms, trees can share resources through the connected roots, often among multiple individuals connected by the unseen web beneath the soil.\n\nAlthough grafts initially reduce individual tree growth, in the long run they appear to benefit the stand as a whole. The shared roots allow trees growing in more favorable conditions within the stand to give weaker, disadvantaged trees a boost. They allow stumps to stay alive, helping to crowd out potentially competing tree species. And because up to 70% of the stand may form grafts, they provide added stability against strong winds.\n\nThe Potential\n\nMaking deep connections between individuals facing different challenges can allow for the effective flow of resources and information in human and technological settings as well as in underground root systems. This strategy of creating a “sharing economy” offers valuable insights into how, even if they initially come at a cost, collaborations can create a stronger, more resilient overall system to the ultimate benefit of both contributors and recipients."}, {"Source": "venus flytrap's stretched leaves", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "send electrical signal", "Function2": "digest prey", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/leaves-rapidly-snap-shut/", "Strategy": "Leaves Rapidly Snap Shut\n\nThe leaves of the Venus flytrap snap shut and trap prey within milliseconds by turning physical signals into electrical signals.\n\nCarnivorous plants, such as the Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula), rely on nutrients from small prey animals when growing in nutrient-poor soil. When an unsuspecting prey brushes up against two touch-sensitive hairs on the inside of the trap-shaped leaves, the trap snaps shut, ensnaring the prey for later digestion.\n\nThe touch-sensitive hairs, known as trigger hairs, signal trap closure using sodium-activated action potentials (APs). An action potential is a way for cells to send information to one another in the form of an electrical signal. It occurs when positively charged ions, such as sodium, enter a cell and cause the electrical environment of the cell membrane to change until it reaches a certain threshold. After it reaches this threshold the cell “fires,” sending the electrical signal to another cell to activate a response.\n\nIn the case of the Venus flytrap, the two trigger hairs send a signal to the leaves to snap shut. Physical stimulation of one hair releases sodium ions into the hair cell, triggering the first action potential. Stimulating a second hair will release more sodium ions, triggering a second AP.  Once two APs are elicited within 15-20 seconds of each other, these electrical signals stimulate motor cells in the leaves to snap the trap shut. This signal is incredibly fast, and the trap snaps shut within 100 ms of the triggering of the second hair.\n\nOnce the prey is captured it struggles to escape, continuously brushing more trigger hairs that fire more action potentials. These signals are sent to glands that line the leaves, which release enzymes to digest the prey.  The prey is loaded with essential nutrients, including sodium, and its digestion provides a source of new sodium ions to trigger the next action potential to capture the plant’s next victim."}, {"Source": "cribellate spider's silk", "Application": "water-harvesting devices", "Function1": "collect water from air", "Function2": "transport water", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/web-continuously-collects-water-from-air/", "Strategy": "Web Continuously Collects Water From Air\n\nThe structure of special silk from cribellate spiders continuously pulls and transports water from the air.\n\nAs air temperatures drop, water vapor in the air collects on certain surfaces, such as grass and spider webs. Not all materials do this, for example human hair absorbs water rather than letting it collect on the surface.\n\nThe webs of certain spiders, such as cribellate spiders, are particularly good at collecting water from the air. Cribellate spiders use a comb-like structure on their legs to puff up their silk into a ball-like tangle. They then weave webs that alternate these tangles with straight, smooth, thin sections of silk (threads), making a sort of beaded necklace structure that alternates the tangles separated by threads.\n\nWater vapor condenses on all parts of the web, but it doesn’t stay equally spread throughout. Instead, once it condenses the water quickly starts to move, migrating from the thin threads towards the tangles. This happens because the tangled parts of the web have more area for the water to stick to, which ends up pulling the water from the threads, which are thinner and have less area for water to stick to. The curved shape of the tangles also helps channel water. The result is that water collects and gets stored in the tangles, creating larger and larger water drops. This movement of the water also creates new, exposed, relatively dry silk along the threads again, to which more water vapor from the air collects, in a continuous process.\n\nThe result is that these spider web structures can capture, transport, and store a large amount of water from the air. These structures, and how they work, could provide inspiration for creating new water-harvesting devices, especially in areas with low rainfall."}, {"Source": "above-ground macrotermite mound", "Application": "energy-saving climate control systems", "Function1": "facilitate gas exchange", "Function2": "maintain internal temperature", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/mound-facilitates-gas-exchange/", "Strategy": "Mound Facilitates Gas Exchange\n\nThe structure of above‑ground macrotermite mounds facilitates gas exchange in the below‑ground nest using internal air currents driven by solar heat.\n\nIntroduction \n\nMound-building macrotermites construct vertical mounds out of soil, saliva, and dung, with some mounds in Africa measuring up to several meters high. The mounds generally resemble chimneys, but different species ventilate their mounds in different ways. Some species may create ‘open’ mounds with chimneys or vent holes, while others build ‘closed’ mounds that lack large openings but have porous walls. Inside both of these mounds, worker termites can dig a complex array of tunnels of various sizes. The termites themselves live in nests below ground in colonies that can contain up to a million individuals.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nThe most recent published research on termite mounds suggests that they function much like mammalian lungs and act as accessory organs for gas exchange in the underground nests. It was previously thought that termite mounds functioned to continuously maintain the nest’s internal temperature within a narrow range in the face of extreme outside temperature fluctuations, but research on mound-building termites like Macrotermes michaelseni, which construct closed mounds, is expanding our understanding of how these mounds function. During the day, changes in internal nest temperature are less extreme than changes in outside temperature, but over the course of a year, nest temperature does vary and closely follows the temperature of the surrounding soil. The soil has a large thermal capacity, meaning it can absorb or lose large amounts of heat energy before experiencing any changes in temperature. In a way, the soil around the termite nest acts as a “buffer” against daily changes in outside temperature.\n\nResearchers are actively studying mounds to understand precisely how mound structure facilitates gas exchange in the underground colony. It appears that the main mechanism is through internal air currents driven by solar heat. As outside temperatures change throughout the day and the sun strikes different surfaces on the mound, temperature gradients develop between the mound periphery and center. These temperature gradients create currents of rising and falling air inside the mound. The direction of these currents varies as temperature gradients change throughout the day. Wind energy from unsteady airflows outside the mound may also play a secondary role in ventilation. The internal airflows likely promote mixing between air in the mound and air in the nest, ultimately facilitating gas exchange in the nest.\n\nThe Potential In the United States, homes and buildings account for about 40% of our total electricity consumption, and about one-third of that is from heating and ventilation systems. The growing understanding of macrotermite mound structure and function could inspire energy-saving climate control systems, which could substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions.\n"}, {"Source": "giant water lily's leaf", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "optimize photosynthesis", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/leaves-optimize-photosynthesis/", "Strategy": "Leaves Optimize Photosynthesis\n\nThe leaf of a giant water lily optimizes photosynthesis due to its structure and extreme surface area.\n\n“In still or slowly-moving waters there is one easy way to collect [light]: a plant can float its leaves upon the surface. No plant does this on a more spectacular scale or more aggressively than the giant Amazon water-lily. A leaf first appears on the surface as a huge fat bud, studded with spines. Within a few hours, it bursts open and starts to spread. Its margin has an up-turned rim, six inches high, so that as it expands it is able to shoulder aside any other floating leaf that gets in its way. Beneath, it is strengthened with girder-like ribs which make the whole structure rigid. They also contain air-spaces within them that keep it afloat. Expanding at the rate of half a square yard in a single day, the leaf grows until it is six feet across. The underside of the leaf is a rich purple colour and armoured with abundant sharp spikes, perhaps as a defence against leaf-eating fish. One plant can produce forty or fifty of such leaves in a single growing season and monopolise the surface so effectively that few plants of other kinds can grow alongside or below it…In 1847, viable seeds did arrive at Kew and there the gardeners managed to get them to germinate. One of the seedlings was sent to Joseph Paxton who was in charge of the Duke of Devonshire’s splendid gardens at Chatsworth…Paxton was not only a gardener of great skill but an architect of near-genius. He built one of the first big glass-houses. When he came to design the cast-iron supports for his hitherto unprecedented expanse of glass, he remembered the ribs and struts of his giant water-lily that supported the gigantic leaves and used them as the basis of his designs not only for the glass-houses at Chatsworth but also, a few years later, for his architectural masterpiece, the Crystal Palace in London.” "}, {"Source": "blue whale's baleen", "Application": "baleen-like screens", "Function1": "filter food", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/baleen-plates-filter-food/", "Strategy": "Feathered “Teeth” Filter Food\n\nWhales use sheets of feathered keratin to separate food from water before they swallow.\n\nIntroduction\n\nThe blue whale is the largest animal ever known to inhabit Earth. Found in every ocean on the planet except the Arctic, it grows as long as three school buses lined up end to end and can weigh more than nine school buses full of kids. What does a behemoth this big eat? Ironically, almost exclusively one of the ocean’s smallest animals—crustaceans known as krill, which swim about in large schools.\n\nHow the blue whale eats krill is as remarkable as the fact that it does so. Opening its massive mouth, it engulfs a school of krill along with enough seawater to double its weight. Then, it uses baleen, a bristly structure attached to its top jaw, as a sieve to catch the krill as it forces the water back out into the ocean.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nThe blue whale’s baleen is composed of keratin, the same type of material that makes up fingernails and hair. About 350 plates of this material hang down from each side of its upper jaw where the whale’s top teeth would be (if it had teeth).\n\nThe plates grow out of the jaw parallel to each other and perpendicular to the jaw, lined up like slats of a vertical window blind. Each plate is made up of a main plate and smaller plates, forming a triangular profile. The plates contain tubules that separate to form a frayed edge on the tongue side and at the bottom made up of densely packed bristles 2 millimeters or smaller in diameter.\n\nAfter taking in krill and water together, the whale partly closes its mouth so that the water has to go through the baleen as it moves back out into the ocean. The baleen plates and fringes are able to trap krill down to a size of about half a millimeter.\n\nThe blue whale is one of 14 whale species that use baleen as part of their foraging strategy. The length of the baleen plates and the nature of the bristles varies from one to another depending on the whale’s foraging style and the size of prey they prefer.\n\nA recent study suggests that at least one whale species, the bowhead (Balaena mysticetus), uses the baleen to direct food to the back of its throat rather than as an actual filter, which helps it avoid clogging the mechanism with bits of prey. The exact movement of water and krill within a blue whale’s mouth—and how it keeps from clogging and/or cleans its baleen—appears to remain a mystery for now.\n\nThe Potential A blue whale’s approach to separate tiny particles from large amounts of water can find numerous applications in solving human needs. Baleen-like screens could be used to filter particles from wastewater as part of a conventional treatment process. They could provide a first level of cleansing for drinking water taken from lakes and streams. They could be used to produce beverages such as beer, wine, and apple cider that include non-liquid materials during part of their processing. They might prove useful in removing microplastic pollutants from soil, water, and other contaminated materials. They might even inspire new and more energy-efficient and cost-effective ways to desalinate seawater for use as drinking and irrigation water in arid regions."}, {"Source": "tropical plant's leaves", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "channel water off the leaf surface", "Function2": "prevent the growth of microorganisms", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/leaves-channel-water/", "Strategy": "Leaves Channel Water\n\nThe leaves of some tropical plants channel water off their surface via unique shape, called drip tips.\n\nThe sacred fig tree is a type of ficus that grows very large, up to 30 m (98 ft.) tall, in humid areas in its native India. The heart-shaped leaves have extended tips that help channel water down the leaf surface and off the bottom of the tip. The action of these “drip tips” enables the plant to move surface water efficiently and dry off more quickly than plants that do not have drip tips on their leaves. Removing excess water from the leaf surface helps to prevent the growth of potentially harmful mildew or microorganisms, which can thrive in the hot and humid conditions that sacred figs live in.\nThis summary was co-contributed by EcoRise Youth Innovations."}, {"Source": "tropical rainforest understory plant's leaves", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protect from excess sun", "Function2": "photoprotection", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/iridescent-thin-layer-provides-photoprotection/", "Strategy": "Iridescent Thin Layer Provides Photoprotection\n\nLeaves of tropical rainforest understory plants are protected from excess sun by blue iridescence.\n\n“Iridescent blue-leaved plants grow in the most shady and protected\nmicroclimates of tropical rainforests. Much speculation on the possible\nadaptive significance of iridescence has not led to any viable\nexplanations, as such iridescence actually reduces leaf absorption in\nthese light-limited environments. We hypothesize that constructive\ninterference in the wavelengths of 460-485 nm may protect against\nphotoinhibition and damage via reduced light absorption at those\nwavelengths, where other leaves are protected by anthocyanins and\nvariants of the xanthophyll cycle. We looked for such photoprotection\nin three Malaysian understory species polymorphic for blue iridescence:\nBegonia pavonina Ridl. (Begoniaceae), Diplazium tomentosum Bl. (Athyriaceae), and Phyllagathis rotundifolia\n(Melastomataceae). We collected dark-acclimated leaves before dawn from\nplants in Bukit Lanjang Forest Reserve. We tested for differences in\nleaf mass, chlorophyll and nutrients in green and blue leaves, and for\nincreased photoprotection in blue leaves by subjecting both to 30 min\nof high irradiance (~1000 µmol m-2 s-1, 400-700 nm) and testing for\ndifferences in transient fluorescence as Fv/Fm for 90 min at 5 min\nintervals. All leaves, particularly in B. pavonina had relatively low mass, chlorophyll and N per unit area. In B. pavonina and P. rotundifolia, blue leaves recovered significantly more rapidly from light exposure than green ones, but the differences for D. tomentosum\nwere not significant. Two of the three understory species thus provide\nevidence for a photoprotective function by blue iridescence against\ntransient exposures to light flecks in these extreme-shade plants.”"}, {"Source": "elephantnose fish's elongated chin", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "sense electric signals", "Function2": "navigate environment", "Function3": "detect objects and prey", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/electric-signals-detect-prey/", "Strategy": "Electric Signals Detect Prey\n\nThe elongated chin on the elephantnose fish helps it hunt in murky water by sensing electric signals.\n\nThe elephantnose fish Gnathonemus petersii is a freshwater fish that lives in slow-moving and muddy rivers in Africa. In these murky, dark waters, using vision to sense its surroundings is virtually impossible. This presents a challenge for avoiding predators and finding prey.\n\nElephantnose fish solve this problem by navigating their environment with an electric sense. Modified muscle cells near the fish’s tail act as an electric organ that emits electric signals and generates a weak electric field around the fish. When objects nearby modify that electric field, special receptor cells all over the fish’s body can sense these changes in the electric signals. By actively generating and sensing an electric field, the fish can map out its surroundings through a process called electrolocation (similar to the way a bat uses sound to detect objects and prey).\n\nThe elephantnose fish’s special elongated chin, which gives the fish its name, is especially loaded with electroreceptors. The fish uses its chin or ‘Schnauzenorgan’ much like a human might use a handheld metal detector at the beach. While foraging, the fish swims forward and sweeps its chin back and forth until it finds an object of interest, which may be a tasty worm or insect buried in the mud. It then approaches that object and uses its chin to explore more closely. If it’s a prey item, the fish may use its chin to dig into the mud. If the object is larger or unknown, the fish can swim all around the object and “scan” it with its chin and the other electroreceptors on its body.\n\nThe vast number of electroreceptors enables the fish to determine not only the shape of an object, but its volume, size, material, and maybe even which direction it’s facing. The elephantnose fish can use the images formed through electrolocation to navigate its environment, avoiding hitting objects as it swims while hunting smaller prey. These images aren’t perfectly clear, but are like someone near-sighted seeing a blurry world when they don’t have their glasses on. This doesn’t affect the fish too much, as basic shapes and patterns are all that are needed to survive and thrive.\n \n"}, {"Source": "salvinia water fern's leaf structure", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "retain air layer", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/leaf-structure-retains-air-layer-underwater/", "Strategy": "Leaf Structure Retains Air Layer Underwater\n\nThe leaf structure of the Salvinia water fern retains a layer of air when submerged in water due to water-resistant hairs that possess water-attracting tips.\n\nThe floating water fern, Salvinia, is a unique plant in that it retains pockets of dry air when fully submerged in water. This capability, which provides the plant with buoyancy, is owed to the surface structure of its leaves.\n\nThe water fern’s leaves are covered in tiny hairs grouped to look like miniature wire cooking whisks. Each hair is coated in hydrophobic (water-repelling) wax crystals from its base not quite to its tip. The very tip of each hair lacks hydrophobic wax and is hydrophilic, which means it attracts water molecules. It is these hydrophilic tips that help retain air pockets when the plant is submerged. They enable the trapping of a thin layer of air between the leaf surface and the water that they attract.\n\nThe whisk shape maximizes the surface area between individual hairs, providing more space for water molecules to “sit” upon. These water molecules are pinned on the tips of the hairs, thus reducing the impact of instabilities in the surrounding water. By having a large surface of hydrophilic hairs, water forms a boundary that aids in reducing drag as the plant moves in the fluid environment by creating less water-plant interaction between hairs.\n\nThis combination of hydrophilic patches on hydrophobic surfaces is known as the “Salvinia Effect.” It is responsible for retaining an air layer underwater on the fern’s leaves for up to several weeks."}, {"Source": "desert hottentot bread plant's corky tuber", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "store water", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/corky-tuber-stores-water/", "Strategy": "Corky Tuber Stores Water\n\nThe desert Hottentot bread plant stores vast amounts of water in a large, underground corky tuber.\n\n“Swollen roots are used by a great number of plants as storage tanks. Beneath the sand, they are out of sight and not easily found by thirsty animals living on the surface. Hottentot bread is the name given to a yam that develops an immense underground tuber that may weigh as much as seven hundred pounds and fully justifies its specific name of elephantipes — elephant foot. Every desert — in Australia and South America, in the Sahara, the Gobi and Madagascar — has such plants. And in every one, an ability to recognise the leaf of a tiny sprig standing unobtrusively in the sand as an indication of a buried water store was once the traditional life-saving knowledge of nomadic people.”"}, {"Source": "desert rhubarb's leaf", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "direct rainwater", "Function2": "absorb water", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/leaves-and-root-maximize-water-collection/", "Strategy": "Leaves and Root Maximize Water Collection\n\nThe leaves and root of the desert rhubarb maximize water collection by directing rainwater to the plant's base and absorbing water from saturated ground.\n\nThe desert rhubarb grows in the arid mountains of Jordan and Israel, where average annual rainfall is only 75 millimeters. In an average rainfall episode, up to two thirds of rainwater can evaporate before penetrating the soil. Because of this, most desert plants have shallow roots that collect the remaining surface water before it evaporates further.\n\nThe desert rhubarb sets itself apart by having a sophisticated water collection system that transports and absorbs water deep in the ground. First, rain water collects on the surface of the rhubarb’s leaves. The rhubarb has one to four meter long leaves with a series of successively wider, hydrophobic (meaning “water-fearing”) grooves embedded into its sides. In a sleek system, the grooves funnel rain water down the leaf similar to a system of rivers and creeks down a mountain.\n\nNext, the collected rainwater pools on the soil at the base of the plant. This small area of soil becomes saturated, allowing water to seep deeper into the soil. In an average rainfall, water penetrates desert soil between one to three centimeters. Pooling around the rhubarb, however, helps water to penetrate over ten centimeters into the ground. This is a comparatively high volume of water collected. In addition, the deeper the water penetrates the soil, the less exposed it is to the sun’s heat, and the less it will evaporate.\n\nLastly, the water is absorbed. The rhubarb has a single, long root that extends down into the desert ground. Compared to the thin shallow root system of its neighbors, the rhubarb root absorbs up to three times as much rainwater. While the single root is still technically collecting surface water, the pooling enabled by the grooved leaves has already brought the water much deeper into the soil."}, {"Source": "venus flower basket sponge's fiber", "Application": "fiber optics", "Function1": "better light transmission", "Function2": "flexible", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/light-transmitting-fibers/", "Strategy": "Light‑transmitting Fibers\n\nThe glass-like fibers of a glass sponge transmit light better than our fiber optics, yet are made from natural materials and at ambient temperatures.\n\n“The thin glassy fibers protruding from the base of the Venus flower basket sponge are better able to transmit light than industrial fiber optic cables used for telecommunication. Additionally, the sponge’s fibers are more flexible than the man-made variety. The sponge produces its fibers at low temperatures using natural materials. Trace amounts of sodium are added to the fibers to increase their ability to conduct light. The high temperature required for the manufacture of industrial fiber optics precludes additives such as sodium, and yields a fiber that is brittle and easily broken. Scientists hope, however, to mimic the Venus flower basket’s fiber manufacture process, developing a way to produce fiber optics at ambient temperatures.”"}, {"Source": "florida manatee's whiskers", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "sense tactile cues", "Function2": "capture food", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/modified-whiskers-handle-food/", "Strategy": "Modified Whiskers Handle Food\n\nModified whiskers of the Florida manatee capture and handle food with the help of finely controlled lips.\n\nWhiskers are a familiar sight on mammals. Also called vibrissae, they’re commonly found on the face and used to sense tactile cues from the physical world around a mammal. The Florida manatee is an aquatic mammal that has vibrissae all over its body, but especially concentrated on the face and near the mouth. The vibrissae on its lips are modified into short, stiff bristles that appear to have a unique function among mammals: they’re primarily used to capture and handle food and other objects.\n\nThe Florida manatee’s muscular lips have a special shape and are capable of fine controlled movements. The upper lip is shaped like a plump U, with the ends pointing back toward the mouth and bearing tufts of stiff vibrissae. The bottom lip is round and also bears bristles. When feeding on submerged plants (manatees are herbivores), the manatee brings the ends of its upper lip together and extends the bristles, which grab the plant and direct it toward the mouth. The upper lip then spreads back out and the lower jaw closes, pushing the plant farther into the mouth. When feeding on floating plants, the upper lip is first used like a rake. The manatee extends its upper lip over the floating plant and repeatedly rakes it towards its mouth using the lip’s bristles.\n\nOther parts of the Florida manatee’s snout is covered in vibrissae that are highly sensitive to touch. These enable the manatee to sense and explore food and objects before using its bristly vibrissae to grasp them. Having such a sensitive and finely controlled system for gathering food likely helps manatees efficiently feed on a variety of aquatic plants at different locations in the water column."}, {"Source": "window plant's stem", "Application": "solar photovoltaic installations", "Function1": "harvest energy", "Function2": "prevent overheating", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/crystals-draw-sunlight-into-plant/", "Strategy": "Lens‑Shaped Leaves Harvest Light\n\nClear structures focus and direct light to help the window plant harvest energy from the sun without overheating or drying out.\n\nIntroduction\n\nFrom towering trees to minute microalgae, plants provide virtually all living things with the food they need by capturing energy from sunlight and transforming it into sugars and other nourishing molecules.\n\nPlants that grow in wet places can use water to stay cool as they soak up the sun’s rays. Plants that grow in hot, dry places, though, face a dilemma. How can they harvest the solar energy they need without also overheating and drying out?\n\nThe window plant (Fenestraria aurantiaca), which grows in the Namib Desert in southern Africa, has an intriguing solution. It buries almost all of its 1.5-inch (4 cm) stem beneath the surface of the sand. Then it uses the top part sticking out as a lens to direct light inside, where cells capable of photosynthesizing can capture the sun’s energy without frying.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nThe tip of a window plant’s stem is clear, allowing sunlight to pass through it into the stem below. And like the lens of your eye, the clear part is somewhat selective about what kind of light gets through. Its waxy surface filters out the highest-energy light, allowing only about 10 percent of the total light into the plant, preventing the insides from overheating.\n\nThe lens-like tip is also rounded on top. The curved shape directs the light that hits its surface inward, toward the center of the stem. It also keeps sand from piling up and obstructing the window.\n\nBeneath this lens-like structure are clear cells filled with water. As light hits the water, it changes direction slightly, being sent every which way—including toward cells lining the inside walls of the stem. There, those cells use photosynthesis to turn the light into energy the plant can use.\n\nThe Potential\n\nThe window plant’s strategy for vertically transmitting light is used to some extent to bring light into buildings through tubes running from the roof to the occupied space. This technology could be dramatically enhanced by taking the window plant’s next step of using water or another substance that bends light to direct beams in the direction they’re needed most.\n\nIt also can provide inspiration for designing solar photovoltaic installations that are less susceptible to overheating and better able to focus light on electricity-generating structures. It might even be used to design handheld electronics that are easier to view in direct sunlight by channeling the light into features that can illuminate the device, countering the glare."}, {"Source": "wetland", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "store carbon", "Function2": "slow decomposition", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/habitat-stores-carbon/", "Strategy": "Water Keeps Plant Matter\nFrom Releasing Carbon\n\nHigh water levels in wetlands prevent large amounts of oxygen from reaching wetland soil, where it would enable aerobic bacteria to decompose organic matter.\n\nWetlands, especially peatlands in the northern arctic and boreal areas, have the ability to store large amounts of carbon. The storage of carbon is related to how wetlands function. Wetlands plants are able to take carbon dioxide out of the air and incorporate some of it into their tissues during photosynthesis. Wetlands also accumulate and store carbon within the soil in the form of leaf matter and plant debris. Forested wetlands and peatlands in the north accumulate large amounts of litter and organic matter and can store a high percentage of carbon in comparison to other areas. These organic materials release carbon back into the atmosphere when they’re decomposed by bacteria, but the combination of cool and wet soil conditions in the northern wetlands slows the decomposition of organic materials.\n\nIn many wetlands, high water levels prevent large amounts of oxygen from reaching wetland soil, where it would enable aerobic bacteria to decompose organic matter. During the winter, cool temperatures in wetlands and frozen soils in many northern wetlands slow decomposition by slowing the metabolic activity of the decomposing bacteria. This enables wetlands in arctic and boreal regions to be effective carbon sinks for hundreds to thousands of years.\n\nResearchers caution, however, that climate change and increased temperatures could lower wetland water levels and increase decomposition rates. This may affect the ability of wetlands to continue to sequester carbon and may even turn wetlands into a source of carbon dioxide.\n"}, {"Source": "toco toucan's bill", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "heat exchange", "Function2": "regulate heat distribution", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/bill-used-as-heat-exchanger-for-thermoregulation/", "Strategy": "Bill Used As Heat Exchanger\nfor Thermoregulation\n\nBill of toco toucan acts as a heat exchanger to regulate body temperature by adjusting blood flow\n\n“The toco toucan (Ramphastos toco), the largest member of the toucan family, possesses the largest beak relative to body size of all birds. This exaggerated feature has received various interpretations, from serving as a sexual ornament to being a refined adaptation for feeding. However, it is also a significant surface area for heat exchange. The toco toucan has the remarkable capacity to regulate heat distribution by modifying blood flow, using the bill as a transient thermal radiator. Results indicate that the toucan’s bill is, relative to its size, one of the largest thermal windows in the animal kingdom, rivaling elephants’ ears in its ability to radiate body heat.” \n"}, {"Source": "ice plant's seed", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "expel seed", "Function2": "disperse seed", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/seeds-disperse-by-jet-action/", "Strategy": "Seeds Disperse by Jet Action\n\nSeeds of ice plants disperse by jet action using the energy of raindrops and moisture-sensitive capsules.\n“The present review describes the ombrohydrochoric dispersal syndr\n\n“The present review describes the ombrohydrochoric dispersal syndrome in plants, i.e. seed expulsion by raindrops. There are two different ombrohydrochoric dispersal modes – dispersal by rain wash and by ballistic forces. Both have been reported from the understory of tropical and temperate forests, from wetlands and from deserts, and from numerous families and genera. A special form of ombrohydrochoric dispersal is the jet-action rain-operated seed dispersal mechanism which is restricted to the semi-desert ice plants, Aizoaceae, one of the major families of the angiosperms. Within this family, 98% of the species possess hygrochastic capsules with an ombrohydrochoric seed dispersal mechanism which in part are also responsible for the remarkable speciation burst and radiation. The highly complex capsules open when wet, and the seeds are expelled by a ‘jet action’ with the kinetic energy of raindrops. The halves of the covering membranes of a locule form a nozzle near the centre of the capsule which serves as a jet. Drops of water falling on the distal opening (after the locule has been filled with water) result in an explosive expulsion of water droplets and seeds through that jet. More seeds are dispersed further away from the capsule than in those capsule types without such a jet mechanism.”"}, {"Source": "archerfish's spit", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "strike down prey", "Function2": "enhance forcefulness", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/external-hydrodynamic-lever-increases-force/", "Strategy": "Archerfish Puts Spit Stream in\nOverdrive to Knock Down Prey\n\nA rush of water enhances forcefulness of nature’s super-soaker.\n\nArcher fish are known for striking down prey in vegetation surrounding their habitats. These fish do so by propelling water in the form of a jet stream that strikes its prey with enough force to knock it off the vegetation and into the surrounding water. It was originally believed that the fish were capable of producing such strong jet forces because of some internal structure or mechanism but new studies show that the force is actually amplified outside of the fish’s body. During the propagation of the jet, the fish modulates the stream to create a gradual increase in the accumulation of water at the head of the jet (i.e., mass is directed to accumulate at the head of the jet as it moves). This increase in mass towards the head of the jet also increases its velocity. The force that these modulations create when the jet hits the prey outside of the water is nearly six times greater than the force of the water that leaves the fish’s mouth."}, {"Source": "pegea confoederata salp's food filter", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "filter particles smaller than mesh size", "Function2": "trap particles", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/mucus-filters-trap-particles-smaller-than-mesh-size/", "Strategy": "Mucus Filters Trap Particles\nSmaller Than Mesh Size\n\nThe food filters of Pegea confoederata salps capture food smaller than its mesh size by optimizing the water flow through their continuously secreted sticky mucus net.\n\nWhile it may not seem intuitive that filters can trap particles smaller than the size of their mesh, the fingernail-size marine salp (Pegea confoederata) depends on it for its survival. As the salp pulls the surrounding sea water into its body, it uses muscles to ensure the flow is as calm and orderly as a river on a windless day. By eliminating the effects of turbulence, particles smaller than the mesh, such as bacteria, viruses, and colloidal masses, pass extremely close to the net material. At a certain distance from the net, they adhere to the sticky netting material continuously secreted by the salp. Particles even smaller than bacteria, viruses, and colloidal masses diffuse right into the filter material. The specific fluid mechanical conditions which P. confoederata creates in its filtration systems enable it to trap particles with diameters as small as 0.01 micron (viruses, colloids, etc.) even though the filter mesh measures ~ 1.5 x 6 microns. This adaptation allows the macroscopic salps to survive on a diet of some of the tiniest biological life-forms known."}, {"Source": "fish gill", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "remove oxygen", "Function2": "efficient oxygen extraction", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/gills-exchange-oxygen-efficiently/", "Strategy": "Gills Exchange Oxygen Efficiently\n\nThe gills of fish remove oxygen from water with extreme efficiency because water flows countercurrent to capillary blood flow.\n\n“Water flow over the secondary lamellae is countercurrent to capillary blood flow, resulting in extremely efficient oxygen extraction. Gills also function in monovalent ion regulation (via specialized chloride cells) and nitrogenous waste excretion (ammonia).”"}, {"Source": "vipers' thermal pits", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "detect infrared radiation", "Function2": "generate thermal image", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/thermal-pits-detect-prey/", "Strategy": "Thermal Pits Detect Prey\n\nThermal pits of vipers, pythons and boas detect infrared radiation emitted from prey using protein channels activated by heat.\n\n“Snakes possess a unique sensory system for detecting infrared radiation, enabling them to generate a ‘thermal image’ of predators or prey. Infrared signals are initially received by the pit organ, a highly specialized facial structure that is innervated by nerve fibres of the somatosensory system. How this organ detects and transduces infrared signals into nerve impulses is not known. Here we use an unbiased transcriptional profiling approach to identify TRPA1 channels as infrared receptors on sensory nerve fibres that innervate the pit organ. TRPA1 orthologues from pit-bearing snakes (vipers, pythons and boas) are the most heat-sensitive vertebrate ion channels thus far identified, consistent with their role as primary transducers of infrared stimuli. Thus, snakes detect infrared signals through a mechanism involving radiant heating of the pit organ, rather than photochemical transduction. These findings illustrate the broad evolutionary tuning of transient receptor potential (TRP) channels as thermosensors in the vertebrate nervous system.” \n\n“Although not as well known for infrared vision as the crotalids, another group of snakes, the boas and pythons, also have heat sensors. Instead of pits, however, these snakes have up to 13 pairs of thermoreceptors arranged around their lips.”"}, {"Source": "darwin's bark spider's silk", "Application": "structural fibers", "Function1": "strong", "Function2": "stretchable", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/silk-is-strong-stretchy/", "Strategy": "Silk Is Strong, Stretchy\n\nSilk of the Darwin's bark spider is twice as strong as other spider silk due to extreme extensibility combined with high strength.\n\nMan-made structural fibers are generally coils of simple, homogenous strands. In contrast, spider silk fibrils are constructed with alternating nano-segments that are either extremely flexible (amorphous glycine-rich matrices) or extremely strong (crystalites made of anti-parallel pleated beta sheets). Dozens of fibrils come together to form each thread. As a result, the fibers are nearly as strong as Kevlar yet much more stretchable and tough."}, {"Source": "australian fan palm's leaf", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "absorb solar light", "Function2": "convert solar energy into electricity", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/leaf-fan-optimizes-cooling-and-wind-resistance/", "Strategy": "Leaf Fan Optimizes Cooling\nand Wind Resistance\n\nThe leaf of the Australian fan palm gathers light, stays cool, and avoids wind damage by subdivision into tilted segments.\n\n“In nature the green leaves of plants are the equivalent to photovoltaic panels. They absorb solar light, converting its energy into electricity (electrochemical energy) for water splitting and the generation of chemical energy carriers. Excessive heating of leaves to temperatures above 40 – 45ºC can seriously damage the chemical structure and the function of biomolecules and, therefore, such high temperatures should be avoided, for example, the potato leaf does not tolerate temperatures above 40ºC. Nature has consequently developed a series of adaptations, which help leaves control the temperature. One is, of course, water evaporation, which, however, is restricted to areas with sufficient water supply. Another strategy is to keep the heat capacity low by means of building very light leaf structures so that the accumulated heat can easily be transferred to the atmospheric environment. It is also known that the leaf size decreases geographically with increasing solar energy input.”\n \n“A suitable model plant was found in the fan palm Licuala ramsayi from northeastern Australia (Fig. 7). Its leaf fan provides a large solar absorber area. However, the leaf is cut into segments, which are tilted in such a way that the air can pass freely through the fan transporting off heat. In addition, during a heavy storm, the fan follows the wind and the segments reorganize to a streamlined pattern from which they recover unharmed.”"}, {"Source": "bromeliad", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "capture water", "Function2": "spawn a small community", "Function3": "accumulate valuable nutrients", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/epiphytes-capture-nutrients/", "Strategy": "Epiphytes Capture Nutrients\n\nBromeliads capture water and spawn a small community whose collective roles lead to nutrient supply for the epiphytic plants.\n\n“So successful are these techniques for sending seeds up into the canopy that the massive branches of many forest trees are often densely lined with squatters. These are known as epiphytes and among the commonest are bromeliads. They anchor themselves by wrapping their roots around the branch. Their long leaves grow in a tight rosette around their central bud and channel rain water down to it so that the rosette fills and forms a small pond. This becomes a world in miniature. Leaves and other bits of vegetable detritus fall into it and decay. Birds and small mammals come to sip the water, and leave behind their nitrogen-rich droppings. Microscopic organisms of one kind or another develop in it, as they will do in any pool of standing water. Mosquitos lay rafts of eggs in its depths, though in much smaller numbers. In due course, a few dragonfly larvae will feed on a multitude of mosquito larvae. Small brilliantly coloured frogs that live nowhere else but in bromeliad ponds take up residence and spawn there. Crabs, salamanders, slugs, worms, beetles, lizards, even small snakes may all join the community.\n\nThe bromeliad benefits from its hospitality. The water in its pond turns brown with the products of decay. The droppings of its lodgers accumulate as a thick ooze in the bottom. From both the plant extracts valuable nutrients that it can find in no other way, perched as it is so far away from the soil which nourishes others.”"}, {"Source": "tick's mouth", "Application": "desiccants", "Function1": "absorb water vapor from unsaturated air", "Function2": "absorb water vapor from unsaturated air", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/water-absorbed-from-humid-air/", "Strategy": "Water Absorbed From Humid Air\n\nThe mouths of ticks absorb water vapor from the atmosphere by secreting a hydrophilic solution.\n\n“The ability to absorb water vapor from the atmosphere enables ticks to survive without drinking water for many months. The tick rehydrates using a three-stage process. First, it uses its foremost pair of legs to detect microregions of high humidity, such as those surrounding water droplets. Once a suitable water source is detected, the tick secretes a hydrophilic solution from its mouth. Once it is saturated, the tick draws the now hydrated secretion back into its mouth. The secretion is a hygroscopic salt solution. Once ejected from the mouth, the solution dries at low ambient humidities, leaving a crystalline substance behind. When the humidity increases, the hydrophilic crystalline substance dissolves and is swallowed back into the body of the tick. The adaptation allows exophilic ticks to absorb water vapor from close to saturation down to 43% relative humidity. Mites and soil-dwelling arachnids use a similar mechanism to absorb water vapor. This strategy might inspire innovation in the development of desiccants, building envelope design, and HVAC engineering.” \n\n“The salivary glands are the organs of osmoregulation in ticks and, as such, are critical to the biological success of ticks both during the extended period off the host and also during the feeding period on the host. Absorption of water vapour from unsaturated air into hygroscopic fluid produced by the salivary glands permit the tick to remain hydrated and viable during the many months between blood-meals. When feeding, the tick is able to return about 70% of the fluid and ion content of the blood-meal into the host by salivation into the feeding site. This saliva also contains many bioactive protein and lipid components that aid acquisition of the blood-meal. The salivary glands are the site of pathogen development and the saliva the route of transmission. The importance of the multifunctional salivary glands to tick survival and vector competency makes the glands a potential target for intervention.” "}, {"Source": "bee's scopa", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "capture pollen", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/charged-electrostatic-hairs-collect-pollen-granules/", "Strategy": "Charged Electrostatic Hairs\nCollect Pollen Granules\n\nThe scopa of a bee uses electrostatically charged hairs of varying length and shape to collect pollen.\n\nThe scopa (plural scopae) is a collection of electrostatic hairs used to collect pollen as the bee forages. The scopa can vary in shape, size, and location, depending on the type of pollen collected. Scopa tend to have a top layer of long, stiff hair to hold pollen and an underlayer of short, flexible hair to absorb oils. The bottom layer can be made up of separate hairs or hairs branching off the upper layer. Generally, the larger and more interspersed the hairs, the larger the pollen grains that the scopa can hold. Bees that collect small pollen granules have denser, multibranched scopal hairs compared to bees specialized for large grains.\n\nThe scopa is often found on the hind legs, characterized by dense rows of hair. The scopa may also be found on the underside of the abdomen, such as in the Megachilidae family. Pollen caught on other places on the bee, such as the head, can be brushed off using the foreleg using special hairs and packed into the scopa as needed.\n\nThe corbicula, or pollen basket, is a specialized scopa that is able to carry both pollen and nectar. The moisture of the nectar allows the pollen to be tightly packed down, increasing the carrying capacity. This kind of scopa is found on more familiar bees like honey bees and bumblebees.\n\nSome bees lack a scopa entirely, such as kleptoparasitic bees which lay their eggs in the nests of other bees and have no need to forage for pollen. Other bees ingest the pollen instead, storing it in a specialized part of their gut known as the crop."}, {"Source": "leptospermum", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "enhance light absorption", "Function2": "recapture light", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/pigment-enhances-light-absorption/", "Strategy": "Pigment Enhances Light Absorption\n\nLeaves of tropical plants such as Leptospermum recapture light with purple pigment.\n\n“On the floor of a well-established forest, the light may be very dim indeed.” Some plants in Borneo’s tropical rain forests “maximise the meagre light that falls on them in a different way. They coat the underside of their leaves with a purple pigment. This catches the light after it has passed through the thickness of the leaf and redirects it back into the leaf tissues so that the chlorophyll has a second chance to utilise what is left of it.”"}, {"Source": "basking shark's gills", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "filter plankton", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/specialized-gills-filter-plankton/", "Strategy": "Specialized Gills Filter Plankton\n\nThe gills of basking sharks filter plankton from seawater for nutrition via specialized filters called gill-rakers.\n\n“Torpor or hibernation in fish is rare, but the most remarkable case features the basking shark (Cetorhinus maximus). It swallows great quantities of plankton, straining it from the water via specialized filters called gill-rakers. A common sight drifting just beneath the sea surface during the plankton-rich summer months, these sharks are rarely seen during the winter, when plankton is scarce. This is because they descend to deeper waters where, scientists assumed, they spend the season in a torpid state. However, when scientists examined two basking sharks during winter they lacked gill-rakers and thus couldn’t feed. This unexpected finding suggests that basking sharks hibernate, shedding their gill-rakers and regrowing them in spring.”"}, {"Source": "human skin", "Application": "textiles", "Function1": "regulate water flow", "Function2": "provide flexibility", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/skin-protects-from-water-loss/", "Strategy": "Skin Protects From Water Loss\n\nThe skin of humans regulates water movement with proteins, water-capturing molecules, and fats.\n\nIntroduction\n\nTake a moment to think about your skin. It has a challenging task: Keep the good stuff in, and keep the bad stuff out––while still letting some stuff out, and letting other stuff in, all while providing the flexibility required for movement.\n\nOne of the most important components of that “stuff” is water. As life moved from liquid to land, one of its biggest challenges became retaining water. The very top layer of skin, known as the “stratum corneum,” plays a big job in keeping its owner from drying out.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nIn humans, the stratum corneum consists of 15-20 layers of cells called corneocytes embedded in a flexible fatty matrix. Corneocytes are made up of a skeleton made of keratin (a protein) and natural moisturizing factor (NMF), which in turn is composed of water and different small molecules.\n\nWhen the corneocytes encounter water they absorb it. In the outermost layer of the stratum corneum,  the keratin is packed together tightly, so it doesn’t bind water well, but the NMF is able to hang onto water molecules. In the middle layer,  the keratin is unfolded. This provides room for water molecules. Not only that, but as water molecules move in, they elbow the keratin apart, making even more room for more water molecules and giving the skin a sponge like capacity to absorb moisture.\n\nThis combination allows the corneocytes to expand but stay mobile, embedded in the fats. As a result,  the skin remains soft and pliable while also regulating the ability of water to flow through the stratum corneum into or out of the body. The fats outside the cells also limit the movement of water (oil and water don’t mix) and help keep the NMF from escaping from the cells and reducing the cells’ ability to absorb water.\n\nBy altering the ability to absorb water with the amount of water available, the skin is able to maintain its own flexibility while also protecting the rest of the body from either drying out or swelling up.\n\nThe Potential\n\nBy altering the ability to absorb water with the amount of water available, the skin is able to maintain its own flexibility while also protecting the rest of the body from either drying out or swelling up. This approach could be used to regulate water flow in irrigation systems to keep plants watered but avoid wasting water by overwatering. It could also be applied to textiles to limit water penetration while maintaining pliability."}, {"Source": "leafcutter ant colony", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "vary leaf loads in size and weight", "Function2": "maintain a consistent speed", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/foragers-respond-to-the-speed-and-efficiency-of-other-ants/", "Strategy": "Foragers Respond to the Speed\nand Efficiency of Other Ants\n\nForagers of leafcutter ant colonies respond to the speed and efficiency of other ants by varying leaf loads in size and weight.\n\nIntroduction\n\nWithin ant colonies, each ant has a specific role. In the leaf-cutter species, foraging ants are tasked with collecting leaf fragments and bringing them back to the colony. One may think that a forager would collect the largest possible payload. However, high payloads are not shown to result in more efficient transport. Instead, foragers generally carry loads well below their maximum potential. Load size is influenced by two factors: a more manageable workload for processor ants, and the speed of other foragers.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nWhen foragers return to the colony, they pass their loads to the processor ants. Processors collect the material and distribute it among the colony. There are more foragers than processors. If every forager brought large of loads to the colony, the processors would be overwhelmed by the volume of leaves coming into the colony and fall behind. As a result, materials would not be distributed throughout the colony in a timely manner.\n\nThe Potential\n\nForagers also carry small loads in order to maintain a consistent speed in relation to other ants. Foragers travel to and from their colony in a single file line, also referred to as unilateral transport. This is because foraging ants travel by following the chemical scent of the forager directly in front of them. It’s as if ants travel down a one lane highway, where passing is illegal. Because smaller loads mean faster foraging and bigger loads mean slower foraging, if one ant chooses to take a larger than average load it will slow down the entire group. This can have a serious effect on the colony as a whole.\n"}, {"Source": "bottlenose dolphin's blubber", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "absorb heat", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/blubber-absorbs-heat/", "Strategy": "Blubber Absorbs Heat\n\nThe blubber of the bottlenose dolphin absorbs heat by acting as a phase change material\n\n“There is substantial evidence to support the classification of the integument, and specifically the blubber layer [of the Atlantic bottlenose dolphin], as a phase change material. First, many of the fatty acids found in blubber are classified as phase change materials and have melting points in the range of mammalian body temperatures (Sari, 2003; Sari and Kaygusuz, 2001; Sari et al., 2003; Suppes et al., 2003). Suppes et al. (2003) classified palmitic (C16:0), steric (18:0), oleic (C18:1), linoleic (C18:2), linolenic (C18:3) and arachidic (C20:0) fatty acids as excellent phase change materials. All of these fatty acids have been identified in cetacean blubber (Koopman et al., 1996). Mixtures of these fatty acids yield phase change materials with melting points between 29° and 38°C (Suppes et al., 2003), which include the range of mammalian body temperatures. Second, these fatty acids also satisfy the requirement that the material has a relatively large latent heat plateau, with latent heat values generally greater than 180·J·g–1 (Suppes et al., 2003). Third, their stratification in blubber may be prevented by their containment in adipocytes as well as the highly structured nature of adipocytes in the blubber tissue. Finally, cetaceans are known to have fine vascular control to their appendages and to the periphery of their body (Elsner et al., 1974; Kvadsheim and Folkow, 1997; Ling, 1974; Meagher et al., 2002; Pabst et al., 1999b; Scholander and Schevill, 1955). Intermittent heat loads could be applied to the blubber through shunting of warm blood to the blubber layer, followed by periods of vasoconstriction. Future studies are needed to fully characterize blubber’s potential phase change properties as well as investigate the possible functions that may be associated with such a property.” "}, {"Source": "trees along rivers", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "retain carbon", "Function2": "slow down water", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/storage-of-organic-matter-plugs-carbon-leaks/", "Strategy": "Storage of Organic Matter Plugs Carbon Leaks\n\nTrees along rivers help retain carbon in an ecosystem by adding organic debris and slowing down water.\n\n“Although humans have usurped the power that trees once wielded over major rivers, woody debris still plays a key role in the structure of headwater creeks and streams. Just as important, trees and their litter supply much–sometimes all–of the organic matter that supports the food chain in these waters, from insects to salmon and trout. Without fallen trees and log or beaver dams to slow the current, this litter of leaves, needles, twigs, cones, branches, and bark would be of little food value. Microorganisms from fungi to insects would not have time to decompose the material were it not allowed to accumulate behind obstacles…How long the debris dams that support this food web endure depends in part on the types of trees that line the stream. Hardwood logs will rot in just a few years. Conifers, because they contain more lignins (complex polymers that make wood rigid) and other hard-to-decompose compounds, may last a century and provide great stability for the stream community.” \n\nAlso, this abstract from Bilby and Likens: “Removal of all organic debris dams from a 175-m stretch of second-order stream at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in New Hampshire led to a dramatic increase in the export of organic carbon from this ecosystem. Output of dissolved organic carbon (<0.50 μm) increased 18%. Fine particulate organic carbon (0.50 μm-1 mm) export increased 632% and coarse particulate organic matter (>1 mm) export increased 138%. Measurement of the standing stock of coarse particulate organic matter on streambeds of the Hubbard Brook Valley revealed that organic debris dams were very important in accumulating this material. In first-order streams, debris dams contain nearly 75% of the standing stock of organic matter. The proportion of organic matter held by dams drops to 58% in second-order streams and to 20% in third-order streams. Organic debris dams, therefore, are extremely important components of the small stream ecosystem. They retain organic matter within the system, thereby allowing it to be processed into finer size fractions in headwater tributaries rather than transported downstream in a coarse particulate form.”"}, {"Source": "dromedary camel's nasal surfaces", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "cool exhaled air", "Function2": "extract water vapor", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/nasal-surfaces-remove-water-vapor/", "Strategy": "Nasal Surfaces Remove Water Vapor\n\nThe nasal surfaces of camels help conserve water by using hygroscopic properties to remove water from air during exhalation.\n\nWhen the dromedary camel gets dehydrated in its hot and arid environment, its nasal surfaces help the animal conserve water using two mechanisms: by cooling exhaled air during the night, and by extracting water vapor from exhaled air.\n\nDuring the nighttime, outside temperatures are typically lower than the camel’s core body temperature. When the camel inhales, the cool outside air passes through the nasal passages where heat is exchanged: the nasal surfaces are cooled while the incoming air is warmed. Inside the camel’s lungs, air is at body temperature and fully saturated with water (100% relative humidity). When the camel exhales, the warm air inside the lungs passes over the cool nasal surfaces and exchanges heat again. This time, the air is cooled as it’s exhaled, and as it cools, water vapor in the outgoing air condenses onto the nasal surfaces as liquid water. The exhaled air is still at 100% relative humidity, but the lower temperature means that more water exists in liquid form than in vapor form (read an explanation of why this occurs here). Several mammals and birds use this mechanism of cooling exhaled air to conserve water and heat.\n\nBut the dromedary camel uses a second mechanism to save even more water: it extracts water vapor from the exhaled air, desaturating it down to 75-80% relative humidity. The dry nasal surfaces of a dehydrated camel are hygroscopic, meaning they can absorb and hold onto water molecules from the surrounding air. The hygroscopic nasal surfaces absorb water from the exhaled air and give off water to inhaled air.\n\nOne reason these water recovery mechanisms work so effectively in the dromedary camel is the large total surface area of the turbinate structures in its nasal passages. Turbinates are spongy nasal bones, and the camel’s turbinates are highly scrolled, providing narrow air passageways and a large surface area for water and heat exchange. Measurements suggest that camels have more than 1000 cm2 of nasal surface area, whereas the human nasal cavity may have a total surface area of only 160-180 cm2.\n\nWhy does the camel use the first mechanism and exhale cooled air only during the night? During the hot daytime, preventing the brain from overheating is prioritized over conserving water. Exhaling air that’s warm and saturated with water vapor enables the camel to dump excess heat from its body, but this comes at the expense of saving water."}, {"Source": "firefly's abdomen", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "transmit light efficiently", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/nanostructures-help-transmit-light/", "Strategy": "Nanostructures Help Transmit Light\n\nNanostructures on the cuticle of the firefly's abdomen help transmit bioluminescent light efficiently because they perfectly match the wavelength of light being emitted.\n\nA male firefly attracts mates by emanating bioluminescent light from a lantern on its abdomen. The lantern is comprised of three layers: a luminous layer, a nanostructured cuticle, and a dorsal layer. Typically, a material like the cuticle would block the bioluminescent light emitted from the luminous layer; it would be reflected back internally and never seen from the outside. This is because the wavelengths of light emitted from the luminous layer would not match up evenly with the surface of the cuticle, so it would hit it and bounce back.\n\nBut the firefly’s design addresses this challenge. The surface of its cuticle is covered in a series of precise nanostructures arranged in an orderly fashion. These “nanobumps” perfectly match the wavelength of light being emitted, ensuring that it passes right through the cuticle so a female can see it. Approximately 41% of the light produced is efficiently transmitted outside the firefly’s cuticle."}, {"Source": "bee's midleg", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "clean off pollen", "Function2": "clean off dirt", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/brushes-on-midlegs-clean-off-the-forelegs/", "Strategy": "Brushes on Midlegs Clean Off the Forelegs\n\nBees use brushes on their midlegs to clean off pollen and dirt from their forelegs by pulling their forelegs between their midlegs.\n\n\"The last large segment on the middle leg of the bee is known as the midleg basitarsus and it often contains a brush made of hairs. This brush can be used for grooming as the bee forages. The brush cleans off the forelegs as the bee flexes, pulling the foreleg between the basitarsus and the femur to trap pollen and dirt.\n\nThe hairs making up the brush can be different lengths, straight, bent or even hooked. Notice the differences in the brushes of the bees above.\n\nThis information is also available from the University of Calgary Invertebrate collection, where it was curated as part of a study on design inspired by bees.\""}, {"Source": "flying saucer trench beetle's trench", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "collect water", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/trenches-gather-water/", "Strategy": "Trenches Gather Water\n\nTrenches created by the flying saucer trench beetle collect water because the edges are above the sand surface and perpendicular to fog-bearing wind.\n\n“A third method involves uptake of free water directly from fog-moistened sand. The most elaborate procedure is used by the genus Lepidochora (Seely and Hamilton, 1976) (Fig. 3 c). These flat, circular, short-legged beetles construct a shallow trench 2-4 mm deep in the moist sand surface during fogs. The ridges of the trench, elevated above the sand surface and oriented perpendicularly to the direction of the fog-bearing wind, attain a higher water content than the undisturbed surrounding sand. The beetles then return along the trench ridge, flattening it as they extract part of this moisture.”"}, {"Source": "bird's egg", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "allow gas exchange", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/pores-allow-gas-exchange/", "Strategy": "Pores Allow Gas Exchange\n\nThe eggs of a birds provide gas exchange through pore canals.\n\n“Eggshell textures are the result of a porous microstructure that regulates the passage of water vapor, respiratory gases, and microorganisms between the inside of the egg and the external world. The eggshell is permeated by thousands of microscopic pores (Figure 14-15). An ordinary hen’s egg has more than 7500 pores, mostly at the blunt end of the egg.\n\n“The shells of most avian eggs have simple, straight pore canals that widen slightly toward the openings on the exterior surface. The eggshell pores of swans and ratites [group ostriches are in], however, branch from their origins near the shell membrane into a more complex network…Covering the exterior openings of the pore canals of all avian eggshells except those of pigeons and doves are tiny plugs or caps, which may act as pressure-sensitive valves.” \n\nCaption from Figure 14-15: “Pore canals allow gas exchange through the eggshell. Oxygen enters the eggs through pores in the cuticle and passes through columns of crystals to the permeable shell membranes. Carbon dioxide and water vapor escape to the outside environment through these same pores. Blood vessels in the capillary bed of the chorioallantois [membrane] link the developing embryo to the gas-exchange pathway.”\n"}, {"Source": "bee's clypeus", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "build nests", "Function2": "capture pollen", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/the-clypeus-pollinates-and-builds-nests/", "Strategy": "The Clypeus Pollinates and Builds Nests\n\nThe face of a bee can be specialized to collect pollen and build nests, depending on the needs of the bee.\n\nThe clypeus of the bee is the area below the antennae, but above the labrum and the mouth. In one of the bees above, it’s yellow in color compared to the rest of the face. The clypeus is one of the ways a bee can be identified, based on its shape as well as the type of hairs present on it.\n\nBees such as Osmia lignaria  (Pictured above) use their clypei to build nests in naturally occurring holes or gaps, building small pockets inside for each of their eggs.\n\nBees can also use their face to collect pollen, rubbing it against flowers and then using their legs to collect the pollen that gets caught on their clypeus. These bees tend to have longer hairs to hold onto the pollen, such as Osmia inspergens.\n\nThe clypeus is especially useful in a practice known as buzz-pollination, where the bee vibrates against a flower whose pollen is not accessible to make the pollen shoot out and cover the bee. The pollen is caught on the bristles of the clypeus, so it can be collected and brought back to the hive.\n\nThis information is also available from the University of Calgary Invertebrate collection, where it was curated as part of a study on design inspired by bees."}, {"Source": "bee's basitarsal brush", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "clean the pollen off their faces", "Function2": "remove the pollen and place it on structures designed for pollen transport", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/brushes-clean-off-pollen/", "Strategy": "Brushes Clean Off Pollen\n\nThe basitarsal brushes of bees are used to clean the pollen off their faces while they forage.\n\nThe basitarsal brush is a collection of hair on the last segment of the foreleg. This brush is used during pollination. As bees forage, they can rub the anthers of the flower on their faces and collect pollen all along their heads. The bees then use the brush on their leg to remove the pollen and place it on structures designed for pollen transport. The brush may also be modified to collect oil from flowers, with the ability to do so arising independently in multiple groups.\n\nA brush is defined as a group of hairs with little organization, in comparison to a pollen comb where the hairs make up a single row.\n\nSimilar brushes may be found on the tarsus and femur of the hind and mid legs. Variation is seen in the size, density and shape of the hairs that make up the brush, based on the type of pollen collected and any specializations for other substances like oil or nectar.\n\nThis information is also available from the University of Calgary Invertebrate collection, where it was curated as part of a study on design inspired by bees."}, {"Source": "arteries", "Application": "vascular stents", "Function1": "helical twists", "Function2": "create helical flow patterns", "Function3": "better mix oxygen in the bloodstream", "Function4": "exert more force against the artery walls", "Function5": "increase the amount of oxygen absorbed by the walls", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/helical-structure-improves-flow/", "Strategy": "Why Curvy Blood Vessels Are More Efficient\n\nArteries of humans enhance transport of molecules between blood and the wall by having a helical structure.\n\nIntroduction\n\nWe may imagine ourselves having  essentially solid bodies, but the vascular system that carries oxygen throughout our bodies, makes us less like a mountain of muscle and more like a walking river of fluid. That’s why damage to our veins and arteries can be so devastating, and why cardiovascular disease is a leading cause of death for humans worldwide.\n\nMuch of the problem stems from the build-up over time of hardening agents in the walls of arteries. Healthy arterial walls require a constant supply of oxygen––artery walls receiving less oxygen are more likely to harden. Fortunately, our arteries have surprising and subtle adaptations to help us remain healthy throughout our lifetimes.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nAs our arteries carry oxygen-enriched blood from our lungs to the rest of our bodies, they often curve and twist in three-dimensional space like a corkscrew. Why don’t they just travel in seemingly efficient straight lines?\n\nIt turns out that those helical twists create helical flow patterns within vessels that better mix oxygen in the bloodstream. They also cause our flowing blood to exert more force against the artery walls. This force, called wall shear stress, directly affects the amount of oxygen absorbed by the walls. It’s similar to eating a tasty candy: if you roll it around in your mouth, your taste buds have a chance to experience the flavor, but if you swallow it straight down, you hardly taste a thing,\n\nSimilarly, straighter arteries have less opportunity to interact with the oxygen flowing through them. That puts them at greater risk of hardening than helical ones. Thus, the seemingly inefficient twists in our veins and arteries are ultimately critical for maintaining the health and functioning of the system as a whole.\n\nThe Potential\n\nThe natural helical geometries of our vascular system can serve as an inspiration in the design of grafts, shunts, and stents used in procedures such as dialysis and bypass surgery. Helical stents modeled on the geometry of human arteries, for example, have already been shown to better maintain the health of associated vessels than straight stents.\n\nMore broadly, mimicking the twisting path of arteries could improve the absorption in other flowing systems, either for distributing materials into the surroundings, or filtering them out of the flowing liquid."}, {"Source": "begonia's leaf", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "focus light", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/leaves-focus-light/", "Strategy": "Leaves Focus Light\n\nThe leaves of begonias maximize photosynthesis in low-light conditions by using clear surface cells to focus light.\n\n“Begonias, which also grow on the floor of these Asiatic forests, have an additional trick. Some cells in the upper surface of their leaves are transparent and act as tiny lenses, gathering the feeble light and focussing it on to the grains of chlorophyll within.” \n\n“Many understory plants rely on diffuse light for photosynthesis because direct light is usually scattered by upper canopy layers before it strikes the forest floor. There is a considerable gap in the literature concerning the interaction of direct and diffuse light with leaves. Some understory plants have well-developed lens-shaped epidermal cells, which have long been thought to increase the absorption of diffuse light. To assess the role of epidermal cell shape in capturing direct vs. diffuse light, we measured leaf reflectance and transmittance with an integrating sphere system using leaves with flat (Begonia erythrophylla, Citrus reticulata, and Ficus benjamina) and lens-shaped epidermal cells (B. bowerae, Colocasia esculenta, and Impatiens velvetea). In all species examined, more light was absorbed when leaves were irradiated with direct as opposed to diffuse light. When leaves were irradiated with diffuse light, more light was transmitted and more was reflected in both leaf types, resulting in absorptance values 2–3% lower than in leaves irradiated with direct light. These data suggest that lens-shaped epidermal cells do not aid the capture of diffuse light. Palisade and mesophyll cell anatomy and leaf thickness appear to have more influence in the capture and absorption of light than does epidermal cell shape…Lens cells may then be more important for the focusing of direct light (Vogelmann et al., 1996) or for other reasons such as storing water and improving the hydrophobicity of the leaf surface. The development of these lens-shaped cells in understory tropical species may be primarily related to chance opportunities to exposure to direct light when sun flecks penetrate to the ground level of the forest. In addition, plants with these types of cells typically have an extremely hydrophobic surface, and convexly shaped cells increase water repellency (Wagner et al., 2003; Bhushan and Jung, 2006).”"}, {"Source": "phoruris firefly's scale", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "emit more light", "Function2": "increase the number of visible light beams", "Function3": "reflect more light", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/misfit-scales-emit-brighter-light/", "Strategy": "Misfit Scales Emit Brighter Light\n\nThe scales of the Phoruris firefly emit more light because misfit between scales increases the number of visible light beams.\n\nWhen a light beam hits a surface, the amount of visible light depends on the angle that the beam takes when approaching that surface. In the case of the Photuris firefly’s scale, a light beam hitting between 40?-90? will reflect more light than it emits. Light beams hitting at 90? or higher will make the light more visible and brighter to the observer.  The 10µm long by 3µm high slanting structure creates different angles, repeating 90?, 180?, and 270?, for the light beam to hit at different parts of the scale. This allows the light beam to hit the scale above the 40?-90? region, so that all of the light beams hitting the scale can contribute to the visible light. The emittance of light at multiple angles creates multiple beams from the same original source. These beams add onto each other to contribute to greater brightness."}, {"Source": "desert plant's root", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "extract water", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/pressure-sucks-moisture-from-soil/", "Strategy": "Pressure Sucks Moisture From Soil\n\nThe roots of desert plants extract hard to remove water from soil using negative pressure.\n\n“Plants again. Even in a desert the soil a little ways below the surface contains liquid water. It’s called ‘capillary water’ and is often thought of as firmly stuck to soil particles. The binding, though, is as much physical as chemical – the water in the soil interstices lie in tiny recesses between soil crumbs where it has minimized its exposed interface with air (Rose 1966). For the roots of a plant to extract the water requires making more surface, and thus it takes a very great pull, one that appears as an additional (negative) component of the pressure in the vessels running up a stem or trunk. The lowest (most negative) pressures known in plants occur in desert shrubs, which must suck really hard on the ground to get any water out. The most extreme value on record is, I think, minus 120 atmospheres (Schlessinger et al. 1982) – that would hold up a column water over 1,200 meters (4,000 feet) high. So the pull needed to get water free of soil can exceed both the pull that keeps water moving in the vessels and the pull that counteracts gravity.”"}, {"Source": "spanish moss's leaves", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "absorb water", "Function2": "slow down water loss", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/leaves-survive-desiccation/", "Strategy": "Leaves Survive Desiccation\n\nThe leaves of Spanish moss absorb water and have slow water loss because they are covered in dense scales.\n\n“Almost all the members of the Tillandsia subfamily are epiphytic. The exceptions are a number of thin-leaved species that grow on the forest floor. The epiphytic species mostly have well-developed tanks that function in the same way as those of the epiphytes of the Bromelia subfamily, and once again the roots are for attachment only. Some species of Tillandsia have much-reduced tanks, but Spanish moss (T. usneoides) has gone to the extreme and given them up entirely. It has also given up roots and, with its small leaves and many branches, drapes itself over twigs and branches like some lichens. The surfaces of this curious plant are densely covered with overlapping scales that avidly absorb water when it rains and slow water loss during drought. At times, this Tillandsia dries up almost completely but revives when it rains, so it is a resurrection plant.”"}, {"Source": "duck-billed platypus' bill", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "detect objects and prey", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/sensory-mucous-glands-detect-prey/", "Strategy": "Sensory Mucous Glands Detect Prey\n\nThe bill of the duck-billed platypus aids in the detection of prey via large sensory mucous glands that act as electroreceptors.\n\n“Both platypus and echidnas possess electroreceptors in their bill to detect weak electric fields generated by the movements of invertebrate prey. The electroreceptors are large sensory mucous glands that are distributed over the entire surface of the platypus bill, and are restricted to the tip of the echidna’s bill.”\n \n“A platypus — which closes its eyes, ears, and nostrils when diving — hunts by being sensitive to the electrical impulses produced by its prey. Tiny electroreceptors cover the platypus’s bill. They are linked to the trigeminal cranial nerve, in contrast to electrosensitive fishes whose receptors are linked to the auditory cranial nerve.”"}, {"Source": "orb weaving spider web", "Application": "sustainable pest control", "Function1": "capture pests", "Function2": "electrostatic attraction", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/webs-react-to-electrically-charged-insects/", "Strategy": "Webs React to Electrically Charged Insects\n\nThreads that make up the orb-web of the cross spider experience deformation when a positively charged insect enters the neutral or negative field through electrostatic attraction.\n\nCross spiders, also known as European garden spiders, belong to a group of spiders that are known for constructing orb-webs. An orb-web experiences crossing in the center; please see the gallery for an example of an orb-web. It is believed that the silk threads of orb-webs remain at a neutral or slightly negative charge. Insects, such as honeybees, can collect positive charges when flying through the air or interacting with areas of high positive-ion concentration. If an insect develops a positive charge and flies or walks past an orb-web, the opposite charges interact electrostatically causing an immediate attraction. Threads on orb-webs of the cross spider have been observed to deform from their regular shape as a positively charged insect passes by. This may provide insight in a more sustainable way to capture pests in our gardens and maybe someday even our farm fields (without the use of harmful pesticides)."}, {"Source": "carpenter bee's wing", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "release pollen", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/wingbeat-vibrations-cause-pollen-release/", "Strategy": "Wingbeat Vibrations Cause Pollen Release\n\nThe wings of carpenter bees cause pink gentian flowers to release their pollen by beating at a frequency that causes the anthers to vibrate.\n\n“A pink gentian grows in southern Africa, which is pollinated by handsome furry carpenter bees. The flowers of the gentian spread their petals wide, revealing to all a curving white style and three large stamens. Each stamen ends in a long thick anther that seems to be covered in yellow pollen, an obvious temptation to any passing pollen-feeding insect. But that is something of an illusion. The yellow anther is hollow and the pollen is held inside. The only way it can escape is through a tiny hole right at the top of the anther and there is only one way of extracting it. The bee knows how.\n\n“It arrives at the flower making a high-pitched buzzing noise with its wings as most bees do. As it alights on an anther, it continues beating its wings but lowers the frequency so that the note of its buzz suddenly falls to approximately middle C. This causes the anther to vibrate at just the right frequency needed to release the pollen and the grains spout out of the hole at the top in a yellow fountain.”"}, {"Source": "dromedary camel's red blood cell", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "avoid dehydration", "Function2": "circulate in thick blood", "Function3": "expand during rehydration", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/blood-cells-protect-from-dehydration/", "Strategy": "Blood Cells Protect From Dehydration\n\nThe red blood cells of the dromedary camel protect it from dehydration because the oval-shaped cells can circulate even in thick blood and can significantly expand during rehydration.\n\nThe dromedary camel is incredibly well-adapted to hot, arid climates. The camel can go days without drinking water, surviving extreme dehydration and safely losing 40% of its body weight in water. This ability is, in part, due to uniquely oval red blood cells (which carry oxygen). The long axis of these oval cells is oriented with the flow of blood, enabling the cells to cross over the smallest of blood vessels, even when blood thickens during times of dehydration.\n\nAdditionally, the camel’s red blood cells are capable of expanding up to 240% of their original volume without rupturing; most animals’ cells can expand only 150%. This makes it possible for the camel to drink the necessarily large amount of water to recover from dehydration."}, {"Source": "mangrove leaf", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "pressurized air system", "Function2": "move oxygen molecules", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/cork-warts-and-aerenchyma-pressurize-internal-airflow/", "Strategy": "Cork Warts and Aerenchyma\nPressurize Internal Airflow\n\nAerenchyma and corkwarts in leaves of mangrove provide Knudsen internal airflow through heated air pressurization to aerate anoxic roots.\n\n“Mangroves are a diverse group of plants that inhabit tidal zones in the tropics and sub-tropics”. These species of plants are important to the tidal ecosystem and provide homes to many fish. Because the areas these plants grow in are tidal zones, their roots often receive little to no oxygen; i.e., they live in an anoxic substrate. To adapt to such conditions mangroves have developed a pressurized air system that moves oxygen molecules from the surface down to their roots. Air enters the leaves of the mangroves through cork warts. As it enters, the air collects in special airspaces within the leaf known as aerenchyma. There are aerenchyma located throughout the plant (in the stems, roots, etc.) that the air can move through in a process known as Knudsen airflow. As the air inside the aerenchyma is heated, it expands, thus causing internal pressure. This pressure then forces the air molecules out of certain aerenchyma and into others until eventually even the smallest roots located in the anoxic substrate are oxygenated."}, {"Source": "collospermum epiphytes' leaves", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "collect water", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/leaf-arrangement-collects-water/", "Strategy": "Leaf Arrangement Collects Water\n\nLeaves of Collospermum epiphytes capture water due to their fan-shaped arrangement.\n\n“Collospermums are more specialized as epiphytes…The form of the nests is similar to those of the astelias, but the leaves are different. They are broadly rounded at the base and arranged in wide fans with enclosed spaces between them that function as water tanks…Roots grow upward into the tanks to absorb water, and it has been suggested that scales on the inner leaf surfaces may also absorb water after the fashion of the bromeliads, but this has not been proved.”"}, {"Source": "plant leaf's cuticle", "Application": "smart membrane", "Function1": "selective permeability", "Function2": "allow limited transport of water and small water-soluble constituents", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/leaf-cuticle-allows-select-chemicals-to-pass/", "Strategy": "Leaf Cuticle Allows Select Chemicals to Pass\n\nThe cuticle on the surface of leaves create a smart barrier by having selective permeability to both hydrophobic and hydrophillic molecules.\n\nOne might assume the wax coating on the upper surface of plant leaves serves as a simple barrier to keep leaves from losing water during dry conditions and from becoming waterlogged during wet conditions. But nature rarely makes single-function materials and these cuticular coatings are no exception.\n\nWhile the main function of the cuticular coating is to protect leaves from gaining or losing too much water, it is also a smart membrane, allowing two-way transport of select molecules. While made up predominantly of water-proof waxes, the coating contains about one-fifth hydrophilic compounds such as cellulose. Microfibrils of cellulose or other carbohydrates are thought to form tortuous, branched pathways through the cuticular coating that allow limited transport of water and small water-soluble constituents, such as mineral salts, to and from leaf tissues when a droplet of water sits on the leaf surface. Molecular-scale imperfections or cracks form across the cuticular coating that can fill with water allowing water and water-soluble compounds to pass based on size, shape, electrical charge, and other physical/chemical attributes. Diffusion of fat-soluble compounds across the membrane occurs through molecular-size holes that form temporarily by the movement of cuticular wax and cutin molecules."}, {"Source": "crustacean's shell", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "absorb calcium carbonate", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/minerals-conserved-during-moult/", "Strategy": "Minerals Conserved During Moult\n\nCrustaceans conserve minerals when moulting by absorbing calcium carbonate from their shell before it is shed.\n\n“The external shell gives the crustaceans the problem it gave the trilobites. It will not expand and since it completely encloses their bodies, the only way they can grow is to shed it periodically. As the time for the moult approaches, the animal absorbs much of the calcium carbonate from its shell into its blood. It secretes a new, soft wrinkled skin beneath the shell. The outgrown armour splits and the animal pulls itself out, leaving it more or less complete, like a translucent ghost of its former self. Now its skin is soft and it must hide, but it grows fast and swells its body by absorbing water and stretching out the wrinkles of its new carapace. Gradually this hardens and the animal can again venture into a hostile world.”"}, {"Source": "butterflies and moths' wings", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "easily detachable scales", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/wings-allow-escape-from-spider-webs/", "Strategy": "Wings Allow Escape From Spider Webs\n\nThe wings of butterflies and moths help them escape spider webs and other predators because they have scales that easily detach.\n\n“Because butterflies and moths are always at risk of flying into spiderwebs, their wings are covered with detachable scales. When these insects are caught in a web or held in the grasp of a predator, the scales pull away freely and thus enable the moth or butterfly to slip away.” \n\nThomas Eisner writes about testing how spider webs hold prey by dropping various insects onto the webs. “Most did not have a chance. It was the moths that seemed most consistently able to escape. They fluttered vigorously the moment we put them into an orb, but as a rule they were detained only momentarily. Some bounced off the web without sticking at all. Others, which did not change direction upon impact, slid momentarily over the web’s surface, only to flutter free when they reached the edge. They all left impact marks on the webs where scales became detached to the viscid strands. Moth scars we came to call such telltale sites, and soon learned that they were common.”"}, {"Source": "mycobacterium tuberculosis's cells", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "detect toxic copper", "Function2": "sequester toxic copper", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/cells-detect-and-sequester-toxic-copper/", "Strategy": "Cells Detect and Sequester Toxic Copper\n\nThe cells of Mycobacterium tuberculosis detect, move, and sequester toxic copper via membrane copper pumps and protein chaperones.\n\n“Copper is an essential micronutrient that is involved in protein-mediated electron transfer and enzyme activity, yet reduced copper in its +1 oxidation state is highly toxic to cells. As a result, cellular regulation of copper is highly controlled, involving cell-surface copper pumps and protein chaperones that move copper around the cell, delivering it to specific target proteins and concurrently sequestering it to protect the cell from toxicity.”"}, {"Source": "alveoli in lungs", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "increase the total surface area", "Function2": "improve gas exchange", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/increased-surface-area-improves-gas-exchange/", "Strategy": "Increased Surface Area Improves Gas Exchange\n\nAlveoli in lungs improve gas exchange by increasing the surface area of the lungs.\n\n“Our lungs are the functional interface between us and the atmosphere. The capacity of a pair of lungs is about 6 liters, but this modest volume, divided among three hundred million alveoli, is bounded by a surface of 50-100 square meters, about the floor area of a large classroom.” \n"}, {"Source": "tree's xylem cell", "Application": "low-energy mechanical pumping systems", "Function1": "move water", "Function2": "protect against pathogens", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/xylem-conduits-transport-water/", "Strategy": "How Trees Lift Water With Little Effort\n\nThe structure of the cells in xylem passively moves water from roots to leaves through a system of chambers and valves, and filters out pathogens.\n\nIntroduction\n\nTrees, like all known living things, need water to survive. Rain water soaks into the soil and is taken up by tree roots. Water vapor is released from the tree’s leaves and contributes to the creation of clouds and rain over the forest.\n\nTrees use water for many things: to cool their leaves down by “sweating” (i.e., transpiration), to give added support to each cell through water pressure, to serve as a source of hydrogen atoms for making molecules like glucose and cellulose, and as an anti-gravity conveyor belt transporting nutrients up from the soil throughout the tree’s many tissues.\n\nThis conveyor belt of water throughout the tree’s xylem tissues presents a major vulnerability: what if the water flow is somehow disrupted? Or, what if unwanted contaminants infiltrate the tree with the water entering its roots?\n\nThe Strategy\n\nXylem tissue is not comprised of continuous, hollow tubes or “straws” from a tree’s roots to its leaves. Instead, it is subdivided into smaller compartments of dead cells called tracheids, each just a few millimeters long, separated from one another by valves.\n\nThe valves consist of an opening in the cell walls between two adjacent tracheids, in the middle of which is a freely-moving membrane. The thin membrane responds to pressure differences between the two tracheids, moving to seal the aperture on one of the tracheid cell walls when there is a pressure difference between them. The size of the valves when open are 100-500 nanometers, small enough to prevent the passage of many types of potential contaminants and undesired microbes, but large enough to still allow water to flow through.\n\nThe valves also work to prevent an arboreal version of the bends. When an injury brings air into a tracheid, the lower pressure causes the valves of the cell to snap closed, preventing water from an adjacent cell from flowing into the first tracheid, and keeping the air from flowing into adjacent tracheids. The short length of each tracheid also ensures that air doesn’t penetrate far into the tree before a valve can shut it off.\n\nThe Potential\n\nThe pressure-driven valves in xylem could have many applications in low-energy mechanical pumping systems, whether to move water or other substances.\n\nThe filtering system also holds promise for human application. Water-borne illnesses kill over a million people every year, especially in areas where water sanitation technologies are too financially intensive to be widely or effectively implemented. An inexpensive, readily available, effective water filter could improve water quality and prevent disease. Xylem-inspired water filters have been shown to effectively remove water pathogens."}, {"Source": "marsh crab's legs", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "draw water", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/setae-draw-water-from-mud/", "Strategy": "Setae Draw Water From Mud\n\nTufts on marsh crab legs draw water from mud by using hydrophilic setae (stiff hair-like structures).\n\n“Some species, including Sesarma, have an additional means of gaining water from the soil by what are, in effect, roots. Tufts of hydrophilic setae at the bases of the legs are brought into contact with the moist surface of the mud and can actually draw water into the crab’s body (Burggren and McMahon 1988).”"}, {"Source": "termite mound of macrotermes", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "accumulate calcium carbonate", "Function2": "precipitation of calcite", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/mounds-accumulate-calcium-carbonate/", "Strategy": "Mounds Accumulate Calcium Carbonate\n\nMounds of Macrotermes termites accumulate calcium carbonate.\n\n“The presence of appreciable quantities of calcium carbonate in termite mounds on non-calcareous soil has intrigued pedologists for many years. Milne, for example, found a termite mound with 7% calcium carbonate and estimated that it contained about 2 t of calcium carbonate excluding the hard limestone (53% CaC03) base of the mound. The soil below the base of a termite mound may also be calcareous The soil underneath one termite mound in an area of non-calcareous soil was found to have mean of 1.7% calcium carbonate to a depth of 6 m, or about 20 t of calcium carbonate.”\n \n“A group of islands of varying size on the floodplain of the Okavango alluvial fan, were studied to establish the processes which lead to the initiation and growth of islands. It was found that islands are initiated by the mound-building activities of the termite Macrotermes michaelseni. These termites import fine grained materials to use as a mortar for the construction of epigeal mounds. Their activities create a topographic feature, raised above the level of seasonal flooding, and also change the physical properties and nutrient status of the mound soil. Shrubs and trees are able to colonize these mounds, which results in increased transpiration. As a result, precipitation of calcite and silica from the shallow ground water occurs preferentially beneath the mounds, resulting in vertical and especially lateral growth, causing island expansion.”"}, {"Source": "mammals' eyelid", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "lubricate the eye", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/eyelids-cleanse-eyes/", "Strategy": "Eyelids Cleanse Eyes\n\nThe eyelids of mammals provide lubrication for the eye using teardrops that are applied during blinking.\n\n“Being a particularly delicate instrument, the eye needs protection — usually, an eyelid. Most mammals have two eyelids, one above and one below, but some – such as horses and deer – have a third, inner eyelid, the nictitating membrane, which may move upwards or sideways across the eyeball. Both types of eyelid can be closed to protect the eye from a blow, or from dirt; in closing – blinking – they wipe the eyeball clean and lubricate it with teardrops.”"}, {"Source": "diatom", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "concentrate inorganic carbon", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/mechanism-concentrates-inorganic-carbon/", "Strategy": "Mechanism Concentrates Inorganic Carbon\n\nDiatoms assimilate inorganic carbon via a carbon concentration mechanism.\n\n“Diatoms growing in their natural aquatic habitats operate inorganic C concentrating mechanisms (CCMs), which provide a steady-state CO2 concentration around Rubisco higher than that in the medium. How these CCMs work is still a matter of debate. However, it is known that both CO2 and HCO3– are taken up, and an obvious but as yet unproven possibility is that active transport of these species across the plasmalemma and/or the four-membrane plastid envelope is the basis of the CCM. In one marine diatom there is evidence of C4-like biochemistry which could act as, or be part of, a CCM. Alternative mechanisms which have not been eliminated include the production of CO2 from HCO3– at low pH maintained by a H+ pump, in a compartment close to that containing Rubisco.”"}, {"Source": "salp", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "capture tiny algae", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/net-filters-algae/", "Strategy": "Net Filters Algae\n\nSalps capture tiny algae for food by filtering seawater through a net of mucus.\n\n“Also called thaliaceans, salps are small free-swimming marine creatures with gelatinous, semitransparent bodies that move around by means of jet propulsion, drawing in water through an aperture at one end of the body, and then forcing it out through another aperture at the opposite end. The water drawn in is also used for feeding, because while inside the body it is strained through a baglike net of mucus, which traps any tiny algae present. The salp feeds on the algae.”"}, {"Source": "plant vascular system", "Application": "wound healing", "Function1": "transport fluids and solutes", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/vascular-systems-transport-fluids-and-solutes/", "Strategy": "Vascular Systems Transport Fluids and Solutes\n\nVascular systems of plants transport fluids and solutes by creating bars of tension by capillary action in leaves to pull water out of the soil and through the plant.\n\n“Vascular structures are the central element of nearly all biological tissues, allowing for efficient convective transport of fluid and solute to all parts of the tissue from a centralized source. Abraham Stroock and colleagues from the Dept. of Biomedical Engineering at Cornell are developing synthetic biomaterials with embedded microfluidic vascular structures to address two important challenges in the field of wound healing: 1) clinical treatment of severe cutaneous wounds due to burns or diabetes; and 2) in vitro modeling of the wound bed and development of improved epidermal grafts.”"}, {"Source": "salp", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "transport carbon to the ocean floor", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/fecal-pellets-sink-carbon/", "Strategy": "Fecal Pellets Sink Carbon\n\nSalpa aspera transport carbon to the ocean floor via their fecal pellets.\n\nUnderwater roots of mangroves move air via changes in gas pressure.\n\n“Biologists Laurence Madin of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and Patricia Kremer of the University of Connecticut and colleagues have conducted four summer expeditions to the Mid-Atlantic Bight region, between Cape Hatteras and Georges Bank in the North Atlantic, since 1975. Each time the researchers found that one particular salp species, Salpa aspera, multiplied into dense swarms that lasted for months.”\n\n“One swarm covered 100,000 square kilometers (38,600 square miles) of the sea surface. The scientists estimated that the swarm consumed up to 74 percent of microscopic carbon-containing plants from the surface water per day, and their sinking fecal pellets transported up to 4,000 tons of carbon a day to deep water.”"}, {"Source": "mangrove root", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "move air", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/pressure-makes-air-move/", "Strategy": "Pressure Makes Air Move\n\nUnderwater roots of mangroves move air via changes in gas pressure.\n\n“Simple physical diffusion through the lenticels and along the aerenchyma is probably the main mode of gas movement in mangrove roots, but it may be supplemented by mass flow […] There is a more convincing interpretation of the observed pressure changes which provide a mechanism for the mass flow of air into a root to supplement diffusion. Lenticels are hydrophobic, so that while a root is covered by water they are in effect closed: neither air nor water can enter. Respiration removes oxygen from the air spaces and produces carbon dioxide. Because it is highly soluble in water, the carbon dioxide does not replace the volume of oxygen removed, and gas pressure within the root is therefore reduced. This is confirmed by direct measurement of gas composition in a submerged Avicennia root. After a root is covered by the tide, oxygen within it falls, carbon dioxide levels do not increase to compensate, and pressure falls. When the tide recedes and the lenticels are again open, air is sucked in (Scholander et al. 1955).”"}, {"Source": "salamander's hypaxial muscles", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "force air out of the lungs", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/hypaxial-muscles-aid-in-respiration/", "Strategy": "Hypaxial Muscles Aid in Respiration\n\nThe hypaxial muscles of some salamanders cause exhalation by actively contracting to increase abdominal pressure and force air out of the lungs.\n\nHistorically, amniotes were the only known animals to use the muscles of their thorax and abdomen to expand the body and pull air into the lungs. The next animals in the evolutionary chain, such as air-breathing fishes and amphibians, use a method known as a buccal pump that compresses air stored in an extended jaw (Gans, 1970b; Liem, 1985 via Brainerd and Monroy 1998). Siren lacertina, however, is a salamander (a non-amniote) that uses a system similar to the aspiration pump used by many amniotes to breathe. The new method of breathing discovered to be used by the salamanders is known as an exhalation pump and exhalation occurs in two phases. The first phase is passive; air is forced out of the lungs by hydrostatic pressure and the elasticity of the lungs. The second phase is an active one involving the traverse abdominal muscle. By engaging the muscles on the lower side of the body (the hypaxial muscles) the salamander creates active pressure within the body cavity that forces air out of the lungs."}, {"Source": "taeniophyllum orchid's roots", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "absorb moisture", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/ribbon-like-roots-absorb-moisture/", "Strategy": "Ribbon‑like Roots Absorb Moisture\n\nThe roots of Taeniophyllum orchids absorb moisture efficiently via flat, ribbon-like shape.\n\n“One orchid, taeniophyllum, has roots that are even more versatile. Its scientific name means, rather unattractively, ‘tapeworm leaf.’ Its roots have not only developed into flat, tapeworm-like shapes several yards long that writhe statically all over the branch on which the plant sits, but they have also become green and manufacture the orchid’s food. The true leaves, no longer needed, have been reduced to tiny scales on the minute stem that carries the flowers.”"}, {"Source": "leaf's internal structure", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "improve gas exchange", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/internal-leaf-surface-increases-gas-exchange/", "Strategy": "Internal Leaf Surface Increases Gas Exchange\n\nThe internal structure of a leaf increases gas exchange by providing a much greater surface area than is found externally.\n\n“A tree…has a lot of very obvious leaf surface. In fact, gas exchange between the photosynthetic cells of leaves and the atmosphere occurs at the walls of tortuous internal passages, so the functional surface area is from ten to more than thirty times greater than meets the eye. For an orange tree with two thousand leaves, the outer surface was measured as 200 square meters; but the internal surface for gas exchange is thirty times greater–6,000 square meters or 0.6 hectares (1.5 acres).”"}, {"Source": "horned lizard's blood-filled sinuses", "Application": "cleaning equipment", "Function1": "shoot blood", "Function2": "self-defense", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/eyes-squirt-blood/", "Strategy": "Eyes Squirt Blood\n\nBlood-filled sinuses within the eye sockets of horned lizards squirt blood in self-defense by swelling and rupturing.\n\nIntroduction\n\nNorth American desert horned lizards have a wide range of predators within their habitat. One unusual defense mechanism involves the flooding of their ocular sinuses, tissues found below their eye, with blood. When a horned lizard feels threatened by a predator, its final defense response is to shoot blood from these flooded sinuses and out its eye sockets. As a result, the predator is often frightened and flees. The lizard also uses this mechanism to remove foreign particles from the surface of its eyes.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nThe horned lizard has two constricting muscles that line the major veins around its eye. When these muscles contract, they cut off blood flow back to the heart, while it continues to flow into the head. This floods the ocular sinuses with blood, building pressure, and causing them to bulge. By further contracting these muscles in a rapid manner, the pressure increases even more, eventually rupturing the thin sinus membranes. The result is a jet stream of blood that can shoot up to four feet from the eye socket, a process known as auto-hemorrhaging. Amazingly, this process can be repeated several times within a short period if necessary, though the mechanism for this rapid recovery is not completely understood.\n \nThe lizard uses the same mechanism to remove particles from its eye, without rupturing the sinus membranes completely. When dirt, soil, or other particles enter the eye, the lizard controls the pressure precisely, allowing the sinuses to swell, but not hemorrhage. It then sweeps a thin, transparent third eyelid across the surface of the eye. This membranous eyelid folds back to the front corner of the eye, leaving the debris at the rear corner. The horned lizard then uses the bulging ocular sinuses to draw the debris away from the rear of the eye and onto the eyelid. Once the lizard floods its sinuses with blood, as described above, the skin surrounding the eyelids expands, dislocating the debris where it falls off or is otherwise easily removed.\n\nThe Potential \n\nEquipment used in liquid services such as pumps or filters need regular maintenance to keep them clean. Often, this requires shutting plants and processes down to perform such maintenance. Studying this lizard’s unique mechanism could provide innovative ways to clean equipment while it continues to operate, increasing overall efficiency."}, {"Source": "sphagnum moss", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "transport nutrients", "Function2": "translocate metabolites", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/internal-perforations-transport-nutrients/", "Strategy": "Internal Perforations Transport Nutrients\n\nSphagnum moss translocates nutrients via small perforations that connect the cells in the stem.\n\n“The cation exchange is one explanation for why Sphagnum can grow in extremely poor habitats. Another factor is the ability to conserve nutrients. As the lower parts of the shoots are incorporated into peat, the plant faces the risk of losing essential nutrients and minerals. By tracer techniques (l4C, 32p) it has been shown that Sphagnum can translocate metabolites to the growing capitulum further down. This transport occurs internally and is dependent upon the plant being alive (Rydin and Clymo 1989). This is somewhat surprising, since Sphagnum mosses lack specialized conductive tissue. It is made possible since the cell ends in the stem are connected by small perforations (plasmodesmata) through which the transport occurs. Nitrogen is accumulated in new biomass, and it is likely that it is translocated internally in the same way (Aldous 2002).”"}, {"Source": "plant leaf's apoplast", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "detoxify ozone", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/apoplasts-detoxify-ozone-o3-inside-leaves/", "Strategy": "Apoplasts Detoxify Ozone (O3) Inside Leaves\n\nAscorbate located within the apoplasts of plant leaves helps detoxify ozone by reacting directly with the pollutant.\n\nThe chemical processes that take place within plants are among the most complex and efficient chemical processes known. A plant’s ability to transform toxic substances into benign products or useful nutrients can give great insight into helping pollution problems encountered in today’s world. Ozone (O3) is a substance that collects in the troposphere (the lowest part of the earth’s atmosphere) when nitrogen oxide and volatile organic compounds in polluted air interact with photons and break down in a process called photolysis. The presence of excess ozone remains a great threat to various plants and other organisms, as it can cause oxidative damage when it reacts with molecules in living tissues.\n\nCurrent research evidence shows, however, that many plants have a way to combat ozone’s toxicity using an antioxidant compound known as ascorbate (ASC), or vitamin C. ASC molecules are found within plant apoplasts, the internal aqueous space of the cell wall. Research suggests that when ozone passes into the cell wall on the leaf, some of it oxidizes ASC. This reaction produces non-toxic products that can then be managed by the plant cell. This way, ASC in the cell wall is part of a first line of defense against ozone, before the ozone can oxidize and damage sensitive molecules in the plant cell’s underlying plasma membrane. Experimental studies have found that higher concentrations of ASC are associated with higher resistance to oxidative stress."}, {"Source": "ladder brake fern's fronds", "Application": "cleanup arsenic-contaminated land", "Function1": "hyperaccumulate toxic arsenic", "Function2": "spatially isolate arsenic", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/fronds-hyperaccumulate-arsenic/", "Strategy": "Fronds Hyperaccumulate Arsenic\n\nFronds of ladder brake ferns hyperaccumulate toxic arsenic using a special transporter protein that spatially isolates the chemical in vacuoles.\n\n“The fern Pteris vittata can tolerate 100 to 1,000 times more\narsenic than other plants. Jody Banks, a professor of botany and plant\npathology, and David Salt, a professor of horticulture, uncovered what\nmay have been an evolutionary genetic event that creates an arsenic pump\nof sorts in the fern.\n\n“‘It actually sucks the arsenic out of the soil and puts it in the\nfronds,’ Banks said. ‘It’s the only multi-cellular organism that can do\nthis.’…\n\n“Banks and Salt found that the protein encoded by [an isolated] gene ends up in\nthe membrane of the plant cell’s vacuole. Salt said the protein acts as\na pump, moving arsenic into the cell’s equivalent of a trashcan.\n\n“‘It stores it away from the cytoplasm so that it can’t have an effect\non the plant,’ Salt said.\n\n“Banks said understanding how the Pteris vittata functions\nwith arsenic could lead to ways to clean up arsenic-contaminated land…\n\n“The plant might have evolved to accumulate arsenic, Banks and Salt\ntheorized, as a defense against animals or insects eating them.” "}, {"Source": "ochradenus baccatus' fruit", "Application": "safer pesticides", "Function1": "convert from seed predators to seed dispersers", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/fruit-chemistry-converts-a-seed-predator-to-a-disperser/", "Strategy": "Fruit Chemistry Converts a\nSeed Predator to a Disperser\n\nFruits of Ochradenus baccatus cause rodents to convert from seed predators to seed dispersers by releasing chemicals that cause the animal to spit the seed out.\n\nGlucosinolates (GLSs) are secondary metabolites (SMs) that are found in many plant species. GLSs are generally harmless, however, when hydrolyzed by myrosinases new, toxic compounds are formed. Usually this hydrolysis occurs when the tissue containing the GLSs becomes damaged, i.e., when a rodent chews on the seed. In the Ochradenus baccatus plant, GLSs are found only in the pulp of the fruit, which is neatly separated from the myrosinases (which are found only in the seeds). When a rodent, such as the common spiny mouse (Acomys cahirinus), chews on the fruit and damages the seed, the enzyme is released and reacts with the GLSs to form harmful toxins in a mechanism known as the “mustard oil bomb.” This pungent taste causes the rodent to spit the seed out in a form ready for germination. Rodents tend to take the food they gather to rock crevices, which are cooler and more humid. This type of environment is ideal for O. baccatus growth, thus the mouse is converted from a seed predator to a seed disperser. Understanding these types of chemical relationships may provide insight to developing safer pesticides as well as benefit relationships between species."}, {"Source": "red-necked phalarope's beak", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "pull fluid droplets", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/beak-pulls-up-fluid-droplets/", "Strategy": "Beak Pulls Up Fluid Droplets\n\nThe beak of the red-necked phalarope pulls up fluid droplets via capillary action created by repeatedly opening and closing.\n\nThe red-necked phalarope feeds by pulling up suspended particles from the water below through its beak. Since this movement is against gravity, the beak must generate a force to pull the fluid. The bird achieves this by opening and closing its beak slightly in a repeated ratcheting, or tweezering, motion.\n\nThis opening and closing motion changes the fluid’s angle of curvature in contact with the beak, generating pressure from surface tension that pulls the fluid. As the beak closes, the leading edge of water moves toward the mouth; as the beak opens, the trailing edge of water recedes toward the mouth. Because of the pressure difference, the fluid’s net movement is toward the mouth. This mechanism is known as the “capillary ratchet.”"}, {"Source": "thorny devil's grooves", "Application": "water collection", "Function1": "provide drinking water", "Function2": "draw condensed dew", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/grooves-gather-water/", "Strategy": "Grooves Gather Water\n\nGrooves on spikes of thorny devil lizard provide drinking water by drawing condensed dew to mouth by capillary action.\n\nThe Thorny Devil (Moloch horridus) can gather all the water it needs directly from rain, standing water, or from soil moisture, against gravity without using energy or a pumping device. Water is conveyed to this desert lizard’s mouth by capillary action through a circulatory system on the surface of its skin, comprised of semi-enclosed channels 5-150 µm wide running between cutaneous scales. Channel surfaces are heavily convoluted, greatly increasing the effective surface area to which water can hydrogen-bond and hence capillary action force. Passive collection and distribution systems of naturally distilled water could help provide clean water supplies to the 1 billion people estimated to lack this vital resource, reduce the energy consumption required in collecting and transporting water by pump action (e.g., to the tops of buildings), and provide a variety of other inexpensive technological solutions such as managing heat through evaporative cooling systems, protecting structures from fire through on-demand water barriers, etc."}, {"Source": "conifers' tracheids", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "prevent the spread of an embolism", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/transport-system-prevents-spread-of-embolisms/", "Strategy": "Transport System Prevents\nSpread of Embolisms\n\nThe tracheids in conifers prevent the spread of an embolism using fail-safe valves in their pit membranes.\n\n“The tracheids in conifers have a specialised arrangement of fail-safe valves in the thin-walled pit areas. The pit pairs themselves are more or less circular in surface view. The cell wall bulges out on either side of the thin membrane between the cells (a laminate — cell wall, middle lamella, cell wall). The aperture in the out-bulging part of the wall is narrower than the diameter of the central membrane. The central membrane has an annular rim which is not thickened, but the centre of the membrane has a thickenened area. This gives a bordered appearance to the pit pair (Fig. 4). \n\n“If there is a failure of the water column in a tracheid, the thickened portion of the pit membrane moves across under the differential pressure, blocking the pit aperture, and helping prevent the spread of an embolism.”"}, {"Source": "texas horned lizard's body", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "capture rainwater", "Function2": "harvest rainwater", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/stance-and-skin-channels-harvest-rainwater/", "Strategy": "Stance and Skin Channels Harvest Rainwater\n\nThe body of Texas horned lizards captures rainwater via splayed stance and interscalar channels on the skin.\n\n“During rainstorms, Texas horned lizards in enclosures were observed to exhibit a stereotyped behavior termed ‘rain-harvesting.’ The behavior involves: (1) raising the abdomen in an arch; (2) splaying and extending the legs; (3) dorso-ventral flattening and lateral spreading of the body; (4) lowering the head and tail; (5) opening and closing the jaws; and (6) drinking water collected on the dorsal body surface. Ingestion of integumentally-derived water was verified by recovery of dyed water from the gut. SEM stereophotographs illustrate the interscalar channels through which water is carried, apparently by capillary action, over body surfaces to the jaws. During light rainfall water flow to the jaws occurs within interscalar channels, but during heavy rainfall gravitational sheet flow may increase the amount of water arriving at the jaws. This integumental rain-harvesting system is similar to reported interscalar water transport in two agamid lizards, Moloch horridus and Phrynocephalus helioscopus. Apparently, Phrynosoma and P. helioscopus have similar behaviors for rain-harvesting. This is the first report to provide observations of a lizard obtaining water from natural precipitation for drinking by integumental interception and transport.”"}, {"Source": "glands of gulls and other marine birds", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "remove salt", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/glands-remove-salt/", "Strategy": "Glands Remove Salt\n\nGlands of gulls and other marine birds remove salt from seawater.\n\n“These birds (Glaucous-winged Gulls, Larus glaucescens) drink saline water and eat food with a high salt content and are able to maintain plasma concentration on full strength sea water through efficient salt gland function.” \n\n“The secretory mechanism responded to the osmotic concentration of the blood. Addition of osmotically active substances to the blood should induce water to move out of cells into the extracellular compartment. Either the osmotically active material or the expansion it induces in the blood volume (BV) or extracellular fluid volume (ECFV) (or both) might serve as the stimulus for extrarenal excretion of NaCl.” "}, {"Source": "aspergillus nidulans' transport protein", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "maintain the right concentration of nitrogen compounds", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/transport-proteins-respond-to-nutrient-concentration/", "Strategy": "Transport Proteins Respond\nto Nutrient Concentration\n\nA transport protein in Aspergillus nidulans maintains the right concentration of nitrogen compounds within cells by actively responding to the presence of nutrient sources.\n\nToo much of a good thing is no good. Even microorganisms must know when to stop absorbing nutrients from their environment before they reach toxic concentrations. The fungus, Aspergillus nidulans, developed a clever strategy centered around a membrane-bound transport protein called UapA that functions to import nitrogen sources, including uric acid and xanthine, into the cell. Once the cell is satiated with enough uric acid and xanthine, UapA is sent to the cell’s recycling machinery where it’s broken down to its constituent building block amino acids for use elsewhere. Curiously, it is the presence of uric acid and xanthine that trigger UapA to transport them into the cell in the first place, and it is these same compounds that mark UapA for recycling once the cell’s nitrogen requirements have been satisfied.\n\nUric acid and xanthine promote increased synthesis of UapA to facilitate their transport into the cell, but then induce break down of UapA once they are inside the cell. While the mechanisms are not yet fully understood, it appears that something inherent in the transportation of uric acid or xanthin across the cell membrane leads to subtle conformational changes in the shape of UapA, thereby signaling the cell to begin breaking it apart. It is attractive to hypothesize that the purpose of this unusual inhibitory pathway is to serve as a negative-feedback loop to prevent over accumulation of uric acid that may result in cellular damage. That may in fact be the case, but other pieces of evidence, including the low toxicity of uric acid to the fungus, shed doubt on the concept. As such, the precise reasons for this evolutionary adaptation remain unknown."}, {"Source": "sulfate-reducing bacteria's extracellular proteins", "Application": "natural water purification", "Function1": "aggregate nanoparticles", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/proteins-limit-nanoparticle-dispersal/", "Strategy": "Proteins Limit Nanoparticle Dispersal\n\nExtracellular proteins of some sulfate-reducing bacteria limit the dispersal of nanoparticles by aggregating them.\n\nIn the waters of a lead-zinc mine in Wisconsin, scientists may have found a solution to how we can clean heavy metals out of subsurface waters. Their findings may also provide clues to how we can mimic nature to clean up other nanoparticles. It was already known that aggregates of sulfate-reducing bacteria (1 and 2 in diagram below) release sulfide, which binds with zinc to sequester it into nanoparticles (3). However, that doesn’t permanently remove them from water because they remain mobile and soluble. The researchers found that proteins and polypeptides released by sulfate-reducing bacteria create spheres of zinc sulfide nanocrystals (4). These spheres are larger aggregates, and have limited ability to disperse and pollute ground and surface water. The key to the clumping was the inclusion of the proteins into pores on the spheres. Cysteine or cysteine-rich polypeptides or proteins cause larger particle size (5). It is unclear whether the proteins, amino acids, and polypeptides are released into the environment when the bacteria die and are scavenged by hydrophobic zinc sulfide surfaces, or whether the bacteria export them while alive.\nHow sulfate-reducing bacteria aggregate nanoparticles."}, {"Source": "kidney bean leaf", "Application": "sustainable design in capturing pests that infest beds all over", "Function1": "trap bugs", "Function2": "immobilize living organisms", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/leaf-surface-traps-bed-bugs/", "Strategy": "Leaf Surface Traps Bed Bugs\n\nTrichome structures on surface of leaves of kidney bean plants trap bed bugs by having stiff tips that impale mechanically vulnerable locations on the bugs' legs.\n\nThis strategy has been around for centuries, but has recently taken the spotlight in the world of research for its biomimetic application. Originating in Bulgaria and Serbia, the technique of spreading kidney bean leaves has long been used to keep pests away from sleeping quarters. The hooked hairs (called trichomes for their shapes) of the leaves are able to stop bed bugs in their tracks and prevent them from multiplying. Although it has not been evolutionarily linked, the height of the trichomes appear to be just right to snare the legs of bedbugs. The tips of the trichomes are the effective part in snaring the bugs, as they are the only part of the trichome that is stiff. The lower part of the trichome is flexible and capable of bending with the movement of a bug until the tip is able to come in contact and pierce the cuticle of the body, thus, immobilizing the living organism.\n\nThe trichome design found on the leaves of various bean plants (particularly the kidney bean) could be used as inspiration for a more sustainable design in capturing pests that infest beds all over the world. This would eliminate the need for harmful gases, which are currently used for bed-bug control and replace the design with a more environmental friendly, sustainable material that could accomplish the same task. Researchers at the University of California are currently working on creating a synthetic material based off the trichome design found on the surface of bean plant leaves."}, {"Source": "southern australian sundew's leaf", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "capture ground prey", "Function2": "snap-tentacles", "Function3": "catapult mechanism", "Function4": "touch-sensitive head", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/tentacles-catapult-insects/", "Strategy": "Tentacles Catapult Insects\n\nSnap-tentacles on leaf of southern Australian sundew capture ground prey by catapulting them to their center via a touch-sensitive head.\n\nThe South Australian sundew is a carnivorous plant that utilizes a capturing mechanism to provide itself with sustenance and nourishment. It captures its prey using tentacles that have a touch-sensitive head. When the head encounters movement, it activates a contracting mechanism (which is not yet fully understood but has two hypothesized mechanisms of its own) in the cells of the tentacle. The catapult mechanism is unique to this carnivorous plant; many other plants rely solely on the stickiness of their centers to trap prey. When the head becomes activated certain cells on the end closest to the plant body extend while cells farther out on the tentacle contract, causing the tentacle to bend upwards. In a 360-degree motion, the tentacle launches the prey to the center of the leaf. The movement of these snap-tentacles is a one-time motion. The tentacles cannot be utilized more than once due to hypothesized snapping of cells during the elongation/contraction process. The triggering of the head on the tip of the snap-tentacle is also highly precise; the head will not be triggered by vibrations from prey already trapped and must be activated via a ground-to-tentacle interaction.\n\nThe usefulness of these snap-tentacles is that they position the prey in a more vulnerable position in the center of the glue-tentacles, which reside in the middle of the trap leaf. These glue-tentacles then take two minutes to pull the prey in deeper and its active enzyme enables the plant to decompose the insect and utilize its nutrients to the fullest."}, {"Source": "bowhead whale's throat", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "entangle prey", "Function2": "form net-like structure", "Function3": "capture food", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/baleen-tangles-to-capture-prey/", "Strategy": "Baleen Tangles to Capture Prey\n\nBaleen in throat of bowhead whale traps prey by tangling fringed edges together.\n\nThe bowhead whale feeds by entangling prey in plates in its throat, called baleen. These plates are comprised of three layers of keratin (the same protein in human fingernails) – two smooth layers on the outside with a fibrous layer between. Individual fringed edges of the baleen interact with one another as water passes through and over them, causing them to tangle. As they tangle, a net-like structure is formed that captures food.\n\nWater flow rates impact the ability of the fringed baleen edges to interact. Too much water flowing through the whale’s mouth causes distortion and allows material to pass through rather easily due to little interaction between the edges; too little water does not allow the edges to interact at all and thus, prevents tangling and proper prey capture. Baleen plates are oriented in the whale’s mouth perpendicular to water flow, increasing fringe interaction and improving material capture regardless of flow rate. The baleen material is extremely strong, yet flexible, withstanding powerful forces of water flow and ocean pressure.\n\nBaleen length, diameter, and density differ between different whales, aligning with divergent feeding styles. Humpback whales, which conduct long dives to capture small fish, possess wider baleen fringes. In contrast, bowhead whales skim for microscopic prey and exhibit longer, denser fringes."}, {"Source": "victorian orchid's thick leaves and pseudobulb", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "resist fire", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/thick-leaves-pseudobulb-resist-fire/", "Strategy": "Thick Leaves, Pseudobulb Resist Fire\n\nThe Victorian orchid resists fire via tough, thick leaves and a pseudobulb water storage organ.\n\n“Dendrobium speciosum is the largest Victorian orchid and occurs in small isolated colonies on exposed rocky outcrops. It is often found in Eucalyptus forest above rivers and creeks. These forests suffered severe damage in the March fires and D. speciosum took a real beating, despite its fire-resistant features of tough thick leaves and large water reserve in bulky pseudobulbs.”"}, {"Source": "australian mouse's burrow", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "gather dew", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/pebbles-aid-dew-condensation/", "Strategy": "Pebbles Aid Dew Condensation\n\nThe burrows of Australian mice gather dew via a covering of pebbles around the burrow.\n\n“The Australian mouse (Leggadina hermansbergensis), which lives in a dry and sandy habitat, covers a large area around its burrow with pebbles, apparently for the purpose of increasing the formation of dew as a water supply.”"}, {"Source": "rajid skates' electric organs", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "generate electricity", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/electric-organs-generate-volts-3/", "Strategy": "Electric Organs Generate Volts\n\nElectric organs of rajid skates help defend against predators or stun prey by generating electricity.\n\n“Much weaker voltages are generated by other fish, including bottom-dwelling marine rajid skates, whose electric organs are in their tails."}, {"Source": "sea slug's digestive cell", "Application": "solar energy capture", "Function1": "turn sunlight into food", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/skin-incorporates-chloroplasts/", "Strategy": "Sea Slugs Can Turn Sunlight Into Food\n\nDigestive cells of sea slugs provide energy by incorporating chloroplasts from consumed algae.\n\nIntroduction\n\nAs you walk through a field on a clear, blue-sky day, the grasses, shrubs, and trees around you are busy soaking up the sunshine and using it to make the food they need to thrive. Did you ever wish you could do the same?\n\nHumans haven’t mastered this trick yet—but an undersea invertebrate known as Elysia chlorotica has. This tiny slug has evolved the ability to extract chloroplasts, which capture light energy, from the algae it eats. It then incorporates the chloroplasts into its own digestive tract cells, right below the surface of the skin. There the adopted organelles continue to turn sunlight into food, but this time for the slug directly.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nE. chlorotica slugs live in saltwater marshes along the East Coast of North America. After hatching from an egg, one will float around in the brackish water for three weeks or so. Then, when it encounters a patch of the alga Vaucheria litorea, it stops floating and starts feeding instead. But this isn’t any old meal.\nRather than chomp down on the entire alga, the slug punctures the cell with its radular tooth, and sucks out the juicy insides. In the process, it extracts the algae’s sunlight-trapping organelles, known as chloroplasts. The cells of the slug’s digestive tract then engulf the chloroplasts, carrying them into their insides. Even though they are no longer associated with their native organism, the chloroplasts continue to capture the energy of the sun. The slug then uses the resulting fixed carbon and energy to power its own cellular processes.\n\nAfter harvesting chloroplasts in this way for a week or so, the now bright green slug has adopted enough of the organelles that it can go the rest of its life—nine months or more—without needing to consume any more food.\n\nBut it’s not only about energy. The green color of the chloroplasts also helps the slug blend into the green algal bed and avoid predators. And if a predator does attack, the slug is protected by a mucus layer and chemical defenses built in part from the carbon byproducts produced by the chloroplasts.\n\nIt’s not easy being green: In order to reap the benefits of the chloroplasts, the slug needs to be able to position them near the surface of its body where sunlight can reach them. It needs to be able to produce any proteins the chloroplasts need to replace those that break or wear out. And it needs to avoid launching an immune reaction against the foreign bodies while still being able to protect itself against real invaders. Scientists are still trying to figure out exactly how E. chlorotica is able to accomplish all of this.\n\nThe Potential\n\nThe ability to redirect the output of plants’ photosynthetic machinery could be applied to developing new approaches to capturing solar energy for human use. It raises the question of whether humans and/or livestock might be able to one day  incorporate such organelles in their own cells, reducing the need for food and the adverse environmental impacts of agriculture."}, {"Source": "gurnard's fin", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "taste potential food", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/fins-taste-by-touch/", "Strategy": "Fins Taste by Touch\n\nThe fins of many fish, including gurnards and sea-robins, taste potential food using taste buds located on their tips.\n\n“The long, slender fins of many species [of fish] bear taste buds at their tips, enabling them to taste a potential food just by touching it. The pectoral fins of gurnards (Trigla spp.) and sea-robins (Prionotus spp.), for example, include several separate, fingerlike sections, which the fish uses not just for ‘walking’ along the sea bottom, but also for tasting — by touch — any potential food. Only if satisfied with the taste signals will the fish eat the object.” "}, {"Source": "file snake's skin", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "avoid dehydration", "Function2": "absorb moisture", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/skin-protects-from-dehydration/", "Strategy": "Skin Protects From Dehydration\n\nThe skin of file snakes protects from dehydration because it is hygroscopic, absorbing moisture from the air.\n\n“The granular skin of Acrochordus is hygroscopic and imbibes water which moves rapidly over the body surface through interscalar channels. Consequently, the integument is easily wetted to bear a superficial aqueous film = 5.4 mg water per cm² of skin surface. Although file snakes are aquatic, they can become entrapped in drying ephemeral pools and have been observed on tidal mud flats where they are potentially exposed to intense heat and dehydration. Superficial water films, therefore, have a potentially important biological role in reducing dehydration of skin or body while extending the time available for terrestrial sojourns between areas of water.”"}, {"Source": "vertebrate heart's aortic valve", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "allow tissue to expand", "Function2": "withstand pressure", "Function3": "close simultaneously", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/valves-handle-high-pressures/", "Strategy": "Valves Handle High Pressures\n\nThe aortic valve in vertebrate hearts allows the tissue to expand under high pressures by having elastic properties.\n\n“THE human aortic valve consists of three cusps made of relatively inelastic, muscle-free material about 0.15 mm thick. It opens and shuts about once a second, and withstands a pressure difference of 100 mm of mercury when closed. It usually functions for 70 yr without failure, and works so efficiently that very little blood is regurgitated at each pulse. In order to support this large pressure difference, the cusps must close simultaneously in all operating conditions and should not touch the wall of the aorta, for considerable reversed flow would then be required to close the valve. This action suggests a fluid dynamic control mechanism which positions the cusps away from the wall of the aorta, so that the slightest reversed flow will close the valve.”"}, {"Source": "sponge's silica spicules", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "transport light", "Function2": "transmit light", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/spicules-transport-light/", "Strategy": "Spicules Transport Light\n\nSilica spicules in sponges transport light into the inner parts of the sponge by structurally arranging individual spicules in bundles.\n\n“Here we show for the first time, that, as hypothesized 13 year ago, sponge spicules in living specimens transmit light into deeper tissue regions. Our results demonstrate that in opposite to the actual opinion, photosynthetically active microorganisms can also live in deeper tissue regions, and not only directly beneath the surface, when a light transmission system (spicules) is present.” (Brümmer et al. 2008:61)\n“The spicule bundles of Tethya aurantium are arranged of a large number of single spicules, which are much shorter (several hundred μm), than the whole bundle (several cm). That means the detected light inside the sponges is transferred through the spicule bundle and is at the same time transmitted from the outer spicules to the subsequent more central spicules. This at the same time explains the finding of phototrophic organisms along the spicule bundles, because light will leave the spicule bundles while being transferred between the subsequent single spicules. While transmitting light into the sponge body, the silica spicules in living Tethya aurantium specimens enable the growth and photosynthetic activity of putatively symbiotic microalgae in the most inner part of the sponge body.”"}, {"Source": "dwarf mountain pine's cuticular wax", "Application": "biological based coatings", "Function1": "absorb uv radiation", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/chromophores-protect-from-harmful-uv/", "Strategy": "Chromophores Protect From Harmful UV\n\nChromophores in cuticular wax of the dwarf mountain pine protect it from harmful UV by absorbing the most harmful UV-B and UV-A without lowering the received photosynthetically active radiation.\n\n“Solar UV radiation is harmful to many biological systems, as well as all kind of technical applications. UV protective coatings are commonly utilised to shield many susceptible substances. In an attempt to learn from nature we demonstrate that for the Pinus mugo subsp. mugo (dwarf mountain pine) the cuticular wax layer provides UV protection. This biological coating contains chromophores that absorb UV radiation in such a way that it removes the most harmful UV-B and UV-A from the solar spectrum received by the plant and does not lower the received PAR (photosynthetically active radiation)…The principle of turning…harmful radiation into useful energy sets an example for new biological based coatings.”"}, {"Source": "solitary bee's forelegs", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "mop up plant oil", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/forelegs-mop-up-plant-oil/", "Strategy": "Forelegs Mop Up Plant Oil\n\nThe forelegs of solitary bees mop up plant oil using brushes at their tips.\n\n“In South Africa, the twinspur [Diascia], a relative of the foxglove unique in its family for having not just one tubular spur but two, rewards its pollinators with oil secreted at the far end of each spur. Several closely related species of solitary bees [Rediviva] have developed brushes on the tips of their fore-legs with which to mop up this oil.”"}, {"Source": "lichen", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "capture water", "Function2": "absorb moisture", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/ice-nucleation-captures-water/", "Strategy": "Ice Nucleation Captures Water\n\nLichens capture water via ice nucleation, absorbing the moisture once the temperature rises and the ice melts.\n\n“Ice nucleation activity at temperatures warmer than -5°C may enhance the uptake of atmospheric moisture by enhancing condensation and/or causing deposition of ice from water vapor to occur earlier as the temperature drops below 0°C. Once an ice lattice is formed, further deposition occurs more readily. When the temperature rises, the lichen thallus may then absorb moisture from the melting ice.”"}, {"Source": "alpine edelweiss's wooly hairs", "Application": "sunscreen", "Function1": "absorb uv radiation", "Function2": "protect plant cells", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/hairs-absorb-ultraviolet-radiation/", "Strategy": "Hairs Absorb Ultraviolet Radiation\n\nThe wooly hairs of the alpine edelweiss intercept and de-energize harmful ultraviolet radiation before it reachers the plant’s cells.\n\nIntroduction\n\nIt’s a sun-sparkled day high in the French Alps. Hiking along a goat trail at 3,000 meters’ elevation, you come across a field filled with white flowers—the famous edelweiss (Leontopodium nivale subsp. Alpinum), of story and song. That white color is not from petals of the flowers though, it’s an effect of the fuzz that covers stems, leaves, and bracts.\n\nThey may not look the part, but the tiny hairs are the functional equivalent of the sunscreen you as a hiker likely slathered on yourself earlier in the day. Both serve as protection from harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation.\n\nThe intense energy of UV light can damage important constituents of living cells, including DNA, proteins, and membranes, ultimately harming or killing tissues or even entire organisms. But the fuzz, through an optical sleight-of-hand is able to protect the plant from harm.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nThe hollow hairs composing the fuzz are each about 10 micrometers in diameter—though that varies quite a bit—and are criss-crossed across the surface of the plant in a disheveled manner.\n\nEach one is made up of parallel fibers, each around 0.18 micrometers in diameter, which is close to the wavelength of UV light. When sunlight strikes its surface, the plant reflects most of the wavelengths that it doesn’t need for photosynthesis or other biological functions—except for UV. The fibers comprising the hairs neither reflect UV nor let it travel through to the plant uninhibited. Rather, the similarity between their size and the wavelength of the UV radiation causes the rays to bend in ways that trap them inside the fibers until their energy dissipates, preventing them from reaching and harming the cells below.\n\nThe fibers offer a bonus, too: they also help the plant retain moisture in the face of drying alpine winds and keep radiant heat close to the plant cells, reducing the risk of freezing.\n\nThe Potential\n\nEdelweiss’s approach to protecting its living tissues from UV radiation is different from those used by other organisms, which often reflect the rays using scales, fur, or other coatings. As a result, it offers unique inspiration for sheltering ourselves and other things we care about from UV light as well.\n\nIf the principle of trapping and weakening UV rays can be applied in a liquid or cream instead of fuzzy coating, one potential application is to develop non-toxic sunscreen to lather on our own skin. Because UV light alters paints and dyes and degrades plastics, edelweiss’s UV-absorption strategy could also be of value providing built-in, permanent protection for cars, house paints, textiles, and other manufactured surfaces that risk deterioration from the shorter-than-visible wavelength end of the electromagnetic spectrum."}, {"Source": "bladderwort's flexible trap walls", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "ultra-fast passive suction", "Function2": "release of stored elastic energy", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/flexible-walls-allow-for-ultra-fast-passive-suction/", "Strategy": "Flexible Walls Allow for\nUltra‑fast Passive Suction\n\nFlexible trap walls of the bladderwort allow for ultra-fast passive suction by relying on the release of stored elastic energy.\n\n“Carnivorous aquatic Utricularia species catch small prey animals using millimetre-sized underwater suction traps…Suction takes place after mechanical triggering and is owing to a release of stored elastic energy in the trap body accompanied by a very fast opening and closing of a trapdoor, which otherwise closes the trap entrance watertight…We found that this unique trapping mechanism conducts suction in less than a millisecond and therefore ranks among the fastest plant movements known. Fluid acceleration reaches very high values, leaving little chance for prey animals to escape. We discovered that the door deformation is morphologically predetermined, and actually performs a buckling/unbuckling process, including a complete trapdoor curvature inversion. This process…is highly reproducible: the traps are autonomously repetitive as they fire spontaneously after 5–20 h and reset actively to their ready-to-catch condition.”\n \n“The lenticular Utricularia trap…works with a two-phase mechanism. During the first slow phase…internal glands actively pump water out of the trap interior, so that elastic energy is stored in the trap body owing to a lower internal hydrostatic pressure…A flexible door with protruding trigger hairs closes the entrance watertight. Prey animals can stimulate these hairs and thereby launch the second, ultra-fast phase, which runs passively because of a mechanical conversion of elastic energy into kinetic energy. The triggering results in door opening, trap wall relaxation and water (and thereby prey) influx due to the sudden increase of the trap volume (figure 1c). After the door is closed, the prey is dissolved by digestive enzymes secreted by quadrifid glands, and nutrients are absorbed by the plant. Both phases together form a repeatable ‘active slow deflation–passive fast suction’ sequence.”"}, {"Source": "african crested rat's hair", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "sequestration", "Function2": "delivery of toxins", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/hairs-wick-liquid/", "Strategy": "Hairs Wick Liquid\n\nFibril bundles in perforated cylindrical hair of African crested rat wick liquid by capillary action\n\n“[T]he hair exemplifies unique, exceptional optimization and economy of structure for sequestration and delivery of toxins. The central portion of each main shaft develops a thin but strong outer cylinder perforated by abundant vacuoles (figure 2). This perforated cylinder encloses fibrillar strands that remain mostly separate, but can adhere to each other or to the outer cylinder along short stretches. These long fibrils are numerous and cumulatively act as a ‘wick’…Indeed, as the colloid is applied to the hair, one can observe an almost instantaneous flip from reflective gloss to opaque invisibility, which suggests rapid absorption”"}, {"Source": "cuban frog's skin", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "accumulate chemicals", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/skin-glands-accumulate-protective-toxins-from-prey/", "Strategy": "Skin Glands Accumulate\nProtective Toxins From Prey\n\nThe tiny Cuban frog, Eleutherodactylus orientalis, protects itself from predators by consuming toxin-laden oribatid mites and sequestering the toxins in its skin.\n\nThough many frogs accumulate chemicals in their skin for defense against pathogens and predators, the majority of those species synthesize the substances in their own bodies. In contrast, the tiny Cuban frog species Eleutherodactylus orientalis is among the few frogs that consume toxic alkaloid laden foods and sequester the compounds in the skin. Since the compounds are commandeered from prey, they are sometimes referred to as “cleptotoxins”. These fat-soluble substances are very similiar to those secreted by the better- known poison-dart frogs. The frogs maintain immunity to the toxins due to a hypothesized difference in calcium channels in their muscle cells. An interesting aspect of E. orientalis is that it is potentially capable of selectively consuming species of mites that contain toxic alkaloids previously unknown to science. In fact, several prey species of mites that were once thought to not produce alkaloids were found to be consumed by the frogs for their alkaloid content. Whether the frogs actively seek out these alkaloid-bearing species or do so by random chance is still unknown."}, {"Source": "hummingbird's tongue", "Application": "mopping up liquids", "Function1": "trap nectar", "Function2": "gather nectar", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/tongue-picks-up-liquid/", "Strategy": "Shape‑shifting Tongue Is the Key to\na Hummingbird’s Nectar Gathering\n\nThe tips of hummingbird tongues dynamically trap nectar by rapidly changing their shape during feeding.\n\nIntroduction\n\nFlapping its wings dozens of times per second, a hummingbird flits up to a flower. It inserts its beak into the bloom, then, faster than the eye can see, flicks its long, forked tongue in and out, gathering up the energy-rich nectar inside.\n\nFor centuries, scientists have assumed the nectar-gathering depends on capillary action, in which laws of physics cause a liquid to rise in a tube formed by the two parts of the tongue curving toward each other.\n\nBut it turns out they were wrong: Slow-motion photography has revealed that rather than drawing nectar up into a tube, the two tongue parts gather nectar by soaking it up with brushlike structures and then retracting them into the bird’s beak.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nA hummingbird’s tongue is long and skinny, with two forks tipped by lots of hairlike structures, called lamellae. The lamellae are positioned on the inward-facing part of the forks, and are smaller closer to the tip, giving the tongue a cone shape when closed.\n\nWhen the bird maneuvers its beak into a blossom, it sticks out its pointy tongue into the pool of nectar at the base. The two parts of the tongue spread apart, and twist so the lamellae face outward. The lamellae extend, taking up the liquid much as your toothbrush takes up water when you rinse it. Then, as the hummingbird pulls  the tongue back into its beak, the blades rotate into their original cone-shaped position and trap the nectar between the two forks, carrying it with the tongue into the bird’s mouth. The entire process takes around 1/20th of a second.\n\nThe process has several advantages over capillary action. First, the amount of nectar gathered in each cycle is not limited by the size of the tube formed by the tongue. Second, the hairs on the tongue can gather nectar even when there’s not much there, as opposed to capillary action, which requires a minimum amount to be effective. The best part of all? The separation and rejoining of the two tongue blades and the furling and unfurling of the lamellae doesn’t require the expenditure of any energy from the hummingbird. Rather, they are an automatic result of the way the lamellae are configured, combined with the physical forces that act upon them in the process of entering and leaving the liquid. This means that it’s not only a slick trick, it’s an energy-efficient process as well.\n\nThe Potential This innovative strategy for moving fluids has a number of possible applications in design and engineering. It could inspire faster, more efficient strategies for mopping up liquids, from cleaning up oil spills to helping floors dry faster after cleaning. Knowledge of the principles behind it also might lead to faster and less energy-demanding ways to move water and fuels through pipelines. The approach might also be adapted to orchestrate self-assembly of structures or to create microscopic tools that tap the forces of nature to rotate."}, {"Source": "conus victoriae cone snail's venom", "Application": "analgesic", "Function1": "induce paralysis", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/venom-induces-paralysis-in-prey/", "Strategy": "Venom Induces Paralysis in Prey\n\nConus victoriae cone snails catch food by injecting a potent venom that renders prey paralyzed.\n\nVenom produced by the cone snail, Conus victoriae, contain proteins that induce paralysis in prey. The conotoxin is more than two orders of magnitude more potent than the current leading drug for neuropathic pain. These toxins can be models for use as analgesics for treating neuropathic pain in humans at lower concentrations. Conventional analgesics have many downsides including their gradual loss of effectiveness, their potential for creating addiction and abuse, and their harmful side effects."}, {"Source": "geophyte's leaf", "Application": "water-collecting devices", "Function1": "collect water from dew and fog", "Function2": "reduce water loss", "Function3": "absorb water", "Function4": "increase the total surface area", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/leaves-gather-water/", "Strategy": "Desert Plants Offer New Twist\non Gathering Water From Air\n\nLeaves of geophytes collect water from dew and fog using unusual leaf shapes.\n\nIntroduction\n\nTo botanists, the arid Namaqualand region of South Africa is known as “curly-whirly-country.” The grassy geophytes (perennial plants that bud from underground structures such as bulbs or tubers) there show a wide variety of forms. Many are twisted, form spirals, have wavy edges or pleats, are covered with hairs, or have otherwise unusual leaf configurations. It makes them intriguing and beautiful to humans, who have housed them in botanical gardens around the world. But what’s driving this wild diversity?\n\nIn a word, water. Water is an indispensable contributor to plants’ ability to convert sunlight into food for themselves and other living things. And in Namaqualand, the primary source of water is the air.\n\nPlants that grow in dry places have evolved a variety of strategies for making the most of the little water that’s there. For South African geophytes the focus is not so much on conserving water as it is on capturing it in the first place and directing it to their roots.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nAir commonly contains water in two main forms: as a gas (known as water vapor) and as a liquid in tiny suspended droplets. When air with a lot of water vapor touches a surface that is cooler than itself, the vapor may condense to form liquid droplets as well.\n\nLike the grass in a field or lawn, South African geophytes cool down at night as they release warmth from daylight sun into the rapidly cooling air, creating conditions for dew to condense on their leaves. But they do your lawn grass one better. The extra surface area they have due to their curls and hairs helps them release heat even more quickly. As a result, they are more adept than other leaves at gathering water vapor from the air.\n\nThe curls and whorls and hairs help the geophytes gather fog as well. Water droplets in fog readily attach to surfaces they encounter. But the ability of any particular surface to gather fog droplets depends on what it’s made of, how much area it has, and how it is oriented relative to the source of the moisture. Broad surfaces tend to gather more moisture than narrow ones. And those perpendicular to airflow tend to gather more than those parallel to it. By curling and whirling, the plants increase the variety of orientation in their leaves, improving the odds that fog droplets will encounter and stick to them.\n\nThe presence of the water on the leaves helps the plants in three ways. First, it reduces the amount of water they lose from inside their tissues. Second, some water can be absorbed directly into the leaf tissue. Third, some water drips down onto the ground beneath the plant, where the roots can absorb it and make it available for photosynthesis.\n\nBy curling and whirling, the plants increase the variety of orientation in their leaves, improving the odds that fog droplets will encounter and stick to them.\n\nThe Potential\n\nThe structures of South African geophytes offer insights for developing water-collecting devices for human use in regions that experience little rain but have at least intermittently abundant moisture in the air.\n\nThe water-collecting structures these plants have evolved could also provide inspiration for development of structures intended to harvest other substances from air or water. For example, configurations that expand surface area could boost the capacity of devices designed to counter global warming by capturing carbon dioxide from the air. Similarly, equipment designed to harvest microplastics or nanoplastics from air or water could use wavy or hairy structures to enhance their ability to encounter and capture these microscopic pollutants."}, {"Source": "leaves of some plants", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "absorb nutrient", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/stomata-absorb-nutrients-from-aerosols/", "Strategy": "Stomata Absorb Nutrients From Aerosols\n\nStomata on surface of leaves on some plants bind aerosol particles and liquefy and absorb them using atmospheric humidity.\n\nSome plants have adapted to competing for nutrient uptake by creating stomata that open in the presence of humidity. When these stomata open, the nutrients that have collected on the surface of the leaf are absorbed and transported into the leaf apoplast. The mechanism through which these plants do this is known as hydraulic activation of stomata, or “HAS.” The surfaces of plants are filled with grooves that collect aerosols over time. When these plants are in the presence of high humidity, moisture also begins to collect on the surface of the plant. As it does, the aerosols containing hygroscopic salts bind with the water. The presence of excess moisture from the humidity also causes the activation of certain stomata. As these stomata open, the fine aerosol particles that have bonded to the water are transported to the interior of the leaf where they can then be absorbed and utilized for their nutritional value."}, {"Source": "creeping dogwood's flower", "Application": "energy infrastructure", "Function1": "launch pollen", "Function2": "spread pollen", "Function3": "utilize physical principles", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/tiny-flower-unleashes-tremendous-force/", "Strategy": "Tiny Flower Unleashes Tremendous Forces\n\nA humble understory shrub launches pollen using water pressure and physics.\n\nIntroduction\n\nAs spring-allergy sufferers know all too well, many plants rely on wind or animals to move pollen from flower to flower and help create the next generation of plants. This approach can seem like a pretty big gamble: How can you attract animals like honeybees with tasty pollen while not having too much of it eaten by those very same visitors? Or how can you make sure pollen you release gets caught by a breeze and doesn’t simply fall to the ground?\n\nCreeping dogwood (Cornus canadensis) is an unshowy, carpet-like shrub growing across forest floors in upper latitudes of the northern hemisphere. It’s small: the biggest plant might not reach your kneecaps. The forest floor may not be a breezy place, but the plant’s flowers have solved the challenge of pollen dispersal in a unique and ingenious way.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nDuring the spring, the plant soaks up water through its roots and stores some of it in its flower buds. The water pressure continuously builds as the fluid fills the bud with nowhere to go. When the flower finally explodes open, its petals peel back at nearly seven meters (23 feet) per second, one of the fastest movements by any organism. This is faster than the jaws of a Venus flytrap, or club strike of a mantis shrimp––faster even than Superman’s proverbial speeding bullet. The once-constrained stamens, now free, unfold upward, accelerating at an astounding 24,000 meters (15 miles) per second squared––800 times the gravitational forces experienced by astronauts leaving Earth on a rocket ship.\n\nThe clincher lies at the tip of the stamen’s filaments, where pollen-filled sacs (anthers) rotate freely with hinge-like motion. Inside the small flower, the already-split pollen sacs are held by compression against one another, preventing the pollen’s escape. But when the petals spring apart and release the stamens upward, the sacs spread apart just as the stamen’s unfolding filaments reach their zenith. The anthers then teacup around the now fully vertical filaments, providing a secondary boost that flings the nearly weightless pollen dust straight up into the air, ten times higher than the height of the flower itself.\n\nWhat happens next depends on who’s visiting. If it’s a bumble bee, whose weight is just right for triggering the flower’s explosion, the launched pollen envelops the bee’s furry body, making it more likely some of it will make it to another flower before being completely consumed. If it’s nothing but a breeze, the whisper-light pollen spreads out into a fine mist, where even the slightest passing air current transports it away.\n\nThe Potential \n\nThe flowers of creeping dogwood create surprising mechanical advantage out of a little water and plant tissue––seemingly powerless components. Running more of our inventions with clean, locally-available energy sources reduces our need for expensive energy infrastructure like wires or toxic batteries. The humble garden sprinkler, for instance, rotates back and forth watering your lawn using nothing but some clever mechanical design and water pressure. Utilizing the physical principles behind the creeping dogwood pollen release, a world of inventive opportunity can spring open.\n"}, {"Source": "horse's metacarpal bone", "Application": "airplane wings", "Function1": "prevent structural weakness", "Function2": "absorb stresses", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/hole-structure-strengthens-bone/", "Strategy": "Hole Structure Strengthens Bone\n\nA metacarpal bone of a horse avoids structural weakness caused by a hole via stress-dispersing microstructure.\n\nZebras, horses and other equine species put substantial stress upon their central forefoot bones, particularly the third metacarpal, bones with remarkable strength despite having holes in them for blood vessels to pass through. The presence of a hole (or foramen) in a structural element offers the potential for it to act as a site of stress concentration and initiation of cracks, yet these foramina do not weaken the bone nor act as fracture initiation sites. Hence the foramen in the third metacarpal of equine species has been of interest to engineers to learn how to design openings in structures in a way that avoids cracking. The key features investigators have found that minimize cracking at these sites are: their location in regions predominantly experiencing compression, their elliptical rather than round shape (oriented parallel to the long axis of the bone and the lines of force), the ‘softening’ of the material discontinuity by increased compliance of the tissue surrounding the opening that shifts peak stresses away from the foramen edge, and a ring of increased stiffness reinforcing the foramen at some distance from it to absorb those stresses shifted inward from the compliant foramen edge. Many human-made structures, such as airplane wings, need to have holes in them to accommodate wires, fuel lines or hydraulic system elements and hence inspiration from the design of foramina in bones could have wide application."}, {"Source": "calanoid copepod's suspension-feeding appendages", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "capture minute particles and organisms", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/bristles-and-barbs-capture-minute-foods/", "Strategy": "Bristles and Barbs Capture Minute Foods\n\nSuspension-feeding appendages of Calanoid copepods capture minute particles and organisms from the surrounding water with the help of attached bristles and barbs.\n\n\n“Many aquatic animals feed on small particles that they remove from the surrounding water using suspension-feeding appendages…Calanoid copepods are small (of the order of millimeters in length) planktonic crustaceans that can be extremely abundant in oceans and lakes…the spectrum of particles removed from the water by different copepods varies. A feeding copepod propels a current of water past itself by flapping four pairs of appendages; this is the ‘scanning current’. When a parcel of water containing a food particle nears a copepod, the animal actively captures that water and particle using another pair of appendages, the second maxillae…short appendages bearing long bristles, called ‘setae’. The setae are studded with barbs, called ‘setules’. During capture motion, the second maxillae fling apart, thereby sucking water between them, and then squeeze back together again over the water. During the squeeze, the only escape route for the water is between the setae of the second maxillae. Particles retained within the basked formed by the squeezing second maxillae are then combed into the mouth by another pair of appendages.”"}, {"Source": "plant cuticle", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "high sorption capacity", "Function2": "highly efficient sorbent", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/biopolymers-absorb-organic-compounds-in-soil/", "Strategy": "Biopolymers Absorb Organic Compounds in Soil\n\nThe cuticle of plants are good sorbents for organic compounds due to rigid (crystalline) polymethylene moieties of the biopolymers cutin and cutan.\n\n“Plant cuticular materials are important precursors for soil organic matter (SOM). The plant cuticle is a thin, predominantly lipid layer that covers all primary aerial surfaces of vascular plants. Plant cuticle has been found in considerable amounts in both natural and agricultural soils. In most plant species, the major structural component of the plant cuticle is the cutin biopolymer (30–70% by weight). This is a high-molecular-weight, insoluble, polyester-like biopolymer, which is most often associated with waxes and cuticular polysaccharides. Cutin provides the structural framework for the cuticle and acts as a physical barrier, protecting the plant against microbial attack and water loss. In some plant species, the cutin biopolymer is associated with a base and acid hydrolysis resistant, polymethylene-like biopolymer, known as cutan. The function of the cutan is similar to that of the cutin, but in addition, it enhances the hydrophobic nature of the cuticle…Recently, it has been documented that plant cuticular matter exhibits high sorption capabilities for polar and nonpolar organic compounds…the objective of this study was to evaluate the role of important precursors for SOM, cutin and cutan biopolymers, as natural sorbents for organic compounds in soils.” \n\n“This study demonstrates the important role of the aliphatic biopolymers cutin and cutan as natural sorbents in soil. Although they were subjected to decomposition, they still exhibited a high sorption capacity. With humification and degradation, however, cutan is most likely to act as a highly efficient aliphatic-rich sorbent in soil. The cutan biopolymer is more likely to accumulate in soils via selective preservation, whereas the decomposed products of the cutin are probably transformed into humic-like substances during humification processes.”"}, {"Source": "mammalian cardiovascular and respiratory vessels", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "minimize the amount of biological work", "Function2": "optimal arrangement", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/optimal-branching-of-vascular-vessels-minimizes-work/", "Strategy": "Optimal Branching of Vascular\nVessels Minimizes Work\n\nVascular and respiratory vessels in mammals minimize the amount of biological work required to operate by being arranged hierarchically.\n\n“The vessels found in mammalian cardiovascular and respiratory systems are usually arranged in hierarchical structures and a distinctive feature of this arrangement is their multi-stage division or bifurcation. At each generation, the characteristic dimension of the vascular segments will generally become smaller, both in length and diameter.” \n\n“The branching structures found in mammalian cardiovascular and respiratory systems have evolved, through natural selection, to an optimum arrangement that minimizes the amount of biological work required to operate and maintain the system. The relationship between the diameter of the parent vessel and the optimum diameters of the daughter vessels was first derived by Murray (1926) using the principle of minimum work. This relationship is now known as Murray’s law and states that the cube of the diameter of a parent vessel equals the sum of the cubes of the diameters of the daughter vessels.” "}, {"Source": "bilbies' foraging behavior", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "create pits", "Function2": "catch plant matter, seeds, and nutrients", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/foraging-aids-revegetation/", "Strategy": "Foraging Aids Revegetation\n\nThe foraging behavior of bilbies helps revegetate arid landscapes by creating pits that naturally catch plant matter, seeds, and nutrients.\n\n\n“Fertile patches are created and maintained by a combination of physical and biologically-mediated processes including soil disturbance by animals. We examined the creation of fertile patches by 4 vertebrates, the greater bilby Macrotis lagotis, burrowing bettong Bettongia lesueur, European rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus, and Gould’s sand goanna Varanus gouldii within dunes, ecotones, and swales in a dunefield in arid South Australia. These animals all create pits when foraging for subterranean food resources. We hypothesized that 1) the effect of pits on litter capture would vary among landscapes and animal species, 2) larger pits would trap more litter and seed, 3) pits would contain more viable seed than the surrounding matrix, and 4) the effect of pits on soil chemistry would vary among animal species, and be greater in landscapes with more finely textured soils. We found that litter was restricted almost exclusively to the pits, and was greater in pits with larger openings. Litter capture was greater in ecotones and dunes than in swales. A total of 1307 seedlings from 46 genera germinated from litter samples taken from the pits, but no seedlings emerged from samples taken from soil surrounding the pits. Foraging pits contained significantly higher levels of total C and N than surrounding soil, and total C and N concentrations were greatest in swales and lowest in dunes. Pits contained ca 55% more mineralisable N that surface soils, and pits constructed by bilbies and bettongs contained half the concentration of mineralisable N as those of rabbits and goannas. Concentrations of mineral N and mineralisable N were also greatest in the swales. Our results demonstrate the importance of animal-created pits as nutrient sinks and sites for seedling establishment, and suggest that changes in the composition of arid zone vertebrates may have resulted in profound changes to nutrient and soil dynamics in arid Australia.”"}, {"Source": "giant groundsel's trunk", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "extract nutrients", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/rootlets-reabsorb-nutrients/", "Strategy": "Rootlets Reabsorb Nutrients\n\nThe trunk of the giant groundsel recycles nutrients from dead attached leaves by sprouting rootlets to extract remaining nutrients.\n\n\n“Groundsels also grow here [on Mount Kenya]. They are relatives of the dandelions and ragworts that flourish as small yelllow-flowered weeds in European gardens. On Mount Kenya, they have evolved into giants. One grows into a tree up to thirty feet tall. Each of its branches ends in a dense rosette of large robust leaves. As the branches grow, so each year the lower ring of leaves in the rosette turn yellow and die. But they are not shed. Instead, they remain attached and form a thick lagging around the trunk. This is of crucial importance to the groundsel. The living leaves in the rosette contain special substances that prevent frost damage to the tissues and even though they may become covered by hoar frost during the night, they thaw out rapidly in the powerful warmth of the morning sun. But then the water within them starts to evaporate through their pores. If the liquid in the supply pipes running up through the trunk were to have frozen during the night, then the leaves would now be unable to replace their water and they would be baked dry and killed. The lagging of the dead leaves, however, prevents the pipes within the trunk from freezing and that particular danger is averted…The solution, however, generates another problem — this time a nutritional one. Retaining the dead leaves on the trunk prevents the nutrients in them from being released into the soil where they could be reclaimed by the roots. The giant tree-groundsel overcomes that difficulty in the same way as the giant cushion plant of Tasmania. It sprouts rootlets from the side of the trunk which thrust their way into the lagging and extract what nutriment remains there.”"}, {"Source": "insects' tracheal system", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "deliver oxygen", "Function2": "cool muscle", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/tubes-help-cool-muscles-transport-gases/", "Strategy": "Tubes Help Cool Muscles, Transport Gases\n\nInsects deliver oxygen to flight muscles and cool the muscles via a tracheal system.\n\n“The flight of flies, too, requires high levels of energy. There is also\na need for large volumes of oxygen in order to burn this energy. The\nneed for great amounts of oxygen is satisfied by an extraordinary\nrespiratory system lodged within the bodies of flies and other insects.\n\n“The\nfly’s need of oxygen is so high that there is no time to wait for the\noxygen to be delivered to the body cells by the blood. To deal with this\nproblem, there is a very special system. The air tubes in the insect’s\nbody carry the air to different parts of the fly’s body. Just like the\ncirculatory system in the body, there is an intricate and complex\nnetwork of tubes (called the tracheal system) that delivers\noxygen-containing air to every cell of the body.\n\n“Thanks to this\nsystem, the cells that make up the flight muscles take oxygen directly\nfrom these tubes. This system also helps to cool down the muscles which\nfunction at such high rates as 1000 cycles per second.”"}, {"Source": "mangrove's aerial root", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "take in air through pores", "Function2": "pass oxygen to hypoxic roots", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/aerating-device-delivers-oxygen/", "Strategy": "Aerating Device Delivers Oxygen\n\nAerial roots of mangroves take in air through pores (lenticels) and pass it to hypoxic roots via aerating tissue (aerenchyma).\n\n\n“In well oxygenated soil, there is little difficulty in obtaining the oxygen needed for respiration. This is not so in waterlogged soils, and special aerating devices are required. In growing Rhizophora, roots diverge from the tree as much as 2 m above ground, elongate at up to 9 mm d-1, and penetrate the soil some distance away from the main stem (Figs I.3, 1.4 and 5.1 [sic]). As much as 24 per cent of the above-ground biomass of a tree may consist of aerial roots: the main trunk, as it reaches the ground, tapers into relative insignificance […] On reaching the soil surface, absorptive roots grow vertically downwards, and a secondary aerial root may loop off and penetrate the soil still further away from the main trunk […] The method of aerating the underground roots is understood best in the red mangrove Rhizophora mangle of Florida. Functionally, the aerial components can be divided structurally into more or less horizontal arches and vertical columns. These have no problems in achieving adequate gas exchange, at least at low tide. In contrast, the underground roots are in a permanently hypoxic, or even anoxic, environment. The columns have the role of supplying oxygen to the underground roots. Air passes into the column roots through numerous tiny pores, or lenticels, which are particularly abundant close to the point at which the column root enters the soil surface. It can then pass along roots through air spaces. Roots entering the soil are largely composed of aerenchyma tissue; honeycombed with air spaces which run longitudinally down the root axis (Fig. 1.5) […] The importance of lenticels for gas exchange has been demonstrated by measuring O2 and CO2 concentrations in the aerenchyma of Rhizophora roots. When the lenticels are occluded by smearing grease over the aerial potion of the root, O2 declines continuously and CO2 rises (Fig. 1.6). Control roots showed fluctuations related to tidal level (Scholander et al. 1955).”"}, {"Source": "insects' tracheal system", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "deliver oxygen-filled air", "Function2": "cool down the muscles", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/tracheal-system-delivers-oxygen-efficiently/", "Strategy": "Tracheal System Delivers Oxygen Efficiently\n\nThe tracheal systems of flying insects fuel flight by efficiently delivering oxygen-filled air to every cell of the body.\n\n“The flight of flies, too, requires high levels of energy. There is also a need for large volumes of oxygen in order to burn this energy. The need for great amounts of oxygen is satisfied by an extraordinary respiratory system lodged within the bodies of flies and other insects.\n\n“The fly’s need of oxygen is so high that there is no time to wait for the oxygen to be delivered to the body cells by the blood. To deal with this problem, there is a very special system. The air tubes in the insect’s body carry the air to different parts of the fly’s body. Just like the circulatory system in the body, there is an intricate and complex network of tubes (called the tracheal system) that delivers oxygen-containing air to every cell of the body.\n\n“Thanks to this system, the cells that make up the flight muscles take oxygen directly from these tubes. This system also helps to cool down the muscles which function at such high rates as 1000 cycles per second.”"}, {"Source": "dragonfly's tail", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "clean sperm", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/tail-used-for-reproductive-advantage/", "Strategy": "Tail Used for Reproductive Advantage\n\nExtensions on the tails of some dragonflies provide a reproductive advantage by cleaning out the sperm of competitors from their chosen mate prior to depositing their own sperm.\n\n“Female dragonflies do not mate again after fertilization. However, this does not create any problem for the males of the Calopteryx virgo species [a damselfly]. By using the hooks on its tail, the male captures the female by the neck. The female wraps her legs around the tail of the male. The male, by using special extensions on its tail, cleans any possible sperm left from another male.”\n \n“During copulation, males [of the Calopterygidae family] carry out a series of abdominal movements that are associated with the manipulation of the female’s stored sperm. Male calopterygids invariably displace sperm from the bursa (Waage 1979, 1988; Siva-Jothy and Tsubaki 1989; Siva-Jothy and Hooper 1995; Lindeboom 1998; Córdoba-Aguilar 1999b); however, they differ in the ability to displace spermathecal sperm. In those species in which males displace spermathecal sperm, two mechanisms have been described: sperm removal (e.g., Waage 1979) and sperm ejection via sensory stimulation (Córdoba-Aguilar 1999b). During sperm removal, the two male lateral appendages (fig. la) have physical access to the spermathecal ducts (fig. 1b), allowing the mechanical displacement of the stored sperm masses (Waage 1979). During sperm displacement via sensory stimulation, the aedeagus stimulates a series of mechanoreceptive sensilla (fig. 1b) that are embedded in two vaginal plates (Córdoba-Aguilar 1999b)…In C. virgo, males have access to spermathecal sperm previous to sperm transfer. The mechanism used in this species seems to be physical and mediated by the lateral appendages.”"}, {"Source": "hummingbird's beak", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "snap close", "Function2": "store elastic energy", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/beak-snaps-shut/", "Strategy": "Beak Snaps Shut\n\nThe beak of the hummingbird can snap closed to capture insects due to stored elastic energy.\n\n“The hummingbird beak, specialized for feeding on floral nectars, is also uniquely adapted to eating flying insects. During insect capture the beak often appears to close at a rate that cannot be explained by direct muscular action alone. Here we show that the lower jaw of hummingbirds has a shape and compliance that allows for a controlled elastic snap. Furthermore, hummingbirds have the musculature needed to independently bend and twist the sides of the lower jaw. According to both our simple physical model and our elastic instability calculation, the jaw can be smoothly opened and then snapped closed through an appropriate sequence of bending and twisting actions by the muscles of the lower jaw.” \n\nPart of the trick lies in how the hummingbird’s beak is built. While other insect-eating birds such as swifts and nighthawks have a cartilaginous hinge near the base of their beaks, hummingbird beaks are solid bone. They’re also incredibly thin, so that the lower beaks are stiff yet springy. The researchers’ mathematical model revealed that the downward bend of the hummingbird’s lower beak puts stress on the bone, storing elastic energy which eventually powers its sudden snap closure. "}, {"Source": "ant's side", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "evaporative cooling", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/air-scoops-provide-cooling/", "Strategy": "Air Scoops Provide Cooling\n\nAir scoops on the sides of ants cool them through evaporation.\n\n“Another reason ants succeed so well is that they’re superb lawn-traversing machines. When this first one backs away from the shadow of the giant human and reenters the main part of the sunny, hot lawn, little air-scoops on its side automatically switch on. A mist of cooling water vapor puffs upward from them. That keeps the ant’s temperature down, but it could also mean that the ant’s nitrogen–the equivalent of our urine substances–would become overconcentrated.” "}, {"Source": "cyanobacteria", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "trap sediment", "Function2": "aggregate sediment", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/microbes-aggregate-sediment/", "Strategy": "Microbes Aggregate Sediment\n\nCyanobacteria grow large layered clumps of rock and algae, called stromatolites, by trapping sediment in mucus and filaments.\n\n“Half dead, half alive, stromatolites represent a partnership between microorganisms and rock. The spongy coating is made of cyanobacterial filaments that secrete a sticky mucus. Grains of sediment get trapped in the mucus and stick together to form a crust of rock. As the filaments grow longer, they trap more sediment and add a new layer to the exterior. What’s left on the inside is dead zone.”"}, {"Source": "cat's skeleton", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "shock absorption", "Function2": "cushion landing", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/skeletal-construction-provides-shock-absorption/", "Strategy": "Skeletal Construction\nProvides Shock Absorption\n\nThe skeleton of a cat allows it to absorb shocks to its forelimbs because it has no direct skeletal connection between its collarbone and vertebral column.\n\n“Cats have no direct skeletal connection through a collarbone between the bones of their forelimbs (pectoral girdle) and those of their vertebral columns. In effect, they have shock-mounted forelimbs, which cushion a landing after a jump. None of these schemes reduce the extremes of velocity one bit; what they reduce are the velocity gradients.”"}, {"Source": "cat's tongue", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "pull liquid into the mouth", "Function2": "exploit fluid inertia", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/tongue-defeats-gravity/", "Strategy": "Tongue Defeats Gravity\n\nThe tongue of the cat pulls liquid into its mouth by exploiting fluid inertia to beat gravity.\n\n“Animals have developed a range of drinking strategies depending on physiological and environmental constraints. Vertebrates with incomplete cheeks use their tongue to drink; the most common example is the lapping of cats and dogs. We show that the domestic cat (Felis catus) laps by a subtle mechanism based on water adhesion to the dorsal side of the tongue. A combined experimental and theoretical analysis reveals that Felis catus exploits fluid inertia to defeat gravity and pull liquid into the mouth. This competition between inertia and gravity sets the lapping frequency and yields a prediction for the dependence of frequency on animal mass. Measurements of lapping frequency across the family Felidae support this prediction, which suggests that the lapping mechanism is conserved among felines.”"}, {"Source": "merino sheep's underhair", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "insulate against cold", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/underhairs-provide-insulation/", "Strategy": "Underhairs Provide Insulation\n\nThe wool of Merino sheep forms an insulating layer via underhair that creates hundreds of trapped air pockets.\n\n“Generally a dense coat of underhairs, as in the wool of a sheep, is particularly effective in temperature control, because hundreds of tiny air pockets become trapped among the hairs and make an insulating layer between animal and climate. Sheep with thick wool, such as the merinos of Australia, can stay warm in freezing weather and, conversely, stay cool in the heat of summer. In both cases the difference between the temperature at the skin and on the wool surface (a distance of 8 cm) may be 40?C or more. In animals with less thick coats, simply erecting the hair increases the resistance to cold.”"}, {"Source": "algae", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "concentrate carbon dioxide", "Function2": "increase the concentration of co2", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/organisms-concentrate-carbon-dioxide/", "Strategy": "Organisms Concentrate Carbon Dioxide\n\nAlgae concentrate carbon dioxide to fix CO2 more efficiently, possibly using one or more HCO3- transporter proteins.\n\n“The CO2 concentrating mechanism (CCM) is a biological adaptation to low carbon dioxide concentrations in the environment. It is a mechanism which augments photosynthetic productivity in algal cells by increasing levels of inorganic carbon many times over the environmental concentration of carbon dioxide. The role of the CCM is to increase the concentration of CO2 for Rubisco, the enzyme responsible for the initial fixation of CO2.” "}, {"Source": "wood ant's nest", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "collective body heat", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/collective-body-heat-warms-nest/", "Strategy": "Collective Body Heat Warms Nest\n\nWood ants heat their nests using collective body heat from large groups.\n\n“The surface of the nest of wood ants (Formica rufa) has numerous holes which serve as entrances and ventilation holes; at night and in cold weather the ants plug the holes to keep heat in. The workers also keep the slope of the nest at the right angle to obtain maximum amount of solar heat. The ants bring extra warmth into their nests as live heaters by basking in the sun in large numbers and taking the heat energy collected in their bodies into the nest.”"}, {"Source": "burrowing sea cucumber's tentacle", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "capture food", "Function2": "suspension feeding", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/tentacles-help-filter-food/", "Strategy": "Tentacles Help Filter Food\n\nThe tentacles of the burrowing sea cucumber capture floating particulate food matter using on a complex particle trap, mucus, and an oral passageway.\n\n\n“The feeding tentacles, being part of the water-vascular system, can be\nextended by hydraulic pressure. The four basic types of tentacles are\ndendritic, peltate, digitate, and pinnate [burrowing sea cucumbers’ tentacles are\ndendritic]. Dendritic tentacles gather small particles suspended in the\nwater. Particles adhere to a coating of mucus on the tentacle, then the\nsea cucumber places it into its mouth and removes the food. This is\nsuspension feeding. Cucumeria miniata [Burrowing sea cucumber] is a\ncommon suspension feeder.”"}, {"Source": "tree frog's ventral pelvic skin", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "absorb water", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/skin-regulates-water-absorption/", "Strategy": "Skin Regulates Water Absorption\n\nVentral pelvic skin of tree frogs regulates water absorption using two types of water-channel aquaporins.\n\n“The ventral pelvic skin of the tree frog Hyla japonica expresses\ntwo kinds of arginine vasotocin (AVT)-stimulated aquaporins (AQP-h2\nand AQP-h3), which affect the capacity of the frog’s skin to\nabsorb water. As such, it can be used as a model system for\nanalyzing the molecular mechanisms of water permeability…”"}, {"Source": "mammalian foot pad", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "provide cushioning", "Function2": "impact damping", "Function3": "energy storage", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/pads-cushion-feet/", "Strategy": "Pads Cushion Feet\n\nThe foot pads of many mammals provide cushioning using hydrostatic structures, essentially working as fluid-filled cushions.\n\n“Human heel pads and other mammalian foot pads make use of hydroskeletal support; our pads, which provide impact damping, some energy storage, and protection for bones, work as fluid-filled cushions–see, for instance, Ker (1999). They’re complexly viscoelastic–if you want a stable reading of your height, you should stand for almost two minutes to allow your pads to creep into stability (Foreman and Linge 1989).”"}, {"Source": "mangroves' pneumatophores", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "transfer oxygen", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/oxygenating-soil/", "Strategy": "Oxygenating Soil\n\nMangroves transfer oxygen to surrounding anoxic soil via specialized aerial roots called pneumatophores.\n\n“Sub-surface transfer of oxygen, by means of aerial roots and pneumatophores, is so effective that the mud in the vicinity of underground mangrove roots is less anoxic than that at distance from the root. Mangrove roots oxygenate their environment (p.10).”"}, {"Source": "flamingo's bill", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "filter food", "Function2": "filter small crustacea", "Function3": "filter algae", "Function4": "filter unicellular organisms", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/lamellae-filter-food-of-different-sizes/", "Strategy": "Lamellae Filter Food of Different Sizes\n\nThe bill of the flamingo filters food of various sizes using compex rows of hair-like structures called lamellae.\n\n“The bill is adapted uniquely for filter feeding. The bill is lined with numerous complex rows of lamellae, which filter the various small crustacea, algae, and unicellular organisms on which flamingos feed.14 Flamingos feed with their head upside down so that the maxillary bill takes on the function of the mandibular bill and vice versa.7,18 The feeding process requires a series of tongue movements and opening and closing of the beak, which allows food items to be filtered by the lamellae and eventual ingestion. Unwanted items such as mud and saltwater are pushed out by the tongue.7,8 The bill anatomy varies among flamingo species, depending on dietary preferences (see Table 15-1).”"}, {"Source": "namib desert lichen", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "capture water", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/wiry-tangles-capture-fog/", "Strategy": "Wiry Tangles Capture Fog\n\nLichens in the Namib desert capture water from fog due to their wiry, tangled branching structure.\n\n“The Namib close to the coast does, however, have one source of moisture that most deserts lack. Almost every day, a fog rolls in from the sea, billowing across the dunes. On slopes where little else can survive, a lichen grows in a great orange carpet. It forms not thin blisters on rocks but bushy structures several inches high. The fog condenses into droplets that hang on the wiry tangled branches and are swiftly absorbed by the fungal partner before the sun is strong enough to evaporate them. The quantity of water captured is miniscule but it is sufficient to enable the algae, held within the fungal threads, to photosynthesise.”"}, {"Source": "frog's three‑chambered heart", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "reduce mixing of oxygenated and unoxygenated blood", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/three-chambered-heart-reduces-mixing-of-blood/", "Strategy": "Three‑chambered Heart\nReduces Mixing of Blood\n\nThe three-chambered heart of frogs reduces mixing of oxygenated and unoxygenated blood because of the separation of atrial inflow and outflow.\n\n“Although anurans have a three-chambered heart, little mixing of oxygenated and unoxygenated blood occurs because of the separation of atrial inflow and outflow.”"}, {"Source": "wildebeest", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "detect rainfall", "Function2": "find new food", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/herd-finds-fresh-food/", "Strategy": "Herd Finds Fresh Food\n\nWildebeests find new food resources by detecting areas of rainfall from afar.\n\n“Wildebeest seem able to detect a shower of rain falling as far away as 50 kilometres away and will move off to find it and crop the newly springing grass.”"}, {"Source": "orchid flower", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "increase efficiency of pollen transfer", "Function2": "higher pollen transport efficiency", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/flowers-increase-pollen-transfer/", "Strategy": "Flowers Increase Pollen Transfer\n\nThe flowers of some orchids increase efficiency of pollen transfer because they look or smell like female insects.\n\n“While most flowering plants reward pollinators with tasty nectar, many\norchid species turn to trickery. Some use what’s called food deception.\nThey produce flowers that look or smell like they offer food, but offer\nno edible reward. Other orchids use sexual deception. They produce\nflowers that look or smell like female insects, usually bees or wasps.\nMales are drawn to the sexy flowers and attempt to mate with it. In\ndoing so, they accidentally collect pollen on their bodies, which\nfertilizes the next orchid they visit.\n\n“…[Researchers] found that populations of sexually deceptive orchids had higher ‘pollen transport efficiency’ than the species with multiple\npollinators. In other words, a higher percentage of the pollen that was\ntaken from sexually deceptive orchids actually made it to another orchid\nof the same species. The orchids with multiple pollinators had more\npollen taken from their flowers, but more of that pollen was lost —\ndropped to the ground or deposited in flowers of the wrong species.”"}, {"Source": "scorpion venom", "Application": "pain killers", "Function1": "interfere with the transmission of impulses", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/neurotoxins-immobilize-prey/", "Strategy": "Neurotoxins Immobilize Prey\n\nNeurotoxins in scorpion venom incapacitate prey by interfering with the transmission of impulses in neurons.\n\nStinging Scorpion vs. Pain Defying Mouse\n \n“Peptide toxins found in scorpion venom interact with sodium channels\nin nervous and muscular systems — and some of these sodium channels\ncommunicate pain, says Prof. Gurevitz. ‘The mammalian body has nine\ndifferent sodium channels of which only a certain subtype delivers pain\nto our brain. We are trying to understand how toxins in the venom\ninteract with sodium channels at the molecular level and particularly\nhow some of the toxins differentiate among channel subtypes.\n\n“‘If we figure this out, we may be able to slightly modify such\ntoxins, making them more potent and specific for certain pain mediating\nsodium channels,’ Prof. Gurevitz continues. With this information,\nengineering of chemical derivatives that mimic the scorpion toxins would\nprovide novel pain killers of high specificity that have no side\neffects…some toxins have evolved with the capability to directly affect\nmammalian sodium channel subtypes whereas others recognize and affect\nsodium channels of invertebrates such as insects…\n\n“Using an approach called ‘rational design’ or ‘biomimicry,’ Prof.\nGurevitz is trying to develop painkillers that mimic the venom’s\nbioactive components. The idea is to use nature as the model, and to\nmodify elements of the venom so that a future painkiller designed\naccording to these toxins could be as effective as possible, while\neliminating or reducing side effects.”"}, {"Source": "rhodnius bug's antennae", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "detect heat", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/antennae-sense-heat-of-prey/", "Strategy": "Antennae Sense Heat of Prey\n\nThe antennae of Rhodnius bugs detect heat from their potential victims using numerous sensitive, hairlike thermoreceptors.\n\n“Rhodnius bugs are large, blood-sucking insects found throughout the Americas. They live in close proximity to their victims, in nests or burrows, and detect potential victims — small, warm-blooded creatures such as mice — by sensing their body heat. A Rhodnius bug has its own built-in thermometers on its antennae in the form of numerous exceedingly sensitive hairlike thermoreceptors, which can detect air that has been warmed by its prey’s body heat.”"}, {"Source": "viper's face", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "provide bifocal thermal image", "Function2": "judge distance", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/receptors-create-thermal-image/", "Strategy": "Receptors Create Thermal Image\n\nThermoreceptors found in pits in a viper's face provide it with a bifocal thermal image of prey because the fields of thermal sensitivity overlap.\n\n“The pit viper’s ability to register heat is so sensitive that they can feel the temperature variation produced by a mouse from 6 inches (15 cm) away. The heat sensors are located in the pit-shaped holes on their faces that give them their name. Positioned on each side of the snake’s head between the eye and nostril, these small, shallow pits point forward, and their tiny, pinhole openings are supplied with a grid of 7,000 nerve endings from a branch of the trigeminal nerve leading to the head and face. Toward the base of this pit is a membrane, similar to the retina of the eye, which has minuscule thermoreceptors, numbering 500-1,500 per square millimeter. Because the fields of sensitivity of the two pits overlap, a pit viper can see heat in stereo. This bifocal thermal vision provides the snake with a fiery infrared image of its prey and enables it to judge how far away it is. The pit viper’s sensory awareness is coupled with quick reactions, allowing it to respond to a heat signal in under 35 milliseconds.”"}, {"Source": "orchid flower", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "attract dung beetle pollinators", "Function2": "imitate the scent of dung", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/flowers-selectively-attract-pollinators/", "Strategy": "Flowers Selectively Attract Pollinators\n\nThe flowers of some orchid-flower plants attract dung beetle pollinators by imitating the scent of dung.\n\n\n“Lowiaceae, a family of the Zingiberales, comprise 11 species in\nthe single genus Orchidantha. Here we present the first report\non the pollination of Lowiaceae and describe a new system of\ndung-beetle pollination from Sarawak, Borneo. Orchidantha\ninouei has a zygomorphic flower located just above the\nground. Observations revealed that the plant is visited\nfrequently and is pollinated by scarabaeid dung beetles,\nmainly members of the genus Onthophagus. All four\nspecies of Onthophagus collected on O. inouei have also\nbeen caught using traps baited with dung or carrion in Borneo.\n Onthophagus was presumably attracted to the dung-like odor\nof the flower. Pollination of O. inouei is different from other\nexamples of beetle pollination in that its flower provides neither\nreward nor protected space. Dung beetles are excellent at\nfollowing a particular dung scent. Orchidantha is the only genus\nthat includes species lacking floral nectar. It is interesting that\nthis deception pollination using dung beetles was found in\nZingiberales, in which all known species have mutual and specialized\nrelationships with their long-distance, but costly, pollinators—bees,\nbirds, and bats.”"}, {"Source": "eastern pipistrelle bat's middle ear", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "sense barometric pressure", "Function2": "influence hunting behavior", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/middle-ear-senses-barometric-pressure/", "Strategy": "Middle Ear Senses Barometric Pressure\n\nThe Vitali organ in the middle ear of the Eastern pipistrelle bat helps it hunt by sensing changes in barometric pressure that influence the number of insects flying at a given time.\n\n“Bat researcher Dr. Ken Paige of the University of Illinois’s Institute for Environmental Studies noted that flying insects were most common when air (barometric) pressure was low (except in heavy rain). During these conditions eastern pipistrelle bats inhabiting caves in western Illinois came outside in large numbers. When the air pressure rose, however, insect numbers declined, and fewer bats exited the caves. The bat’s barometric sense may be due to the Vitali organ in the middle ear — bats are the only mammals with this organ.”"}, {"Source": "tree frog's urinary bladder", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "absorb foreign objects", "Function2": "expel foreign objects", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/body-removes-foreign-objects/", "Strategy": "Body Removes Foreign Objects\n\nForeign objects in the body cavity of some tree frogs can be absorbed into the urinary bladder and excreted.\n\n“Plant thorns, spiny insects and even radio transmitters don’t stick\naround for long inside tree frogs. Researchers have discovered that\nthese amphibians can absorb foreign objects from their body cavities\ninto their bladders and excrete them through urination…\n\n“‘It strikes me as being a pretty incredible mechanism for getting stuff\nout from the body cavity,’ says lead researcher Christopher Tracy of\nCharles Darwin University in Darwin, Australia. By contrast, humans and\nother mammals typically develop peritonitis, a potentially deadly\ninfection of the body-cavity membrane, if the membrane is punctured or\ndamaged by sharp objects…\n\n“Tracy and his colleagues decided to look into the phenomenon. They kept\ntree frogs and cane toads in the lab and surgically implanted beads in\ntheir body cavities. Within 2–3 weeks, the beads appeared on the floor\nof the frog cage. Only one cane toad out of five excreted a bead, but\nTracy opened some other toads after the surgery and caught them in the\nact of enveloping the beads into their bladders. In just two days, the\nbead was surrounded by a transparent tissue devoid of blood vessels,\nwhich subsequently became vascularized and muscular…\n\n“Although the study is the first to show an animal using its bladder to\nexpel foreign objects, researchers have observed similar phenomena in\nother vertebrates. Several species of fish and snake absorb objects into\ntheir intestines from the body cavity and expel them by defecation, for\ninstance.”"}, {"Source": "electric stargazers' electric organs", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "generate electricity", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/electric-organs-generate-volts/", "Strategy": "Electric Organs Generate Volts\n\nElectric organs behind the eyes of electric stargazers help them defend themselves and stun prey by generating electricity.\n\n“In the west Atlantic, electric stargazers, which are related to perch, hide in the sand, with only their eyes protruding, waiting for their prey to come close enough to be seized. Their electric organs are located in deep pits behind the eyes, and are used for defense as well as for stunning prey.”"}, {"Source": "reptiles' tongue", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "detect odors", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/organs-detect-scent/", "Strategy": "Organs Detect Scent\n\nThe tongues of many reptiles help detect odors by gathering scent particles and transferring them to a chemoreceptor organ.\n\n“Many snakes and reptiles combine the senses of smell and taste. When a snake flicks its forked tongue in and out of its mouth, it is sampling the air. The snake does not even need to open its mouth to do this. The tongue is flicked out through a small hole in the snake’s lips, so its two slender forks can collect scent particles from the air or from an object such as a stone. Back inside the mouth, the tongue’s forks are pressed into a pair of domed pits in the roof of the mouth, which have a moist lining that is sensitive to the chemicals it has picked up. The olfactory particles are transferred to the pits, which are well supplied with nerve endings, and are collectively known as Jacobson’s organ. Although most often found in snakes, this organ is also common in other reptiles, especially terrestrial lizards.”"}, {"Source": "clams' siphon", "Application": "water pipes", "Function1": "flexible", "Function2": "extensible", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/flexible-cylinders-siphon-water/", "Strategy": "Flexible Cylinders Siphon Water\n\nSiphons used by clams to inhale and exhale water are effective due to their flexibility and extensibility.\n\n\n“Cylinders may also act as pipelines carrying one material through another, like underground pipes. Man’s oil or drainage pipelines are usually rigid, but in nature flexibility is more valuable for this purpose. Some bivalve molluscs, such as clams, can live quite deep under the sandy sea bed by virtue of their extensible cylindrical siphons, one for inhaling water and the other for exhaling it after the gills have extracted food and oxygen.”"}, {"Source": "wood snake", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "fake death", "Function2": "secrete a noxious fluid", "Function3": "expel blood", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/defense-mechanism-deters-predators/", "Strategy": "Defense Mechanism Deters Predators\n\nWood snakes deter predators by faking death and decomposition, secreting a noxious fluid and expelling blood from the eyes and mouth.\n\n\n“There are certain snakes in the world that autohemorrhage and none of them is more effective than the West Indian wood snakes (Tropidophis spp.). Related to the great boa constrictors of Central and South America, these snakes perform a series of dramatic acts designed to ward off enemies and hungry predators.\n \n“First, they coil themselves up into a tight ball and secrete a truly foul-smelling fluid, which has an odor not dissimilar to that of rotting flesh. At the same time, they turn their eyes bright red by releasing blood into them, although they do not squirt it out in the way that the horned toad lizards do. \n\n“Instead, the wood snakes have devised an equally macabre finale to their performance. They increase the blood pressure within small capillaries just inside their mouth. The increasing pressure causes the capillaries to grow ever larger until they burst, sending bright scarlet rivulets of blood trickling down from the snake’s mouth. The alarming effect of this, coupled with the awful stench of the secreted fluid, suggests not only that the creature is dead and in the process of decomposing, but also that it is damaged in some way, or even diseased. As might well be expected, this highly unpleasant sight is normally enough to turn away even the most desperate of predators.” "}, {"Source": "alligator snapping turtle's jaws", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "attract fish", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/tongue-lures-fish/", "Strategy": "Tongue Lures Fish\n\nThe tongue of an alligator snapping turtle aids fish capture via a worm-like lure.\n\n“An alligator snapping turtle lies in wait for a passing fish, well camouflaged against the muddy river bed. Like all turtles and tortoises, it has no teeth, but its jaws are covered in a sharp-edged horny beak suitable for shearing flesh. On the floor of its mouth is a fleshy pink worm-like lure, which the turtle waggles to attract fish. Eager to seize the ‘worm’, a fish may swim right in the turtle’s gaping mouth.”"}, {"Source": "lungfish's muscle", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "partially digest own muscles", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/surviving-extended-confinement/", "Strategy": "Surviving Extended Confinement\n\nLungfish survive long periods in burrows without food by partially digesting their own muscles, called autophagy.\n\n“During estivation, the lungfish’s metabolic activity falls markedly, as in true hibernation, helping it survive longer. The lungfish also relies on certain physiological specializations in order to survive what can be a very prolonged period of physical confinement within its cocoon. Unable to obtain food, it derives its energy instead via a process of auto-cannibalism — known as autophagy — whereby it actively digests portions of its own body tissues — in particular its muscles.”"}, {"Source": "insect's ommatidium", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "adjust vision to the light condition", "Function2": "increase the effective aperture of the lens system", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/pigment-cells-absorb-incidental-light/", "Strategy": "Sidelined Eye Cells Alter Light\nAbsorption From Day to Night\n\nRetractable pigments in insect ommatidia adjust vision to fit conditions.\n\n“Each ommatidium…consists of several basic parts. There is a layer of transparent cuticle on the outside, which allows light into a lens beneath it. This is usually surrounded by cells containing ‘scattering pigment’ which absorbs scattered or incidental light rays, so that the only light entering the ommatidium is directly parallel to its axis. This beam of light is directed by the lens down the narrow visual centre or rhabdom where it reacts with pigment, stimulating the nerve cells that surround the rhabdom. The nerve cells pass the message to the optical centre in the insect’s ‘brain’ where it is interpreted…The ommatidia of different insects are varied. They may even be of different sizes within a single compound eye. The scattering pigment reduces the total amount of light entering the eye, so insects active by day may find themselves blind at dusk when the light is lower and more diffused. Nocturnal insects, however, often have the ability to withdraw the scattering pigment from their eyes at night in order to absorb every scrap of available light and to allow light from many of the lens facets to focus on a single light-sensitive rhabdom, thus increasing the effective aperture of the lens system. Many moths go even further, possessing (like cats and some other animals) a kind of mirror – the tapetum – at the back of the eye: this reflects light back through the retinal cells, so every beam of light is used twice over.”"}, {"Source": "green sulphur bacteria's photosynthetic complex", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "efficient energy transfer", "Function2": "create coherent quantum waves", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/energy-transfers-in-photosynthetic-process/", "Strategy": "Energy Transfers in Photosynthetic Process\n\nThe photosynthetic complexes of green sulphur bacteria maximize efficient energy transfer by creating coherent quantum waves.\n\n“Photosynthetic complexes are exquisitely tuned to capture solar light efficiently, and then transmit the excitation energy to reaction centres, where long term energy storage is initiated. The energy transfer mechanism is often described by semiclassical models that invoke ‘hopping’ of excited-state populations along discrete energy levels. Two-dimensional Fourier transform electronic spectroscopy has mapped these energy levels and their coupling in the Fenna–Matthews–Olson (FMO) bacteriochlorophyll complex, which is found in green sulphur bacteria and acts as an energy ‘wire’ connecting a large peripheral light-harvesting antenna, the chlorosome, to the reaction centre.”"}, {"Source": "sea pen's joint", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "suspension feeding", "Function2": "twist about lengthwise axis", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/joint-aids-suspension-feeding/", "Strategy": "Joint Aids Suspension Feeding\n\nA joint in sea pens enhances suspension feeding by allowing them to twist to face the current.\n\n\"“Twisting about a lengthwise axis only. This kind of joint, rare in nature, turns up in sea pens (Ptilosarcus), which stand unbent on bay bottoms and rotate so they face the current (Best 1988). The ascidian, Styela…does much the same thing (Young and Braithwaite 1980)–and for the same reason, taking advantage of ambient currents for suspension feeding. Pushing up the twistiness-to-bendiness ratio of a cylinder, of course, restricts bending relative to twisting and thus encourages just this kind of specific torsional flexibility, but without an absolute prohibition on hinge action and without a discrete joint.” "}, {"Source": "dinoflagellates' toxic blooms", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "immobilize prey", "Function2": "aid predation", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/toxic-blooms-aid-predation/", "Strategy": "Toxic Blooms Aid Predation\n\nToxic blooms produced by some dinoflagellates may aid predation by immobilizing their algal prey.\n\n\"“The toxins produced by some algal blooms may have evolved to give\npredatory algae an advantage when it comes to capturing their prey,\nresearchers say…\n“Single-celled algae called dinoflagellates are one of the organisms\nresponsible for harmful algal blooms that poison shellfish and leave\nfish floating belly-up. Because the toxins are energetically costly to\nmake, biologists have long wondered whether they are more than just a\nway to defend algae from getting eaten or preventing competitors from\nmoving in on their space. Although many dinoflagellates can survive\nthrough photosynthesis alone, some species are able to grow twice as\nfast by preying on other algae — and it is this feeding mechanism that\nis now thought to be aided by the production of toxins…\n“Toxic strains of K. veneficum  immediately\ncaused the prey to slow down by more than 50%, and nearly doubled the\nproportion of immobile algae in the water relative to non-toxic strains.\nAfter 5 hours, more than 90% of the prey were immobile…Notably, K. veneficum \nalso slows down in the presence of prey, which may be a means of\nstaying within the toxic cloud to aid predation.” "}, {"Source": "honeybee", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "reject substitutes", "Function2": "extreme sensitivity to taste", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/sensitivity-to-sweetness-aids-in-food-selection/", "Strategy": "Sensitivity to Sweetness Aids in Food Selection\n\nHoneybees select natural sugars and reject substitutes based on an extreme sensitivity to taste.\n\n“Conversely, when presented with a wide selection of tastes, insects are sometimes far less responsive than we are. In one series of tests, in which 34 different sugars and similar substances were sampled, human volunteers stated that 30 of them tasted sweet. In sharp contrast, honeybees offered this selection responded to only nine of them — all substances that occurred in their natural foodstuffs, such as nectar and honeydew. The bees were not fooled by artificial sweeteners such as saccharin. In high concentrations, these substances actively repelled the discriminating honeybees.”"}, {"Source": "fanworm's radiating filament", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "filter water", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/radiating-filaments-filter-water/", "Strategy": "Radiating Filaments Filter Water\n\nThe radiating filaments of fanworms filter water for food particles efficiently due to increased surface area.\n\n“Increased surface area is extremely useful to many creatures…The radiating filaments of the fanworm filter the water for food particles: the more water is covered, the more food is found.”"}, {"Source": "leafcutter ant's fungal garden", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "symbiotic nitrogen fixation", "Function2": "obtain nitrogen", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/bacterial-symbionts-provide-nitrogen/", "Strategy": "Bacterial Symbionts Provide Nitrogen\n\nLeafcutter ants likely obtain a large part of their nitrogen from symbiotic bacteria living in their cultivated fungal gardens.\n\nWhere Are the Ants Carrying All Those Leaves?\n\n“Bacteria-mediated acquisition of atmospheric N2\nserves as a critical source of nitrogen\nin terrestrial ecosystems. Here we reveal that symbiotic\nnitrogen fixation facilitates the\ncultivation of specialized fungal crops by leaf-cutter\nants. By using acetylene reduction\nand stable isotope experiments, we demonstrated that N2\nfixation occurred in the fungus\ngardens of eight leaf-cutter\nant species and, further, that this fixed nitrogen\nwas incorporated into ant biomass.\nSymbiotic N2-fixing bacteria were\nconsistently isolated from the fungus\ngardens of 80 leaf-cutter ant\ncolonies collected in Argentina,\nCosta Rica, and Panama. The discovery of\nN2 fixation within the\nleaf-cutter ant–microbe symbiosis reveals a\npreviously unrecognized nitrogen source in\nneotropical ecosystems.”"}, {"Source": "basidomycete fungi's spores", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "disperse spores", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/spores-are-self-propelled/", "Strategy": "Spores Are Self‑propelled\n\nSpores of basidomycete fungi disperse using a surface tension catapult.\n\n“Surface tension is almost\nimperceptible at length scales at which humans operate. However at microscopic\nlength scales, surface tension forces dominate over the force of gravity [e.g.\nwhen the length of an object gets smaller than 1mm]…This simple phenomenon has\nprofound consequences on the release of spores. The dispersal of most fungal\nspores by wind requires that they be small thus making the force of gravity\ninconsequential compared with adhesion forces. As a result spores tend to cling\nto each other and to the gills of mushroom caps. Active spore ejection provides\na solution to this problem…However, unlike other active dispersal systems which\ninvolve mass release of spores from specialized launching structures,\nballistospores are self propelled by water.”"}, {"Source": "cushion plant's stem", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "reabsorb nutrients", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/roots-absorb-nutrients-from-dead-leaves/", "Strategy": "Roots Absorb Nutrients From Dead Leaves\n\nThe stems of cushion plants reabsorb nutrients from dead leaves by sending out lateral rootlets.\n\n“Other plants deal with cold by packing their stems tightly together into a cushion. By doing so, the plant creates a miniature ecosystem where the resources of warmth, humidity and nourishment are significantly better than in the world outside it. The cushion’s furry exterior acts like a muff, helping to hold any warmth it might contain. The plant may even add to that by, on occasion, expending a little of its food reserves in slightly raising the internal temperature. The sheer bulk of fibres of the cushion retains water like a sponge and the fierce winds do not dry it out. Nor is the nutriment embodied in the leaves lost when they die. Instead of being shed, they remain within the cushion and the upper part of the stems puts out lateral rootlets to reabsorb much of the leaves’ constituents just as soon as decay releases them…No plants develop bigger cushions than those growing on the tops of the mountains in Tasmania. They have a particular need to do so. Snow seldom falls on these peaks because the surrounding sea keeps the climate relatively mild. But the sea does nothing to reduce the wind, and the chill it brings at these altitudes can be very bitter indeed. The plants in winter, lacking a protective blanket of snow, are thus subject to particularly severe chilling…The plants that form the cushions here belong to the same family as daisies and dandelions, but their flowers are tiny and their stems are packed tightly together. A single square yard may contain a hundred thousand shoots so that a big cushion could easily contain a million stems…Some cushions are twelve feet across and spill over boulders and around the boles of trees. They may contain several species intermingled so that their surface is spangled with different shades of green.” "}, {"Source": "rosette succulent's leaf", "Application": "artificial mist machine", "Function1": "harvest water", "Function2": "store water", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/rosettes-capture-fog/", "Strategy": "Leaves Capture Water From Fog\n\nThe leaves of rosette succulents intercept water droplets from fog through their waxy, smooth surface.\n\nIntroduction\n\nDespite the relatively harsh conditions of North America’s deserts, a wide range of plants taking many shapes and forms have been able to thrive in these areas. Rosette succulents make up a diverse group of plants that have successfully established in desert ecosystems, especially at the elevations at which clouds form.\n\nMany of them have relatively large leaves that store large volumes of water and are arranged in layers spreading out from around the base of the plant. This structure helps them to collect and store water from rain and fog, and is one of the keys to their success in these environments.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nConsidering their evolutionary history, fog is a relatively new source of water for these plants. Nonetheless, rosette succulents have developed several characteristics to help them make use of this resource.\n\nAgaves, for example, are highly efficient at harvesting water––even from fog and the lightest of rainfalls––thanks to the smooth surface of their leaves created by a waxy outer layer that also serves as a barrier to water loss. The water droplets in fog have a lot of surface area with which to make contact with other surfaces. With this high surface area, and being relatively lightweight, fog droplets are captured by an envelope of slow-moving air that surrounds a leaf and directed along its smooth surface. Species in cloud belts also tend to use that effect, as well as an arrangement of leaves that act like a funnel, to transport harvested water to their roots.\n\nIn higher altitude areas where fog is common, many rosette succulents have evolved to exhibit the “narrow-leaf syndrome.” This is a specific set of traits that can help increase a plant’s efficiency in capturing moisture from fog. Narrow and flexible leaves are better able to catch water droplets and direct their movement to the base, while a longer basal stem helps the plant catch more fog by holding it higher above the ground.\n\nThe Potential \n\nRosette succulents can serve as inspiration for ways we can harvest and store water from alternative, temporary sources like fog, for drinking and other uses.\nTheir strategy for removing moisture from the air can also be applied to enclosed spaces in which humidity control is necessary for maintaining livable conditions for people, plants, or animals. Some spaces that could benefit from this technology include indoor swimming pools, ice rinks, and stadiums, as well as large-scale enclosed habitats on land, in the sea, or beyond.\n\n"}, {"Source": "fern's sporangium", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "forcibly discharge spores", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/surface-tension-flings-spores/", "Strategy": "Surface Tension Flings Spores\n\nThe spores of one fern are launched from the sporangium using a mechanism based on surface tension and evaporation.\n\n“A mechanism based on the surface tension of water is used by a fern that forcibly discharges its spores from the sporangium–evaporation decreases the volume of water and increases the surface curvature in a series of cuplike dead cells until the sustainable cohesion is exceeded; water then vaporizes and tension is relieved by a movement analogous to that involved in throwing a spear (Steward 1968).”"}, {"Source": "goldfish", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "adapt to detect far-red and infrared light", "Function2": "detect light", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/hunting-in-murky-water/", "Strategy": "Hunting in Murky Water\n\nGoldfish can hunt in murky environments because they are able to detect far-red and infrared light.\n\n“Like the piranha, the goldfish often inhabits murky, vegetation-choked stretches of freshwater in its natural habitat. It has therefore adapted so that it is able to detect far-red light. Indeed, its visual range exceeds that of the piranha because it can see beyond far-red light, into true infrared.”"}, {"Source": "human's kidneys", "Application": "water recycling technology", "Function1": "filter impurities", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/kidneys-filter-impurities/", "Strategy": "Kidneys Filter Impurities\n\nKidneys of humans filter impurities by use of a dual membrane system.\n\n“Using a system based on the human body’s kidneys – the ultimate in water recycling technology – Singapore and Orange County, CA have developed schemes that will use a dual membrane process to recycle domestic waste water (sewage) to levels that approach the quality of distilled water. Like the kidney, these recycling plants use two membranes, one with larger holes to remove micro-organisms such as protozoa and bacteria that cause infection, while the second separates salt from water.”"}, {"Source": "vampire bat's digestive system", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "concentrate blood", "Function2": "excrete water", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/concentrating-blood-lightens-weight/", "Strategy": "Concentrating Blood Lightens Weight\n\nThe digestive and circulatory systems of vampire bats lighten their load after ingesting a large volume of blood by rapidly concentrating the blood and excreting the water content.\n\n“[Bat] stomachs can hold a volume of blood equal to 57 percent of their body mass, but they can’t fly with this much extra weight. The problem is solved by rapidly getting rid of water and lightening their load before taking off. Within two minutes after a bat begins to feed, it begins to excrete a stream of very dilute urine.” (Crump 2005:68)\nCrump, M. 2005. Headless Males Make Great Lovers & Other Unusual Natural Histories. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL. 199 pp."}, {"Source": "penguin's salt gland", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "remove salt", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/glands-remove-salt-2/", "Strategy": "Glands Remove Salt\n\nPenguins help handle excess salt in their diet via specialized salt glands.\n\n“To handle excess salt loads of marine life, penguins have specialized salt glands in the facial region with histology similar to renal tissue.”"}, {"Source": "east african jumping spider's sensory system", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "prefer blood-filled malarial mosquitoes", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/malaria-vector-chosen-as-preferred-prey/", "Strategy": "Malaria Vector Chosen As Preferred Prey\n\nThe sensory system of an East African jumping spider is able to select blood-filled malarial mosquitoes as its preferred prey based on its superior vision.\n\n“That an East African predator might single out malaria vectors as preferred prey is of considerable interest. Not only is malaria the world’s most important insect-borne threat to public health [1,2], but it is especially in sub-Sahara Africa that Plasmodium falciparum and lethal malaria are prevalent [2,3,4,5]. Vectors of human malaria all belong to a particular mosquito genus, Anopheles [1,6,7]. Here we consider Evarcha culicivora, an East African jumping spider [Salticidae]. This species is known only from the vicinity of Lake Victoria in East Africa [8], a region where, even by African standards, the impact of malaria is especially severe [2,9,10]. Innate preference for blood-carrying female mosquitoes was shown for all active size classes of E. culicivora in an earlier study [11], but finer-grain preference for specifically Anopheles was not investigated. Here we show that, when sated, both large and small individuals of E. culicivora single out Anopheles as their preferred prey, and small juveniles of this predator prefer Anopheles even when fasted.”"}, {"Source": "bird's nest fungus's saucer‑like top", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "project spore", "Function2": "release spore", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/saucer-like-structure-aids-spore-dispersal/", "Strategy": "Saucer‑like Structure Aids Spore Dispersal\n\nThe saucer-like top of a bird's nest fungus launches spore capsules by deflecting heavy raindrops that dislodge the capsules and disperse them.\n\n“The tiny bird’s nest fungus produces a little saucer in which nestle a few small ‘eggs’. The clutch size varies from a couple to eight or ten. Each is a small capsule filled with spores and each is attached to the saucer by a thin filament. The saucer is so shaped that if a heavy raindrop falls in it, water droplets are deflected up around the sides, detaching the capsules and projecting them for a distance of up to six feet. Their attaching threads unwind behind them and finally break. They have a sticky end so that as the capsule shoots through surrounding vegetation, the filament catches on a leaf or a stem and the capsule hangs there. Then when conditions are just right, it releases its spores.”"}, {"Source": "western diamondback rattlesnake's windpipe", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "breathe", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/breathing-occurs-even-with-full-mouth/", "Strategy": "Breathing Occurs Even With Full Mouth\n\nThe windpipe of a western diamondback rattlesnake allows breathing with a mouthful of prey because it protrudes from the bottom of the snake's mouth.\n\n“A western diamondback rattlesnake strikes at an intruder. The snake’s jaws are specially hinged to allow it to open them extremely wide. This is necessary because the fangs curve inwards and need to be plunged vertically into the prey. When not in use they are folded back against the roof of the mouth (see diagram). The snake’s windpipe is protruding at the bottom of its mouth — this is so that the snake can still breathe after it has a mouthful of prey.”"}, {"Source": "manta ray's cephalic fin", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "filter feed", "Function2": "funnel food", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/fins-funnel-food/", "Strategy": "Fins Funnel Food\n\nThe mouth of manta rays filter feeds more efficiently because food is funneled via extendable, flaplike fins on either side of the mouth.\n\n“The manta is the largest living ray, up to 6.7 metres across and 1360 kg in weight. Surprisingly, it feeds on small crustaceans and plankton, trapped on its gill rakers. Unlike most rays, its mouth extends across the front of its body, and the large mobile pale-coloured cephalic fins on either side of the mouth can be extended vertically. It has been suggested that these may form a scoop or funnel leading to the mouth while feeding.”"}, {"Source": "fruit bat's tongue", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "scoop up nectar and pollen", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/tongue-gathers-nectar-and-pollen/", "Strategy": "Tongue Gathers Nectar and Pollen\n\nThe long tongues of some fruit bats efficiently scoop up nectar and pollen using brush-like papillae covering the tongues' surface.\n\n\n“Macroglossus means simply big-tongues and the bats that carry that name have a tongue as long as their body with a brush-like surface that enables them to scoop up nectar and pollen in great quantities.” "}, {"Source": "fiddler crab's mouthpart", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "filter fine materials", "Function2": "brush off diatoms and bacteria", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/hair-like-structures-filter-fine-materials/", "Strategy": "Hair‑like Structures Filter Fine Materials\n\nThe mouthparts of fiddler crabs filter fine materials from sediment using spoon-shaped setae (stiff hair-like structures) to hold sand grains, while brush-shaped setae brush off diatoms and bacteria for eating.\n\nFiddler crabs (Uca spp.), are deposit feeders, ingesting organic matter from exposed mud at low tide. “Sediment is sorted within the buccal cavity. The outermost mouth parts, the third maxillipeds, play little active part other than helping to retain sediment and water during the sorting process. The inner surface of the second maxilIipedries carries quite large numbers of long setae, some with spoon tips and others feathery. Facing these on the outer surface of the first maxillipeds is a brush of stiff setae. The sediment is rolled between two maxillipeds. The spooned setae of the second maxillipeds hold sand grains against the brushlike setae of the first maxillipeds, and diatoms and bacteria adhering to the grains are brushed off and moved towards the mouth itself. While this is going on, water is pumped out of the gill chamber into the buccal chamber. This helps the sorting process which takes place essentially in suspension…The mouth parts, too, are adapted to particular sediment compositions. Species feeding predominantly on coarse sandy sediments have more of the long, spoon-tipped setae on the inside of the second maxillipeds, and the tips of the setae are more spoon-shaped, while the setal ‘brush’ on the outside of the first maxillipeds is denser. Where the preferred sediment contains more fine organic particles, extra rows of setae are present at the base of the third maxillipeds to protect the aperture into the gill chamber and prevent the gills from becoming clogged. (Macnae 1968; Miller 1961; Ono 1965).”"}, {"Source": "whale's lung", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "efficiently expel air", "Function2": "clear spent air", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/lungs-efficiently-expel-air/", "Strategy": "Lungs Efficiently Expel Air\n\nLungs of whales efficiently expel air via powerful exhalations.\n\n“The mammals’ dependency on air for breathing must be considered a real handicap in water, but the whale has minimised the problem by breathing even more efficiently than most mammals. Man only clears about 15% of the air in his lungs with a normal breath. The whale, in one of its roaring, spouting exhalations, gets rid of about 90% of its spent air. As a result it only has to take a breath at very long intervals. It also has in its muscles a particularly high concentration of a substance called myoglobin, that enables it to store oxygen. It is this constituent that gives whale meat its characteristic dark colour. With the help of these techniques, the fin-back whale, for example, can dive to depth of 500 metres and swim for forty minutes without drawing breath.”"}, {"Source": "photosynthetic complex", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "capture solar light", "Function2": "transmit excitation energy", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/body-shape-and-position-direct-water-current/", "Strategy": "Energy Transfers in Photosynthetic Process\n\nThe larvae of black flies direct water currents to create conditions favorable to gathering and filtering food by adjusting the shape and position of their body and foldable, food-trapping mouth fans.\n\n“Photosynthetic complexes are exquisitely tuned to capture solar light efficiently, and then transmit the excitation energy to reaction centres, where long term energy storage is initiated. The energy transfer mechanism is often described by semiclassical models that invoke ‘hopping’ of excited-state populations along discrete energy levels. Two-dimensional Fourier transform electronic spectroscopy has mapped these energy levels and their coupling in the Fenna–Matthews–Olson (FMO) bacteriochlorophyll complex, which is found in green sulphur bacteria and acts as an energy ‘wire’ connecting a large peripheral light-harvesting antenna, the chlorosome, to the reaction centre.”"}, {"Source": "bloody-nose beetle's mouth", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "deter predators", "Function2": "noxious liquid secretions", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/reflex-bleeding-deters-predators-2/", "Strategy": "Reflex \"bleeding\" Deters Predators\n\nThe mouth of bloody-nose beetles deters predators via noxious liquid secretions.\n\n“Other animals that autohemorrhage come from various insect families within the beetle order Coleoptera. One such creature is the bloody-nosed beetle (Timarcha spp.), which forces bright-red blood out around its mouth when threatened.”"}, {"Source": "tree trunk's xylem vessel", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "prevent gas bubble formation", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/vessels-resist-bubble-formation/", "Strategy": "Vessels Resist Bubble Formation\n\nXylem vessels running up tree trunks prevent gas bubble formation because all surfaces are hydrophilic.\n\n“The water columns in the xylem vessels running up the trunk of a tree provide a dramatic example of what’s possible when all surfaces are hydrophilic. With megapascals of negative pressures virtually any dissolved gas ensures supersaturation, yet bubbles rarely form. It’s a good thing, too- a tiny bubble would rupture a water column since any bubble is itself an appropriate surface for gas formation; and, once formed, bubbles grow almost explosively in a supersaturated liquid.”"}, {"Source": "vascular bundle", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "provide mechanical strength", "Function2": "serve as rod-like reinforcements", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/rod-like-reinforcements-provide-strength/", "Strategy": "Rod‑like Reinforcements Provide Strength\n\nVascular bundles in plants provide mechanical strength, serving as rod-like reinforcements.\n\n“Figure 5: Part of a stem of a robust grass, in cross section. Here mechanical strength of the stem is provided by the vascular bundles set in a matrix of thinner-walled cells, rather like rod reinforcements. Each vascular bundle has an outer sheath of fibres, forming a strong tube in which the two wide vessels can conduct water, and the strand of thin-walled, narrow cells (phloem) can transport sugar solutions with little risk of damage. Just to the inner side of the outer ring of smaller vessels the several layers of narrow cells eventually become thick-walled and provide additional strength in the form of a cylinder to the whole stem.”"}, {"Source": "rabbit's ears", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "prevent disease", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/self-medicating-prevents-disease/", "Strategy": "Self‑medicating Prevents Disease\n\nThe ears of rabbits assist in Vitamin D acquisition because they have an oil on the surface that transforms to Vitamin D in sunlight, which is then ingested as the rabbits clean themselves.\n\n“Even rabbits have a therapeutic trick or two – in their case, behind the ears. Mammals need vitamin D – which works with calcium to make healthy bones – in order to prevent such problems as fractures, as well as to keep diseases such as rickets at bay. It is well known that in mammals this vitamin is synthesized when the skin is exposed to sunlight. As noted by John Downer in SuperNatural (1999), rabbits put this principle to good medicinal use when they wash behind their ears with their paws. The oil on the outer surface of the rabbits’ extra-long ears contains a chemical that transforms into vitamin D when there is enough sunlight. And when rabbits lick their paws after washing behind their ears, they transfer this vitamin supply to their mouths and, therefore, into their digestive system.”"}, {"Source": "sea squirt's main body cylinder", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "filter food and oxygen", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/siphon-filters-seawater/", "Strategy": "Siphon Filters Seawater\n\nThe main body cylinder of a sea squirt filters food and oxygen from water using an oral siphon.\n\n“The sea squirt’s body is made up of two cylinders. Water drawn into the main cylinder through the uppermost opening is filtered to extract food and oxygen, then escapes through the lateral cylinder. The small size of the lateral opening causes a rapid jet of water which carries the sea squirt’s waste well beyond the incoming water current.”"}, {"Source": "hemoglobin", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "distribute oxygen", "Function2": "adjustable oxygen affinity", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/blood-carries-oxygen-in-varied-conditions/", "Strategy": "Blood Carries Oxygen in Varied Conditions\n\nThe blood of humans distributes oxygen through the body via hemoglobin with adjustable oxygen affinity.\n\n“Nature has evolved in ways that, at the molecular scale, make inventive and elegant uses of chemistry. To take an example more or less at random, the use of allosteric effects by haemoglobin to fine-tune the protein’s affinity for oxygen in different environments is exquisite. Imagine trying to design from first principles a system with haemoglobin’s oxygen-sensitive oxygen affinity—there is not at all an obvious solution, and the engineer’s answer would be likely to involve a cumbersome system of sensors and switches.”"}, {"Source": "frog's jelly mass", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "reduce water requirement", "Function2": "take up water", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/concentrated-form-reduces-water-requirements/", "Strategy": "Concentrated Form Reduces\nWater Requirements\n\nThe jelly mass that holds the eggs of many frogs reduces internal water requirements because it is secreted in a concentrated form, which then takes up water from the external environment.\n\n“As far as I know, all extracellular mucuses and gels are secreted in concentrated form and then take up water–a conspicuous example is the jelly mass in which the eggs of a frog are suspended. When swollen, the mass is typically larger than the volume of the gravid female. Slime production by hagfish, according to John Gosline, provides an even more spectacular case.”"}, {"Source": "australian christmas tree's root", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "steal water", "Function2": "steal nutrients", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/suckers-steal-water-and-nutrients/", "Strategy": "Suckers Steal Water and Nutrients\n\nThe roots of the Australian Christmas tree extract water and nutrients from the roots of other plants via penetrating, absorbing suckers.\n\n“The fact is that the Christmas tree steals the water that its neighbours have managed to extract from the parched ground before they themselves are able to make use of it. A pair of sharp woody pincers then develops from the side of the collar opposite the point where the sucker first made contact with the root. This unique structure grows inwards and completely severs the water-carrying tubes in the root. At the same time the sucker develops vessels which grow into the root’s wound, connect with both sides of the cut and divert the liquid carried by the root back to the Christmas tree…With this technique repeated many thousand times in the ground all around it, the Christmas tree steals water and mineral nutrients from plants growing over a huge area of bush. Its roots, in their search for victims, may extend for as much as a hundred yards from its trunk.”"}, {"Source": "grasshopper's cuticle", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "release blood", "Function2": "deter predators", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/pressure-forces-blood-from-pores/", "Strategy": "Pressure Forces Blood From Pores\n\nWeak pores in the cuticle of certain grasshoppers ooze blood plasma as the hydrostatic pressure within the grasshoppers' bodies increases.\n\n“A number of insects also release blood in order to deter predators. Some of the most dramatic examples occur among grasshoppers of the genus Dictyophorus. When threatened, hydrostatic pressure within the grasshopper’s body increases, forcing blood plasma out of weak pores in the body’s cuticle. As it emerges, the blood mixes with air and converts into a disgusting froth that covers the insect’s body surface. The froth contains a repellent so noxious that any creature brave enough to attempt to eat this vile-looking insect soon drops it and beats a hasty retreat. Once alone again, the grasshopper reabsorbs much of its blood by decreasing its body’s internal hydrostatic pressure.” "}, {"Source": "pregnant female locust's intersegmental membrane", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "deposit eggs", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/stretchy-membrane-aids-oviposition/", "Strategy": "Stretchy Membrane Aids Oviposition\n\nThe intersegmental membranes of a pregnant female locust helps her deposit her eggs about 8 centimeters underground due to stress-softening of the membrane.\n\n“While a stretchy nuchal ligament can act as a shock absorber, a stretchy tendon would undo the shortening of the muscle that it attaches to a bone. The current record holder, the intersegmental membrane of the pregnant female locust, achieved its renown in an investigation by Vincent (1975); it’s made of about 12 percent protein and 12 percent chitin, with the rest water, and it undergoes something called ‘stress-softening.’ Mother locust, a creature of dry habitats, stretches these membranes between her abdominal segments to get her eggs about 8 centimeters underground–deep enough so the desiccated eggs have a reliable source of water. The eggs are kept fairly dry before being expelled, presumably so the locust can hold a large number and still fly.”"}, {"Source": "newt tadpole's external gills", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "absorb oxygen", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/fine-filaments-absorb-oxygen/", "Strategy": "Fine Filaments Absorb Oxygen\n\nThe external gills of newt tadpoles absorb oxygen from water using fine filaments with a large collective surface area.\n\n“The large surface area of fine filaments is used by the external gills of the newt tadpole…to absorb oxygen from the surrounding water.” "}, {"Source": "desert grasses", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "uniformly distribute water and nutrients", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/mats-uniformly-distribute-resources/", "Strategy": "Mats Uniformly Distribute Resources\n\nGrasses in deserts uniformly distribute rainfall and nutrients by forming a mat of roots that limits shrub establishment.\n\n“A century ago, lush expanses of black grama grass carpeted much of West Texas and eastern New Mexico along the northern rim of the Chihuahuan Desert. Since the end of the Pleistocene, no large grazers, not even the native bison, had nibbled the grasses.” Once cattlemen bored holes for water, tens of thousands of cattle were grazing the plains. “Within just a few decades, range managers noticed worrisome changes. Mesquite and creosote bushes were invading the grama grass. Each year the land looked more like the neighboring desert that stretches south into central Mexico. The shrubs had always been around, but their numbers were kept in check by the full carpet of grass, which presented ‘a very formidable arena for shrub seedlings to get started,’ notes William Schlesinger of Duke University. The seedlings are no match for the mat of grass roots that captures most of the water and nutrients in the top few centimeters of the soil. Shrub seedlings that do get a toehold seldom survive the periodic wildfires that sweep across unbroken grasslands."}, {"Source": "leaves of some plants", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "maximize exposure to sunlight", "Function2": "maximize photosynthesis", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/leaves-maximize-sun-exposure/", "Strategy": "Leaves Maximize Sun Exposure\n\nLeaves of plants maximize exposure to sun to maximize photosynthesis by moving throughout the day.\n\n“Since daylight is essential for this process, every plant must, as far as possible, position its leaves so that each collects its share without interfering with any others the plant may have. This may require changing the posture of the leaves throughout the day as the sun moves across the sky. The accuracy with which a plant can position them may be judged simply by gazing up at the canopy in a wood. The leaves form a near-continuous ceiling, fitting together like the pieces of a jigsaw.”"}, {"Source": "bolas spider's sticky lure", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "produce a sticky lure", "Function2": "attract prey", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/lure-tricks-prey/", "Strategy": "Lure Tricks Prey\n\nThe sticky lure of the bolas spider attracts prey thanks to a coating that smells like the female sex pheromone of certain moths.\n\n“So called for their talent for producing a large, sticky, ball-shaped lure that is twirled around on the end of a silken rope, held by one of their eight legs, the cunning bolas spider coats the object with a special secretion that smells like the female sex pheromone of certain moths, thus attracting males of these species. When the spider detects their fluttering wing movements close by, it begins whirling its scented lure in the air. Irresistibly drawn by the deceptive odor, the male moths come closer. When they are close enough, the spider deftly hits them with the lure, trapping them on its sticky surface. When satisfied with its catch of up to eight moths in one night, the spider hauls in the lure, and wraps each moth in silk, to be eaten later.” "}, {"Source": "phalarope's spinning paddling behavior", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "stirs up sediment", "Function2": "induce an upward vortex", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/vortex-stirs-up-sediment/", "Strategy": "Vortex Stirs Up Sediment\n\nThe spinning paddling behavior of phalaropes pulls sediment from the bottom of a pond for feeding by inducing an upward vortex.\n\n“Another way of using vortices to put edibles where they can be eaten underlies (literally) a peculiar behavior of phalaropes (noted as surface-tension transporters in the last chaper). A Phalarope spends much of its time in a single place on the surface of shallow water, spinning rapidly around its own body, as in figure 6.12b. According to Obst et al. (1996), the spinning represents the recoil of the peculiar paddling pattern with which it creates an upward vortex like a tiny, underwater tornado or water spout. That vortex brings up edible items, with barely a pause in the spinning the bird snags in its bill.”"}, {"Source": "hummingbird's intestines", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "absorb glucose", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/intestines-absorb-glucose-fast/", "Strategy": "Intestines Absorb Glucose Fast\n\nIntestines of hummingbirds rapidly take up glucose by using glucose transporters in intestinal mucosa.\n\n“Intestinal transit time is about 15 minutes, during which time, using a high density of glucose transporters in the intestinal mucosa, some 99% of ingested glucose is absorbed.”"}, {"Source": "cypress tree's branch", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "enhance exchange of matter", "Function2": "enhance internal transport", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/branching-pattern-enhances-exchange-and-transport/", "Strategy": "Branching Pattern Enhances\nExchange and Transport\n\nBranches of cypress trees and other organisms enhance exchange of matter with the environment and internal transport by using fractal branching structures.\n\n“The natural plant with branched fractal structures possesses large specific surface area (for scrambling the space to enhance the exchange of matters with environments), and well connectivity (for prompting the transport of those inside the structures).”"}, {"Source": "black fungi's melanin pigments", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "scattering/trapping photons", "Function2": "harness energy", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/organisms-capture-radiation/", "Strategy": "Organisms Capture Radiation\n\nMelanin pigments in black fungi harness energy for metabolism by scattering/trapping photons and electrons from ionizing radiation.\n\n\n“Melanins are unique biopolymers that protect living organisms against UV and ionizing radiation and extreme temperatures…For example, the melanotic fungus C. [Cladosporium] cladosporioides manifests radiotropism by growing in the direction of radioactive particles and this organism has become widely distributed in the areas surrounding Chernobyl since the nuclear accident in 1986 [7]. Both in the laboratory and in the field several other species of melanized fungi grew towards soil particles contaminated with different radionuclides, gradually engulfing and destroying those particles [35,36]…On the basis of these precedents and the results of this study we cautiously suggest that the ability of melanin to capture electromagnetic radiation combined with its remarkable oxidation-reduction properties may confer upon melanotic organisms the ability to harness radiation for metabolic energy.”\n \n“Fungi are well-known for breaking down organic material, not creating\nit from scratch, as plants do. But a fungus that might break that mold\nhas been discovered thriving at one of the most toxic sites in the\nworld: the defunct Chernobyl nuclear reactor.\n\nThe black fungus Cladosporium sphaerospermum\nwas collected from the reactor walls by a robot touring the radioactive\nsite, and it caught the attention of Arturo Casadevall of the Albert\nEinstein College of Medicine. Intrigued by the phenomenon, Casadevall,\nEkaterina Dadachova, also of Einstein, and their colleagues exposed\ncolonies of C. sphaerospermum and two other species of fungus\nto extravagantly high levels of radiation in the laboratory. Radiation,\nthey discovered, increases the growth of species that have melanin, the\ndark pigment that also occurs in human skin. Furthermore, when the\ninvestigators irradiated melanin in isolation, they noted dramatic\nchanges in its electronic properties. Melanin seems to capture energy\nfrom radiation and convert it to chemical energy, much the way\nchlorophyll in plants captures the energy of sunlight.\n\nIf C. sphaerospermum\nand the numerous other fungi that make melanin are indeed able to\n‘radiosynthesize,’ fundamental equations describing the Earth’s energy\nbalance might need to be recalculated. (PLoS ONE)”"}, {"Source": "grass stigmas", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "capture pollen", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/elaborate-stigmas-capture-pollen-grains/", "Strategy": "Elaborate Stigmas Capture Pollen Grains\n\nThe stigmas of grasses capture flying pollen due to their elaborate shape.\n\n“[The flowers] of grasses consist of no more than tiny clusters of dry brown or greenish scales from which the stamens protrude when the right moment comes. Their stigmas, which have to intercept flying pollen grains are particularly elaborate, often shaped like combs.” "}, {"Source": "spathe of the titan arum", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "attract insects", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/optical-illusion-may-attract-insects/", "Strategy": "Optical Illusion May Attract Insects\n\nThe spathe of the titan arum may attract insects by creating an optical illusion of radiating bright light, using a delicate shading of red pigment that turns to white at the very bottom.\n\n“Looking down into [the spathe’s] depths, there seemed to be a light shining up from the bottom. The illusion was created by a fine shading of the red pigment that turned to white at the lowest point. If any insect flying in the neighbourhood was positively attracted by bright light – and there are many which are – then the spathe’s colouring might have been an optical inducement to fly down to the depths of the great funnel and reach the flowers clustered around the base of the spadix.”"}, {"Source": "tapeworm's body surface", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "absorb nutrient", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/body-surface-gathers-nutrients/", "Strategy": "Body Surface Gathers Nutrients\n\nThe body surface of a tapeworm absorbs nutrients directly from a host's intestines via an absorptive membrane.\n\n\n“Also, whereas flukes have guts, tapeworms have none, so they must absorb their nutrients directly through their body surface from the intestine of their primary host (normally a vertebrate).”"}, {"Source": "woodlice's anus", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "absorb water", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/anus-absorbs-water-2/", "Strategy": "Anus Absorbs Water\n\nThe anus of some woodlice can soak up water using posterior abdominal appendages and capillary action.\n\nRoly Polies Came From the Sea to Conquer the Earth\n\n“1. Experiments were undertaken to determine the site of water uptake, and the conditions in which it occurs, in Ligia oceanica, Oniscus asellus, Porcellio scaber and Armadillidium vulgare.\n\n“2. Besides absorbing water with moist food, all four species were capable of active imbibition of water through both mouth and anus when a free water surface was available. In Ligia oceanica, imbibition occurred largely through the anus, in other species, through the mouth.” "}, {"Source": "peacock worm's radiating tentacles", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "filter water", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/fine-filaments-filter-water/", "Strategy": "Fine Filaments Filter Water\n\nThe radiating tentacles of peacock worms filter water for food using fine fringed filaments.\n\n\n“A feeding peacock worm…has a fan of radiating tentacles fringed with fine filaments to sieve food particles from the water currents.” "}, {"Source": "iguana's leg", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "excrete liquid", "Function2": "expel liquid", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/pores-expel-fluid/", "Strategy": "Pores Expel Fluid\n\nA gland in the leg of the iguana excretes liquid via epidermal and dermal tubes and pores in the skin.\n\n“[The iguana] excretes liquid (sometimes volatile lipids) from a gland on ventral side of the femur. The liquid is expelled through epidermal and dermal tubes ending in a row of pores on the skin. Gland length varies depending on the season, especially in males.”"}, {"Source": "sponge", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "move water", "Function2": "filter food", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/filter-feeding-moves-water/", "Strategy": "Filter Feeding Moves Water\n\nFilter feeding mechanism of sponge moves water through body by intaking low and releasing high.\n\n“A sponge takes in water at its base, filtering the food from it and expelling it through holes higher up.”"}, {"Source": "fungi's filamentous loop", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "catch prey", "Function2": "release chemical attractant", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/snare-captures-prey/", "Strategy": "Snare Captures Prey\n\nFilamentous loops of some fungi aid hunting by acting as a snare, releasing a chemical attractant and then swelling to capture prey.\n\n\n“At least fifty species [of fungi] are active hunters, albeit on a microscopic scale. They develop little hoops on the side of their threads which carry three sensitive pads on their inner margin. These hoops produce a chemical smell with attracts tiny eelworms. If one wriggles into the ring, the pads suddenly swell and the worm is gripped so tightly, it cannot escape. Filaments from the ring then grow into the worm and suck out the contents of its body.”"}, {"Source": "forest canopy", "Application": "sun and shade", "Function1": "create microclimates", "Function2": "promote plant diversity", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/canopies-enhance-plant-diversity/", "Strategy": "Canopies Enhance Plant Biodiversity\n\nForest canopies create microclimates where tens of thousands of other plant species grow.\n\nIntroduction\n\nGazing skyward while in the middle of a forest reveals the wonder of the canopy, the forest’s “overstory,” where treetop leaves filter light, temper winds, and exchange gases with the atmosphere. A forest’s canopy is the sum of its tree-crowns, including branches, twigs, leaves, and even the air that hovers in between.\n\nYet from the ground, one cannot appreciate the overstory’s entire story—it’s a place where thousands, maybe millions, of species have evolved, many of which never touch land. Scientists have long known of this diversity, but it wasn’t until the 1980s, when strong, affordable access equipment was invented, that our understanding of the canopy truly began. Equipment such as the canopy raft, a netted platform that a hot-air balloon lowers to the canopy’s top, was one of several innovations that helped answer the question of how to get up there so that scientists could start asking the question of how much is living up there.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nClimate determines a forest’s type. Tropical forests grow near the warm equator, boreal forests dominate cool northern latitudes, and temperate forests exist in between. Although climate affects what plants thrive in the overstory, microclimates created by canopies are what elicit plant diversity within them. Canopies absorb wind energy, heat, sunlight, and they cycle gases like water vapor, oxygen, and carbon dioxide, all of which promote different microclimates. Light, temperature, humidity, and available nutrients vary, even at the scale of individual leaves, allowing plants to find pockets where conditions suit their specific needs.\n\nIn a mountain forest in Ecuador, one study found as many as 109 distinct plant species on an area of branches no larger than a backyard patio. These were all epiphytes—nonparasitic plants that grow perched on other plants. Epiphytes collect water and nutrients not from the supporting plant itself,  but from their surroundings, laying down roots in a soil-like substance formed from decaying leaves, animal feces, and other canopy byproducts.\n\nSome epiphytes are vascular plants (like trees themselves), with specialized tissue to convey water and minerals. Forest overstories provide habitat for at least 24,000 species of vascular epiphytes, including types of succulents, ferns, and orchids. The forest canopy ecosystem is so conducive to biodiversity that it houses 10% of the world’s vascular plant species.\n\nTree canopies also support nonvascular epiphytes, including at least 10,000 species of mosses, 7,200 species of liverworts, and thousands of types of lichens, which are actually symbiotic organisms comprised of fungi and algae.\n\nCanopy-fostered plant diversity doesn’t end with epiphytes. Hundreds of species of hemiepiphytes also find refuge in forest canopies. These plants dwell in the canopy but connect in some way to the ground: some vine up trunks and can eventually lose their roots, while others sprout in the crown and lower roots to the soil below. Plant parasites, including 1,400 species of mistletoe, flourish in some canopies by tapping directly into a tree’s water and nutrient system, siphoning nourishment off of their hosts. The diversity of approaches to survival shows just how rich and attractive these arboreal ecosystems can be.\n\nThe Potential\n\nAs we learn how canopy microclimates stimulate biodiversity,  we may find ways to better protect plant species threatened by climate change and other human activities. We’re learning that mimicking microclimates saves energy when applied to our constructed environment as well. Rather than heating or cooling to a single target, some buildings use zonal controls. Architectural design elements can also take advantage of the sun and shade with materials that efficiently radiate heat, window awnings that passively cool air, and building orientations that optimize natural heating and cooling.\n\nOur increased understanding of the richness of the canopy may also have an impact on conservation and sustainable management of the forest. According to the World Bank, between 1990 and 2016, the world’s land area covered by forest decreased by over 500,000 square miles––equal to the combined areas of California, Texas, and Utah. Perhaps our growing understanding that each treetop is a forest of its own will drive us to better appreciate and protect trees individually and the forest as a whole."}, {"Source": "marsh pitcher's leaf", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "long, slippery downward-pointing hairs", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/hairs-cause-loss-of-footing/", "Strategy": "Hairs Cause Loss of Footing\n\nThe leaves of marsh pitchers guide insects into a water trap via long, slippery hairs.\n\n“The marsh pitcher’s trap is a very simple one. Its foot-long leaves are curled lengthwise and joined at the margin to form a tall vertical tube. At the top, the tip of the midrib flares into a reddish-rimmed hood that carries a great number of nectar-producing glands. The abundant rains keep these trumpets filled with water. If they were topped up to the very brim, they might be so heavy that they would be in danger of bursting, or at any rate, toppling over. But this does not happen. The seam joining the margins of the leaf is not fastened along its entire length. It stops an inch or so below the upper rim and the resultant vertical slit acts as a safety overflow. One species has a ring of small holes encircling the tube a little below the upper margin and these too act as overflows if the water level gets too high.\n“Flies and mosquitoes, attracted by the sweet fragrance of the nectar, alight on the hood. As they explore the plant in search of more nectar, they tend to move down into the tube. But this is covered with long, slippery, downward-pointing hairs. Losing their grip, the insects slip downwards. That worsens their situation, for they descend to a section of the tube where the walls have no hairs at all but are smooth and waxy. Down they slide until they tumble into the water. Unable to get any purchase on the surrounding walls, they drown. Bacterial decay then dissolves the tiny corpses and the marsh pitcher absorbs the resulting soup.”"}, {"Source": "copperband butterfly fish's snout", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "probe for food", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/probing-for-food/", "Strategy": "Probing for Food\n\nThe snout of the copperband butterfly fish probes for food in the crevices thanks to its tubular shape and bristle-like teeth.\n\n\n“Mouths tend to be adapted to suit the diet of their owners. The copperband butterfly fish (right) lives in coral reefs and has a long tubular snout for probing into nooks and crannies in the reef in search of food, armed with fine bristle-like teeth for delicately extracting small animals from the bottom of crevices.”"}, {"Source": "streptomyces lividans cell's membrane", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "let potassium ions in", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/membrane-channel-lets-only-some-ions-in/", "Strategy": "Membrane Channel Lets Only Some Ions in\n\nThe membrane of Streptomyces lividans cells lets potassium ions in but not sodium via a potassium-specific channel.\n\n“The researchers cracked the structure of the protein through a technique called X-ray crystallography, and it then became clear how the channel would admit potassium ions only, even though closely-related sodium ions were even smaller. The structural analysis showed the channel is lined by oxygen atoms that mimic the water cluster normally surrounding a potassium ion in aqueous solution. Sodium has a slightly different water shell, and so cannot fit through the channel. The analysis also revealed parts of the protein that receive ‘on’ and ‘off’ chemical signals.”"}, {"Source": "spider's web", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "trick and catch prey", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/silk-tricks-insects/", "Strategy": "Silk Tricks Insects\n\nThe webs of some spiders trick and catch prey via UV-colored silk.\n\n“But while UV vision helps many species of insect, it can also be used to trick them. Several species of spider, for example, include UV-colored sheets of silk in their webs, which insects mistake for nectar guides or for escape routes from dense vegetation, only to be lethally snared by the web’s sticky coating.”"}, {"Source": "leaves of the potbelly airplant", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "take up amino acids", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/structures-absorb-amino-acids/", "Strategy": "Structures Absorb Amino Acids\n\nThe leaves of the potbelly airplant actively take up amino acids from solution via specialized epidermal hair-like structures.\n\n\n“Under dry conditions, the upper dead cells of the trichome form a cup-like shape with the rim composed of slightly curled wing cells (Fig. 1). When wetted, these cells rapidly absorb water and the wing cells flatten against the surface of surrounding epidermal cells. All water entry into the plant follows a route from the wing cells through the ring and central disc cells to the living dome and foot cells…Histo-autoradiographic studies using labeled amino acids indicate that living stalk cells of T. [Tillandsia] paucifolia trichomes may be capable of taking up dissolved free amino acids from extrafoliar solutions.” "}, {"Source": "spinner dolphin pod", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "emit ultrasonic beam", "Function2": "stun fish", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/noise-stuns-prey/", "Strategy": "Noise Stuns Prey\n\nThe members of spinner dolphin pods stun and capture fish by emitting ultrasonic beams.\n\n“Whales may use ultrasonic noise like a stun gun against fish…Working with captive Hawaiian spinner dolphins (Stenella longirostris), California University cetologist Prof. Ken Norris found that when they direct ultrasonic beams at a shoal of fish, they can stun or even kill some of them. The beams may cause the fishes’ air-filled swimbladders to resonate so intensely that their body tissues also vibrate, disorienting them.”"}, {"Source": "giraffe's leg", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "assist blood circulation", "Function2": "create extravascular pressure", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/pressure-assists-blood-circulation/", "Strategy": "Pressure Assists Blood Circulation\n\nTight skin of giraffe legs assists blood circulation by creating extravascular pressure.\n\n“Its [giraffe’s] heart is two-and-a-half times as big as zoologists would expect for an animal of its size. And the skin around its legs is unusually tight. Pedley [Tim Pedley of the University of Cambridge] says that high blood pressure would encourage blood to pool in a giraffe’s legs. The tight skin acts like a support stocking, forcing blood back up into the body.” "}, {"Source": "flamingos", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "form social bonds", "Function2": "provide mutual support", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/flamingos-form-friendships/", "Strategy": "Flamingos Form Friendships\n\nLong-term social bonds help flamingos survive by providing mutual support.\n\n\nIntroduction \n\nScientists have rarely studied friendships among animals other than humans and apes. For hundreds of years, scientists refused to think that animals could have emotions or other human traits. Recently, however, many have started to accept that there are birds and mammals that have feelings and senses, suffer when hurt, and form coalitions and alliances with other individuals to improve their own conditions.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nIn an English wildlife reserve, scientists studied flocks of four species of flamingos. These long-lived wading birds feed and breed in large flocks sometimes numbering in the thousands in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas. The scientists found that flamingos preferred hanging out with the same small groups of other flamingos. These included groups of two, three, or four, and these social bonds lasted for years. But it’s not all friendly; there are also birds that avoid each other.\n\nFlamingos live in habitats where survival is difficult. For example, the Andean flamingo lives in the high elevation Andes Mountains of South America. They spend the summer feeding in salty lakes and migrate to lower elevation wetlands for the winter. Having stable relationships with other flamingos may help them find food, improve access to mates, and cope with sources of stress such as food shortages or human disturbance.\n\nThe Potential \n\nIn a zoo, it may be useful to keep track of friendships among marked flamingos. That way, if there’s suddenly a change in the amount of time a flamingo spends with others, it could be a warning that something is wrong."}, {"Source": "prairie grassland", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "support long-term stability", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/plant-species-diversity-creates-long-term-stability/", "Strategy": "Plant Species Diversity\nCreates Long‑term Stability\n\nDiverse plant species in prairie grasslands support a long-term, stable ecosystem because they exhibit complementary functionality.\n\n\nAn ecosystem is a biological community of interacting organisms and their physical environment. A healthy ecosystem includes multiple species that serve similar functions or roles – for example, more than one species that fertilizes the soil and more than one that controls the population of a certain predator. This redundancy is crucial to supporting the long-term stability of the ecosystem because natural disturbances – such as fires, disease, or changing climate – can sometimes eliminate entire species unable to survive the change. With redundancy in environmental function, if one species dies off, another species that serves a similar role is more likely able to react and thrive after the disturbance. It can then take the place of the previously dominant species, thereby keeping the ecosystem resilient.\n\nFor example, consider a situation in which a prairie grassland ecosystem’s main food-producing plant is completely destroyed by a fire. A plant species that was previously less abundant may now be better suited to live in the new soil conditions, and therefore become the new dominant food-producing plant species serving the grassland. As long as the post-fire composition of plant species fills the same functional role as the pre-fire plant community, then the prairie will be able to survive the fire intact."}, {"Source": "fig tree", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "maintain balance", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/parasite-helps-balance-a-mutualistic-relationship/", "Strategy": "Parasite Helps Balance a\nMutualistic Relationship\n\nParasitic wasps increase fig tree production by placing limits on the mutualism between figs and fig wasps.\n\n\nMutualism is cooperation between species that helps each of them survive. One species provides something for the other and in exchange, receives something good in return. One example is the relationship between fig trees and fig wasps that has evolved for longer than 60 million years.\n\nIn any mutual relationship, there needs to be some way to maintain balance. Otherwise, one partner might take advantage of the other. In Australia, there is a species of fig tree that is pollinated by a specific wasp, known as a fig wasp.\n\nThe figs of the tree are sweet fruit full of small seeds. The flowers are tiny and found inside the fig, attached to the inside wall (see photo and illustration). As with any flowering plant, a fig can’t produce seeds without being pollinated. The tiny fig wasp pollinates the plant as it enters the fig. It spreads pollen around as it lays its eggs inside the flowers’ ovules. The eggs eventually grow into adult wasps and leave to pollinate other trees. However, the fig wasp doesn’t lay its eggs in all of the ovules, leaving some to grow into the seeds that crunch when you eat the fig.\n\nWhat keeps the fig wasp from laying eggs in all of the ovules? Another partner in this three-way mutualism is a parasitic wasp. It uses its long egg-laying tube to pierce the outside of the fig and lay its own eggs into the ovules with the fig wasps’ eggs (the red ovals in illustration). The parasitic wasps’ young then eat the young of the fig wasp. However, the egg-laying tube isn’t long enough to reach all of the ovules, just the ones closest to the surface. As a result, to escape the parasite, the fig wasp tends to lay most of its eggs in the “enemy-free zone” deepest inside the fig (the blue ovals in the illustration). This leaves the outer ones (yellow ovals) free to develop into seeds and create the next generation of trees.\n\nWhat can we learn from the mutualistic relationship between the fig tree, wasp and parasite? Sometimes, we need to rethink something we might automatically think of as “bad”, like parasitism. The parasitic wasp is an important  member of this relationship. By limiting where the fig wasp lays its eggs, the parasite allows the fig tree to produce seeds to make the next generation of fig trees. This in turn benefits the fig wasp, as it has another generation of trees to pollinate and lay eggs for its young."}, {"Source": "ant's chemical signal", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "stimulate honeydew production", "Function2": "prevent aphid dispersal", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/chemicals-control-aphid-activity/", "Strategy": "Chemicals Control Aphid Activity\n\nAnts use chemical signals to control aphid dispersal and collect their honeydew for food.\n\nIntroduction\n\nSpecies often find innovative ways to make use of others beyond a simple predator-prey relationship, intertwining their existence in a way that can bring benefits to one or both species. Ants are a great example of this, having developed ways of manipulating other insects for their own gain, including the aphids that for humans are persistent garden pests.\n\nBy understanding these species pairings, we can sometimes use them for our own benefit, such as targeting a pest species with a parasite or other biological control.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nAs social insects, ants live in large, structured colonies with designated roles for each individual. The queen ant lives her entire life under the protection of the rest of the colony, growing and producing eggs as the sole reproductive individual. Other female ants act as foragers and scouts, searching out sources of food to return to the colony.\n\nBut foraging for food takes a lot of energy, so some ants have found ways to make other species produce food for them. The black garden ant (Lasius niger, found in kitchens and backyards around the world) has developed a clever way of using aphids to produce food. The black bean aphid, Aphis fabae, feeds on the phloem sap of plants and produces a sweet, sugary fluid called honeydew as a byproduct. This honeydew is more nutritious and attractive to ants than the aphids themselves, so rather than prey upon the aphids, the ants “milk” them by using touch to stimulate the release of honeydew. They’ll even corral the aphids in order to collect the honeydew efficiently, similar to the way humans manage dairy cows.\n\nHoneydew is more nutritious and attractive to ants than the aphids themselves, so rather than prey upon the aphids, the ants “milk” them by using touch to stimulate the release of honeydew.\n\nThe ants control the movement of the aphids in a number of ways. In addition to physically removing their wings to prevent them from flying to new host plants, the ants produce a chemical that has a tranquilizing effect on the aphids, preventing them from dispersing without reducing their honeydew production.\n\nChemicals that convey signals for other organisms are known as semiochemicals, and they can be used to communicate with individuals of the same species or that of other species. In fact, it’s not just animals that can produce these chemicals––many studies have shown that when under attack by aphids or other insect pests, plants often respond by emitting semiochemicals, which attract aphid predators such as ladybugs. The chemicals also work as airborne signals that can trigger surrounding plants to produce their own defenses in preparation of aphid infestation.\n\nOne of the chemicals produced by plants as a response to aphid presence is dendrolasin, which is the same chemical used by the ants to tranquilize aphids and prevent them from dispersing. Like good shepherds, the ants are quick to defend the aphids when predators show up to attack. In fact, the ants tend their colonies so effectively that they enable the aphids to continue to thrive under conditions that would normally cause them to disperse to other plants. And when a plant’s resources are exhausted, ants will carry their aphid colony to optimal plants nearby.\n\nThe Potential \n\nFor humans, aphids don’t yield sweet nectar, they colonize and feed on many important crops, resulting in significant losses in yield. They also spread plant diseases as they exhaust the resources on one plant and move on to the next. Our knowledge of the complex relationships between ants and aphids can help us to think beyond broadscale use of pesticides, and to protect crops in more natural and sustainable ways. How sweet would that be?"}, {"Source": "dung beetle", "Application": "scent-based attarctments", "Function1": "attract dung beetle", "Function2": "pollination", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/plant-uses-scent-mimic-to-attract-dung-beetles/", "Strategy": "Dung Beetles Duped by Plant Scent\n\nOrchidantha inouei tricks dung beetles into pollination by mimicking the smell of the beetle's favorite food.\n\nIntroduction\n\nMillions of years of coevolution among plants and animals have resulted in a fascinating and complicated array of relationships between species of the two kingdoms. These relationships range from mutually beneficial to parasitic. From the perspective of a plant that depends on animals for its pollination, it would be ideal to attract a pollinator using as little of its own energy and resources as possible.\n\nThe Orchidantha inouei plant, found in Borneo, has mastered this strategy by emitting a smell that attracts Onthophagus dung beetles without offering any reward (such as nectar) for pollinating its flowers.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nBeetles of the Onthophagus genus dig tunnels below dung or carrion to transport the goods to a burrow where it is stored for use as food for the adult beetles and as a nursery for the larvae.\nThe trick to attracting these beetles then is to stink. The scent emitted by O. inouei seems to be more of a general dung-like odor, as it doesn’t smell distinctly enough like dung or carrion to attract dung or carrion flies. Luckily for the plant, the dung beetles aren’t discerning enough to tell the difference.\nLike orchids, O. inouei has a labellum—a petal at the bottom of a flower that can be larger and shaped differently from the rest—that serves as a platform for pollinators to enter the flower. As a dung beetle crawls into the flower, it gets pollen on its back from the stamen that’s hidden among the petals. The stigma, which is the part of the flower that receives pollen from other flowers and is located in the same area of the flower as the stamen, secretes a mucus-like substance that could possibly work like a glue to hold the pollen onto the beetle’s back until it finds the flower of another O. inouei plant. The strategy used by O. inouei is appropriately called “deceit pollination”.\n\nThe Potential\n\nDirect utilization of this dung-like scent might have limited applications for humans, but the chemistry behind it could inspire other scent-based attractants or repellents.\n\nThere is also a model we can learn from in the unbalanced benefits of the system. The flower may be taking advantage of the beetle, but not to a degree that is greatly harming the benefactor. The flower may not be offering the beetle any benefit yet identified, but it is not taking so much advantage as to hinder the beetle’s fitness for survival and reproduction. Even this unbalanced system has limits."}, {"Source": "popping cress's fruit pod", "Application": "manipulators", "Function1": "explode open", "Function2": "disperse seed", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/what-puts-the-explosive-pop-in-popping-cress/", "Strategy": "What Puts the Explosive Pop in Popping Cress?\n\nPopping cress’s fruit pods are complexly designed to explode open and disperse their seeds far and wide.\n\nIntroduction\n\nThe intricate root systems visible at the base of uprooted trees didn’t provide those trees only with nutrients. They held them in place, keeping them stable and upright for decades or even centuries. But those life-saving anchors also prevent trees (or any plants) from moving to spread their seeds. So plants have devised inventive ways to disperse seeds—to avoid competing with their own offspring for resources and to expand their range.\n\nSome plants produce fruits to entice animals to carry away seeds. Others rely on winds and water to do the same. One common weed, the popping cress, has evolved a way to launch its seeds in an explosive burst that gives the plant its name.\n\nIts seeds are encased in a slender oblong pod. With a loud pop, the pod splits open and its sheaths curl back rapidly—like a coiled paper party horn when you stop blowing into it. Within half a millisecond, scores of tiny seeds are violently ejected outward in all directions. They accelerate to speeds of 22 miles per hour (10 meters per second) and land 1 to 4 feet (0.3 to 1.25 meters) away.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nThe mechanism that accomplishes this effective outburst is as fascinating as it is complex.\n\nThe pods have different layers. The outer layer has soft, pliable cells that curl easily. But an inner layer of cells contains a strong, stiff compound called lignin. It resists curling, and the pod stays straight.\n\nThe lignin is shaped like a “U” cupping the bottom of the inner-layer cells. But if you apply enough force on lignin, it reaches a threshold that instantly overcomes its resistance. The two sides of the “U” slap downward and the inner layer suddenly curls open. The structure is called “bistable,” because it has two stable states and rapidly shifts between them. It works like a toy snap bracelet or a thin metal tape measure, which can maintain its rigidity until you snap it—and then it bends immediately.\n\nIn the case of popping cress, water is the key to building up tension. As the pod grows, water fills the cells in the flexible outer layer causing their cell walls to expand. That substantially builds up tension against the lignin in the inner-layer. In this way, the system builds up potential elastic energy slowly but can release it rapidly.\n\nWhen the tension on the lignin finally flattens its rigid U-shape, all that pent-up tension is released in just 3 milliseconds and the pod splits open. Pod sheaths curl back with a powerful snap that hurls the seeds with ballistic force up and outward like exploding fireworks.\n\nPopping cress is a common weed with an uncommon method of dispersingits seeds. Scientists figured out the fascinating mechanisms by whichpopping cress seed pods burst open explosively to hurl seeds far and wide.\n\nThe Potential\n\nThe popping cress has evolved an effective system to build up potential elastic energy and instantly convert it into strong kinetic energy. Understanding its structural components and the physics underlying how they work together offers lessons on how to design robotic manipulators and ballistic systems.\n\nThe plant also inspires design systems that can monitor and respond to environmental conditions and take advantage of the circumstances in exotic locales to produce energy. Such innovations could lead to biomimetic solutions for challenges to remote exploration in unknown locales, including space missions."}, {"Source": "bottlenose dolphin", "Application": "creative foraging strategy", "Function1": "build community and friendships", "Function2": "develop skills and knowledge", "Function3": "boost the survival of offspring", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/juvenile-dolphins-choose-friends-to-help-through-life/", "Strategy": "Juvenile Friendships Help Throughout Life\n\nBottlenose dolphins develop lifelong friendships early on that will benefit them through shared information, cooperation, and other means.\n\nIntroduction \n\nHow do our early years help to prepare us for the demands of adulthood?\nWhile some species reach sexual maturity at a young age and produce many offspring, dolphins (like humans and other large social species such as elephants) have a prolonged development stage in early life. From weaning to first pregnancy, this stage lasts about 10 years, and appears crucial for developing the relationships and survival skills needed as adults.\n\nResearchers wanted to know more about the way that dolphins use this juvenile period to develop these skills, and whether the different demands on adult males and females would be seen in the ways that juveniles spend their time. Cataloging unique markings on the dorsal fins of a group of bottlenose dolphins in Shark Bay, Australia, they were able to follow individuals from birth to adulthood.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nAs adults, female dolphins care for (and feed) offspring for 3-4 years. In contrast, adult male dolphins spend more time socializing in groups with other males, and aren’t involved in raising the young. This leads each sex to require a different set of skills needed to succeed as adults.\n\nDolphins share foraging strategies with their friends, demonstrating the importance of the social bonds developed throughout their lives.\n\nIn both males and females, dolphins choose their friends carefully, spending more time with these individuals and strengthening these bonds throughout their lives. For males, this helps them form alliances that boost their success in securing a mate. Some males have been found to maintain these strong friendships for more than 30 years.\n\nYoung females spend significantly more time foraging than males. This helps to prepare them for the future high energy demands of pregnancy and raising a calf. As adults, females tend to group with other females and their offspring, which provides some protection to the calves while also facilitating the sharing of information.\n\nResearchers have observed dolphins sharing knowledge about creative ways to use tools to capture fish prey. One of these strategies, first observed in the Shark Bay dolphins in 1984, involves a dolphin holding a sea sponge in its mouth to protect its nose while rooting through the sandy sea floor. This method enables dolphins to find bottom-dwelling fish that hide in the sand. This sponge-tool method is passed down from mothers primarily to their female calves—a textbook example of generational knowledge transfer.\n\nDolphins also appear to share these foraging strategies with their friends, further demonstrating the importance of the social bonds developed throughout their lives. (See related strategy: Dolphins learn new behaviors from their peers).\n\nJuvenile females seem to understand that these friendships are important to develop, and spend time bonding with unrelated females who share these creative foraging strategies. When females share this type of information with each other, they can boost the survival of their calves as well.\n\nDolphins learn foraging skill \"shelling\" from peers.\n\nThe Potential \n\nMore than just a period for learning, dolphins use their extended juvenile years to build community and friendships that will last throughout their lives. Scientists now recognize that this is what creates culture—something previously thought exclusive to humans, but which we now know is widespread among intelligent species. And it begins in youth. With friends."}, {"Source": "desert locust", "Application": "concentration sensors", "Function1": "increase sociability", "Function2": "form swarms", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/congregating-and-physical-stimulation-trigger-swarming/", "Strategy": "Seratonin Increases\nSociability, Triggers Swarming\n\nThe desert locust becomes social and forms swarms through an increase in serotonin triggered by the presence of other locusts.\n\nIntroduction \n\nFrom ancient texts to contemporary news, across Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia, swarming desert locusts have had devastating impacts on agricultural areas. These locusts typically feed, move, and go about their lives independently––and even actively avoid each other in normal circumstances. However, if a locust is forced to be around other locusts, its behavior changes completely. This locust will become more attracted to others and will gather with other locusts that undergo the same change in behavior. Thus, a swarm is formed.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nSwarming may be caused by an overabundance of locusts in general––a response to crowding to help locusts find food when there isn’t much left.\n\nThe sudden socialization of locusts is triggered either by physical touch from other locusts detected by the hind legs, or by simply the sight and smell of other locusts nearby.\n\nSeeing and smelling other locusts increases the serotonin levels in a locust. In humans, the serotonin hormone plays numerous roles throughout the brain and body, but is most well-known for contributing to feelings of happiness and well-being. Serotonin may play a similar role in desert locusts, causing them to gather with other locusts in order to maintain higher levels of serotonin.\n\nThe spike in serotonin lasts for less than 24 hours, but it only takes two hours of exposure to other locusts to flip the switch that makes a locust go from self-isolating to a social butterfly. The higher the spike in serotonin, the more social a locust becomes. Desert locusts can be prevented from becoming sociable by being injected with chemicals that keep their serotonin levels in check, or that prevent serotonin from being produced altogether. These chemicals are effective even when a locust is stimulated with physical touch.\n\nBeyond the two-hour minimum, locusts become more social the longer they are near each other. This can result in a cycle where swarms grow bigger and remain intact for longer periods, which is bad news for the crops they feed on.\n\nThe Potential \n\nMore research is needed to understand the role of serotonin in influencing the behavior of the desert locust and its relatives. A better understanding could help inform our methods of pest control to protect agricultural areas from the damage of locust swarms. More abstractly, computer engineers and others could find applications that apply the principle of using the closeness of entities to trigger a change in their behavior or reaction toward others."}, {"Source": "slime mold", "Application": "machine learning systems", "Function1": "learn and share learning", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/brainless-slime-molds-both-learn-and-teach/", "Strategy": "Information Gained, Stored,\nand Transferred Without Brains\n\nDespite the lack of a nervous system, slime molds can learn and share what they learn with other slime molds by joining together for a time.\n\n\nIntroduction\n\nNeither animal nor plant, the slime mold Physarum polycephalum is a large-scale single-celled organism that lives in damp forests. At a glance it may look like a splash of paint, but patient observation reveals it creeping across surfaces by oozing forward in fingerlike projections.\n\nEven though it doesn’t have a brain, the slime mold exhibits a simple form of learning by changing its behavior based on past experience. It also can pass what it learns to another slime mold simply by fusing with it for a couple of hours. Scientists discovered this by giving different slime molds a chance to creep across a tiny bridge made of salt (which they usually avoid) to reach a food reward.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nThe setup of the experiment was simple: A group of slime molds was taught to cross a bridge without salt. Next, half of those slime molds were exposed to a bridge with salt. They were repelled at first, but eventually crossed anyway. The other half were not exposed to a salt bridge.\n\nWhen both groups were later given a chance to cross a salt bridge, the slime molds that had experience with a salt bridge traveled across the “yuck” to get to the “yum” more quickly than the others. Then, when a slime mold that had learned to tolerate the salt in order to reach the treat merged with another slime mold, the second slime mold also readily crossed the salt bridge—even after being separated from its partner—as long as the two had been together longer than an hour and had formed a connecting structure between them.\n\nThe Potential \n\nHow slime molds learn and share learning is still a mystery. Some scientists think it might be related to how genes are expressed, to the structure of the veins, or to how chemicals interact within the slime. But even though we don’t know how it works, this ability to learn without a brain offers valuable insights for innovation. Researchers have turned to slime mold for help solving difficult computational problems such as finding shortest paths and building better networks. And efforts to design artificial intelligence and machine learning systems can use the bright but brainless creature as inspiration for developing new approaches to learning—and sharing knowledge—without the need for a central hub.\n"}, {"Source": "bison grazing", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "increase biodiversity", "Function2": "support native plant and animal species", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/fire-and-bison-grazing-in-grasslands-lead-to-diversity/", "Strategy": "Fire and Bison Grazing in\nGrasslands Lead to Diversity\n\nThe interaction of two disturbances—bison grazing patterns and fire—increases biodiversity by creating a heterogeneous patchwork of plant communities in grasslands.\n\n\nIntroduction \n\nThe Great Plains are a huge expanse of grassland located west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and Canada. Millions of bison used to roam the tallgrass prairies that once covered the Great Plains, grazing in patches as they went. Fires caused by lightning or set intentionally by native peoples to renew the grasslands were also common. The relationship between fire and grazing patterns had a big impact on how plant communities developed in the tallgrass prairie.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nFires are important to biodiversity, because bison prefer to graze patches of grassland that have been burned recently. Bison grazing patterns also influence the size and intensity of fires. The interactions between these two different types of disturbances— fires and grazing patterns—helps create a heterogenous, or mixed, patchwork of plant communities. For example, these interactions lead to different plant heights, density, and mixtures of species. This helps support more biodiversity in tallgrass prairie ecosystems.\n\nScientists think of biodiversity on three levels—genetic diversity (different genes and combinations within a species), species diversity (the number of different species within an ecosystem), and ecosystem diversity (how many different ecosystems are found in a region). Biodiversity helps organisms adapt to environmental changes, maintain food webs, and provide services that life depends on, such as water retention and waste decomposition.\n\nToday, most of the land that made up the Great Plains is managed as rangeland for cattle production. Land managers usually only manage the number of cattle and where and when they are grazing on the land. Fire is rarely used anymore as a way to manage cattle grazing. Instead, intensive rotational grazing approaches, where animals are moved rapidly between heavily grazed plots, have become more popular as a management approach. This style of grazing allows the plants that the cattle most like to eat to recover between grazing sessions. However, it does not produce the patchwork of plants that leads to greater biodiversity.\n\nThe Potential \n\nThe Nature Conservancy has successfully used fires and continual cattle grazing to manage its Tallgrass Prairie Preserve in Oklahoma. This approach helps to promote biological diversity and increases agricultural productivity, and can help  support native plant and animal species. There is even some evidence that this approach, where appropriate, could reduce the need for protein supplements in cattle during winter months. This would lead to lower management costs."}, {"Source": "mosquitofish", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "move together", "Function2": "little physical contact", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/individuals-avoid-contact/", "Strategy": "Individuals Avoid Contact\n\nFish move synchronously in shoal by reacting dynamically to the nearest neighbor fish.\n\n\nLarge groups of mosquitofish can move together with little physical contact between individuals. This is because the individual fish coordinate their acceleration and deceleration. The fish accelerate toward a neighbor that is far away from or behind them, and decelerate when a neighbor is directly in front of them."}, {"Source": "black-capped chickadee", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "provide an early warning system", "Function2": "allow multiple species to survive", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/alerts-provide-an-early-warning-system/", "Strategy": "Alerts Provide an Early Warning System\n\nPredator-specific alerts allow multiple species to survive by providing an early warning system.\n\n\nIntroduction \n\nThe sound of birds singing in a woodland can seem like a confusing jumble of trills, whistles, and chirps. We don’t tend to think about the potential function of all this noise that other animals produce, but research on animal communication has slowly built up a startling picture of just how much communication is actually going on. Scientists have found that birds and mammals broadcast warnings about nearby predators, for example, and understand each other’s messages. They can even share information on what kind and size of predator is around, and what it’s doing.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nBlack-capped chickadees are tiny black and white birds who live in forests. They’re best known for their “chickadee dee dee” calls. These and some other calls keep birds in contact with each other or let each other know where to find food. Less noticed by humans is a very quiet, high-pitched “seet” call. They use this call to warn others that there’s a hawk or owl flying nearby.\n\nChickadees also have another call when they see a perched hawk or owl. It’s a louder and longer version of its usual “chickadee dee dee” call. This altered call draws in other birds to “mob” the predator. The more dangerous the predator is to the chickadees, the more times they say “dee”. For example, the tiny northern pygmy-owl, who eats a lot of chickadees, gets a lot of “dee” calls. The bigger great horned owl is less of a threat and so the birds make fewer “dees”. The harsh “chickadee dee dee” means the chickadee sees a hawk or owl and needs other nearby birds to mob the predator until it flies away.\n\nThe “seet” call has a different purpose. Because it’s so quiet and high-pitched, it’s hard for a predatory bird to hear. That means it’s a safer call for a chickadee to make compared to the deeper, louder “chickadee dee dee.” The “seet” call warns other chickadees to hide when a hawk or owl is flying nearby. Like an early warning system, the alert can spread through a forest from one bird to another faster than the hawk can fly. By the time the predator arrives, the birds are safely in hiding.\n\nOther species, including nuthatches, jays, squirrels, and chipmunks can also listen to the chickadees’ warnings. Birds in other regions also react to the “seet” call even if chickadees don’t live in the area. Scientists have played a recording of the chickadee’s “seet” call all over the world, and other birds understood it and took cover.\n\nThe early warning system goes beyond directly saving birds and mammals from predators. This cooperation allows them to spend less time watching for predators and more time getting the food they need to survive.\n\nThe Potential \n\nFurther research could decode more sound signals that have near-universal meanings, reopening lines of communication between humankind and other species. Technologies which tap into these patterns of communication could help make humankind a better participant in the conversation, and thus a better neighbor to those species. Speakers could be placed on skyscrapers near flyways to prevent avian collisions with difficult-to-see architectural glass, or around airports to reduce collisions with airplanes.\n\nGardeners and farmers could also use knowledge about communication among birds to repel birds or other organisms that eat crops, or to attract organisms that feed on species that have other detrimental effects on agriculture."}, {"Source": "prairie ecosystems", "Application": "soil remediation", "Function1": "use water and nutrient efficiently", "Function2": "prevent erosion and water pollution", "Function3": "conserve water", "Function4": "sequester carbon", "Function5": "build a healthy agricultural system", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/natural-ecosystem-demonstrates-sustainability/", "Strategy": "Natural Ecosystem Demonstrates Sustainability\n\nDiversity and life-span of plants help prairie ecosystems use water and nutrients efficiently.\n\n\nAll across the world, the best soils for growing grains like wheat and corn are in areas that used to be prairies. Prairie soils are high in the nutrients that plants need, and have a crumbly, spongy texture that soaks up and holds water. These rich topsoils result from symbiosis between plants and soil microbes such as fungi and bacteria.\n\nWhen we clear prairies for agriculture, it is usually for annual crops.  Annuals are plants which grow, produce seeds, and die all in one year, so their seeds are planted every year.  Before replanting, farmers often till the soil. That is, they dig and turn the soil to pull out the roots and stems of old plants. Tilling has caused the rich prairie top soils to erode and wash into water bodies, such as lakes, rivers, and bays.  At the same time, soil nutrients lost from farmlands need to be replaced somehow in order for the crops to grow.  Many farms solve this problem by using fertilizers every year.  Without the prairie’s symbiotic microbes, the soil cannot soak in or hold as much water, so the plants also require farm irrigation. However, without the spongy soil texture, that water runs off the fields and takes even more soil and the fertilizer with it. In this way, the cycle of erosion, fertilization, and irrigation keeps on and on.  Meanwhile, the heavy load of soil and nutrients cause major pollution problems in aquatic habitats.  These problems are becoming worse with climate change, because hotter, drier climate means that crops need even more irrigation. With that irrigation comes more erosion, water shortages, and increasing hardship for farmers who grow food.\n\nFortunately, scientists and farmers are finding new ways to grow the food the world needs without these problems.  The key to the solution is understanding how prairie habitats work, and how their soils became so rich in the first place.\n\nUnlike our grain crops that are annuals, most prairie plants are perennials.  This means that after they have produced seeds, their leaves may turn brown and fall off, but their roots stay alive underground. The following growing season, the healthy roots keep growing larger and deeper as the plants send up new leaves, and produce seeds again.  The living roots soak up water, hold down the soil, and prevent erosion. Old leaves and stems get broken down by symbiotic microbes, which help the plants take up the nutrients. In exchange, the plants send sugars down their ever-deepening roots that feed the microbes and help increase their populations.\n\nIn this way, perennial plants, with roots that stay alive all year long, build an ecosystem in which water, plentiful microbes, healthy plants, and soil nutrients build a sustainable cycle.  Together, they prevent erosion and water pollution, and conserve water.  Another major climate benefit of prairies is that perennials sequester, or lock in, carbon. The plants remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and put it into long term storage in the living plant tissue and also buried deep in the soil.  This is a major strategy for slowing down climate change and building a healthy agricultural system.\n\nBy studying the diversity of prairies, scientists have learned which types of plants play a role in keeping the system self-sustaining.  For example, legumes have symbiotic root fungi that leak nitrogen into the soil. This extra nitrogen gets taken up by neighboring plants. The flowers of some herbs attract pollinators that visit and pollinate many other plants as well.  Perennial grasses produce deep roots, whose important role is explained above.  If agriculture can mimic this combination of plant types, and develop grain types that are perennial, perhaps we can grow enough food while also restoring the prairie’s ability to use water and nutrients sustainably.\n"}, {"Source": "oilbird", "Application": "vibration control", "Function1": "find large objects", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/echolocation-enables-navigation-in-total-darkness/", "Strategy": "This Bird Can Find Large\nObjects in Total Darkness\n\nWhile bats use high-pitched, inaudible sounds to find tiny insects, oilbirds use lower-pitched, audible sounds to sense walls, fruit, and other large objects.\n\n\nIntroduction\n\nLiving in a pitch-dark cave is a superb strategy for a bird seeking to avoid predators that hunt by sight. But it creates a second survival dilemma: How to avoid debilitating collisions with walls, ceilings, and other birds?\n\nThe oilbird has a sound solution—literally. An inhabitant of forests in South America and Trinidad, this big bird roosts and nests in caves and emerges at night to forage on fruit in nearby trees. While finding its way around in the deep dark of a cavern—and sometimes when it’s foraging on a moonless night—the bird contracts its respiratory system in a way that allows it to emit quick bursts of audible clicks. The sound waves bounce off objects, returning to the bird’s ears in a way that allows it to determine the objects’ sizes and locations and so avoid smashing into them.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nUnlike bats, which use short-wavelength ultrasound to detect tiny insects, oilbirds use clicks that are in the range that’s audible to humans as well as to themselves. That means the sound waves they produce are only good for detecting larger objects such as other birds and fruit, perhaps down to the size of a grape. But it clearly is good enough to meet their needs for navigating without the aid of sight.\n\nThe clicking sound an oilbird makes is the result of contraction of two sets of muscles in its syrinx—a set of membranes in the bronchial tubes of birds leading from the trachea to the lungs. The tissue around each branch of the syrinx contracts, folding a membrane inward. The bird then exhales a puff of air past the membrane and contracts the second set of muscles, creating the click. It makes the clicks in small bursts of two to seven individual sounds, taking “mini-breaths” as needed to move the air past the clicking mechanism without requiring a full inhale. The echoes return to the bird’s ears at different levels of loudness and intensity.\n\nThe larger the object, the more sound waves are deflected. This enables the bird to identify the size, shape, and location of the obstacle. Short clicks rather than loud, prolonged sounds reduce interference between the sound the bird is making and the echo bouncing back, making it possible to detect objects nearby as well as far away.\n \nThe Potential\n\nHumans already use audible-range echolocation in certain contexts. Some sight-impaired individuals use it to find their way around, clicking as they move and listening for how the sound is deflected by objects they wish to approach or avoid. It’s also used in technology, usually for underwater navigation. The oilbird’s lower-frequency sonar might provide guidance for additional applications though, such as drone navigation in the air, or even robot-assisted surgery.\n\nThe oilbird’s mechanism for making rapid sounds could provide valuable insights for controlling sound or other vibration production within narrow specifications. This might be applied to anything from creating new musical instruments to transforming the noise from wind turbines."}, {"Source": "lance-tailed manakins", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "attract mate", "Function2": "courtship dance", "Function3": "cooperative breeding", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/males-cooperate-to-attract-a-mate/", "Strategy": "Males Cooperate to Attract a Mate\n\nMale lance-tailed manakins attract a female by doing a cooperative courtship dance.\n\n\nIn a forest in Panama, two male birds wait on a bare branch. They’ve already cleared a stage for their upcoming performance by removing leaves from neighboring plants. Suddenly a female lands on the branch and the two males go into action. Over the next few minutes, these two males put on a coordinated courtship dance with 11 different moves and 9 types of songs and calls. But these two birds aren’t competing, they’re cooperating. Only one, the alpha, will get to mate with the female. The alpha and beta males may work together for up to six years. Eventually, the beta might move on to become an alpha.\n\nThese birds are lance-tailed manakins. With their black bodies, bright blue capes, and dark red cap, they are conspicuous among the greenery of the forest. Like other species of manakins, a beta male helps the alpha put on a courtship display. Researchers are trying to figure out what the advantages are to being a beta. Not all alpha birds have a beta helper and some birds skip being a beta helper and immediately become alphas. The alpha and beta birds are not related to one another, so there’s no clear genetic advantage. One possible advantage is that the betas gain experience that makes them better at courtship displays later in life.\n\nCooperative courtship is one type of cooperative breeding, where other members of a species help the breeder to succeed, either through courtship or caring for young. Cooperative breeding is widespread in the animal world. It’s found in almost 90 species, mostly birds, fish, and mammals. It may just be one route to successful breeding, or there may be advantages scientists haven’t yet found. More and more, scientists are realizing that cooperation among and between species plays a big role in nature, from tiny microbes to giant whales. We also see it in humans, from people helping other people meet their future life partners to organizations and industries finding ways to work together and share resources."}, {"Source": "ericad peatland plants", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "increase rate of successful pollination", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/staggered-flowering-times-increase-likelihood-of-pollination/", "Strategy": "Staggered Flowering Times\nIncrease Likelihood of Pollination\n\nStaggered flowering times among ericad peatland plants increase likelihood of successful pollination by reducing competition for scarce pollinators.\n\n\nPeatland ecosystems are often characterized by having few pollinator species, as well as small pollinator population sizes. This affects plants by decreasing the rate of pollination, as fewer individuals are available to move pollen between plants, which decreases the number of plant offspring produced. In order to counteract the low numbers of both pollinator species and pollinator population sizes, plant species belonging to the ericad family have developed an interesting strategy. They stagger their flowering times, so they don’t overlap. This increases the rate of successful pollination, as there are fewer flowers to visit at any one time, thus reducing competition for pollinators, and ensuring that pollen is transferred to another member of the species. Differences in cold tolerance determine the sequential flowering times. The higher a plant’s cold tolerance, the sooner after a frost it can start to produce pollen. These differences result in different flowering times, reduced competition for pollinators, more targeted pollination, and ultimately increased rate of successful reproduction for the plants."}, {"Source": "beaver dam", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "change stream flow", "Function2": "create a patchwork of habitat diversity", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/beavers-remodel-land-and-stream-ecosystems/", "Strategy": "Beavers Remodel Land and Stream Ecosystems\n\nBeaver dams change stream flows and create a patchwork of habitat diversity.\n\n\nBeavers are large rodents known for building dams. To build their dams, they chew through living trees until they fall over. Beavers choose trees that will fall across a stream when they topple over, which stops water from flowing and causes a pond to form. In that pond, a family of beavers uses twigs and mud to build a lodge emerging above the water.  They will spend winter and spring there with their young, protected from predators by water and hard mud walls, with plenty of plants and bark for food close by.  They return to these same lodges every year,  repairing and sometimes extending the dam so it takes up an even larger area.\n\nThe beaver pond grows in size as the dam stops more and more water, until eventually it overtops the stream bank and floods the surrounding land.  As water fills in low-lying areas, new streams and ponds can form.  Some areas remain flooded year-round or seasonally for many years.  Forests that used to line the stream bank become waterlogged and die.  Eventually they are replaced by wetland plants that are better adapted to life in watery soils, and colonized by animals that live with these plants.  Over years and decades, there are even more ecological changes in this landscape.  For example, once the beavers abandon their lodges, debris collects behind the dams and can form islands. As water flows around the island, it can split into smaller streams.  This creates new water channels and dries up others.  Another long-term impact of beaver dams is on soils.  Waterlogged soils in the newly formed wetland areas are anaerobic; that is, they do not contain oxygen. This changes the community of soil bacteria and fungi, as well as the nutrients that are in the soil.  As a result of these changes in soil chemistry, wetland meadows that form from beaver ponds are important places for long-term carbon sequestration. This is a process in which carbon dioxide that has been removed from the atmosphere by plants gets locked deep in the soil in a more stable, solid form.  In this way, beaver-engineered landscapes can have important benefits for climate change.  What began as a beaver dam has now created a complex patchwork of new habitats: ponds, streams, marshes, and meadows that are filled with soil, plant, and animal life that was not present before.\n\nThe original beaver dam starts a long chain of events that change the flow of the stream, and alter the ecosystem along the stream banks – the riparian zone. Because they can impact water flow, beavers historically were considered pests because humans wanted to control the flow of the stream.  Today we recognize that they are not just dam-builders; they are “ecosystem engineers” that can shape entire landscapes. In fact, they are so important that some biologists have begun enlisting their help in restoring damaged stream and wetland habitats."}, {"Source": "forest tree", "Application": "water retention", "Function1": "draw water", "Function2": "water cycle", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/leaf-pores-draw-water-through-plants/", "Strategy": "Leaf Pores Draw Water Through Plants\n\nPores in leaves allow water to escape as vapor, drawing more water up through the plant from the roots.\n\n\nForest trees play a major role in influencing the flow of water resources. Trees, like most plants, undergo a process called transpiration. This is where water taken up from the roots moves through the plant to be utilized for photosynthesis in the leaves. The water is then released from the leaves into the air as water vapor.\n\nThis process has not only an effect on trees as individuals, but when compounded across an entire forest, it has an impact on the water retention of the ecosystem as a whole.\n\nIn forests with a large amount of trees, the effects of this process are readily seen in the changes in streamflow and soil water. For example, harvesting or cutting down forests substantially increases streamflow because fewer trees are able to draw up and cycle the water back into the atmosphere.\n\nForests with different types of trees vary in their capacity for water interception and transpiration. Deciduous trees are species that shed their leaves when conditions are unfavorable (such as too cold, not enough water, etc.). Since the transpiration process occurs through the trees’ leaves, deciduous trees transpire much less during their dormant seasons. This means that deciduous trees such as oak, maple, and hickory allow more rain to seep into the soil (rather than into roots and through the leaves into the air) and eventually flow downstream. In contrast, evergreen trees (like pines) retain their leaves year-round, and have been shown to have higher annual evapotranspiration (combining transpiration through plants and evaporation from the soil) and therefore reduce streamflows.\n\nDeciduous trees play an important role in ecosystem maintenance by seasonally generating higher water yields. This increase in soil water and streamflow provides a valuable resource to the community. The higher flow can help fill storage reservoirs and mitigate water shortages during drought seasons. Thus, in municipal watersheds and other areas where water resources are of concern, it is important to consider the effects of forest conversion. If forests are converted from deciduous trees to evergreen trees, then local communities will surely see some form of water yield reduction."}, {"Source": "maize root", "Application": "natural pesticide", "Function1": "promote health", "Function2": "prevent the growth of phytopathogens", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/roots-recruit-symbiotic-soil-bacteria/", "Strategy": "Roots Recruit Symbiotic Soil Bacteria\n\nThe roots of maize defend against phytopathogens by releasing a pesticide that also attracts a beneficial microbe that preys on the target pest.\n\n\nIntroduction \n\nPlant roots are surrounded by tens of thousands of species of microbes that collectively make up what is called the rhizosphere. Some of these microbes are phytopathogens that have damaging effects on plants. Others benefit the plant through promoting nutrient uptake, nitrogen fixation, and pathogenic defense systems. Of the rhizosphere microbes that aid in immunity, some function by out-competing pathogens for nutrients, while others actively secrete antibiotics or induce an immune response in the plant.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nIt has been recently documented that maize is capable of attracting beneficial bacteria to its rhizosphere to promote health. Early stage maize seedlings are especially vulnerable to harm from phytopathogens.\n\nThey have long been known to secrete a chemical called DIMBOA (2,4-dihydroxy-7-methoxy-2H-1,4-benzoxazin-3(4H)-one) from their roots. This compound is a potent biocide that eliminates harmful bacteria, insects, and other plants. Remarkably, a beneficial bacterium called Pseudomonas putida is attracted to DIMBOA and can detoxify it. Once within the rhizosphere or the maize seedling, the bacteria can out-compete phytopathogens for the limited nutrient supply. In this way, maize plants are able to recruit microbial allies to their roots in order to prevent the growth of phytopathogens.\n\nThe Potential \n\nTo protect our food crops, we often apply pesticides that are harmful to other organisms and the environment. With maize, we see an example of a plant altering the chemical and biological properties of soil to suit its needs. By continuing to study how corn accomplishes this as well as identifying other plants that can affect soil properties, we may be able to plant plants as “pesticides” instead of using harsh chemicals."}, {"Source": "pumpkin skin", "Application": "natural medicine", "Function1": "inhibit microbial growth", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/skin-protects-from-fungal-pathogens/", "Strategy": "Skin Protects From Fungal Pathogens\n\nSkin of pumpkins helps protect them from fungal pathogens using unique antifungal proteins.\n\nThe skin of that pumpkin you carve into a Jack-o’-Lantern to scare away ghosts and goblins on Halloween contains a substance that could put a scare into microbes that cause millions of cases of yeast infections in adults and infants each year. Scientists Kyung-Soo Hahm and Yoonkyung Park note that some disease-causing microbes are becoming resistant to existing antibiotics. As a result, scientists worldwide are searching for new antibiotics. Past studies hinted that pumpkin, long used as folk medicine in some countries, might have antibiotic effects.\n\nThe scientists extracted proteins from pumpkin rinds to see if the proteins inhibit the growth of microbes, including Candida albicans (C. albicans). That fungus causes vaginal yeast infections, diaper rash in infants, and other health problems. One protein had powerful effects in inhibiting the growth of C. albicans, in cell culture experiments, with no obvious toxic effects. The pumpkin protein could be developed into a natural medicine for fighting yeast infections in humans, the report suggests. The protein also blocked the growth of several fungi that attack important plant crops and could be useful as an agricultural fungicide."}, {"Source": "hydnophytum moseleyanum", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "maintain biodiversity", "Function2": "provide living space", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/plant-provides-housing-for-many-species/", "Strategy": "Plant Provides Housing for Many Species\n\nAn ant-plant maintains biodiversity through symbiotic relationships with 50 species.\n\n\nSometimes, a single species of plant or animal can have a huge effect on the other species in an area. For example, a beaver colony can create slow-water habitat for fish, birds, frogs, otters, and other species. In coastal mangrove forests of Papua New Guinea, in the southwestern Pacific Ocean north of Australia, researchers found that a single species of plant supports dozens of other species.\n\nThis plant species is Hydnophytum moseleyanum. It’s one of many organisms, called epiphytes, that grow on the surfaces of plants. Mosses, ferns, and bromeliads are examples of epiphytes. These organisms use the plant as a way to get higher in the canopy of a forest to gain access to nutrients and moisture from rain or fog, but they rarely harm the plant.\n\nHydnophytum moseleyanum is an ant-plant, which is a plant that lives in a mutualistic relationship with ants. In this type of relationship, the plant provides a sheltered place for the ants to live, while the ants provide nutrients to the plant. The ant-plant has a swollen stem containing cavities, some smooth and some warty. The ants live in the smooth cavities and deposit wastes in the warty ones. The plant absorbs nutrients from that waste.\n\nHydnophytum moseleyanum and some of the ants associated with it form another type of relationship with other species. It’s called commensalism, where the plant gets nothing from the other species but provides them living space and the moisture within it. The other species probably also get some resources from the ants. Scientists found 50 species living on Hydnophytum moseleyanum, all using the swollen stem. Eleven of those species were ants and the most common were from the genus Philidris, which has the mutualistic relationship with the ant-plant.\n\nThe other 39 species include, for example, cockroaches, termites, springtails, sow bugs, crickets, silverfishes, wasps, and even a few crabs and lizards. This combination of mutualism and commensalism appears to play an important role in supporting many organisms and maintaining species diversity in the mangrove forests."}, {"Source": "birch tree's leaves", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "deter herbivory", "Function2": "reduce damage", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/leaves-deter-herbivory/", "Strategy": "Leaves Deter Herbivory\n\nThe leaves of some birch trees may help deter herbivory by adsorbing arthropod-repelling chemical compounds emitted from neighboring plants.\n\n\n“Plant-emitted semi-volatile compounds have low vaporization rates at\n20–25°C and may therefore persist on surfaces such as plant foliage. The\npassive adsorption of arthropod-repellent semi-volatiles to\nneighbouring foliage could convey associational resistance, whereby a\nplant’s neighbours reduce damage caused by herbivores.\n\n“We found that birch (Betula spp.) leaves adsorb\nand re-release the specific arthropod-repelling C15\nsemi-volatiles ledene, ledol and palustrol produced by Rhododendron\ntomentosum when grown in mixed association in a field setup…\n\n“In assessments for associational resistance, we found that\nthe polyphagous green leaf weevils (Polydrusus flavipes)\nand autumnal moth (Epirrita autumnata) larvae\nboth preferred B. pendula to R.\ntomentosum. P. flavipes also preferred\nbirch leaves not exposed to R. tomentosum to\nleaves from mixed associations. In the field, a reduction in Euceraphis betulae aphid density occurred in mixed\nassociations.\n\n“Our results suggest that plant/tree species may be protected by\nsemi-volatile compounds emitted by a more herbivore-resistant\nheterospecific neighbour.” "}, {"Source": "bullhorn acacia", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "provide nutrients", "Function2": "provide housing", "Function3": "provide protection", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/relationship-provides-nutrients-housing-protection/", "Strategy": "Relationship Provides\nNutrients, Housing, Protection\n\nBullhorn acacias provide nutrients and housing for ants in return for protection from herbivores thanks to a mutualistic relationship.\n\n\nIn the lowlands of Mexico and Central America, the bullhorn acacia tree and a species of ant (Pseudomyrmex ferruginea) help each other to survive. This is known as a mutualistic relationship, where two or more species work together to provide what the other needs. The ant aggressively defends the acacia from plant-eating insects, neighboring plants, and disease-causing microorganisms. The acacia provides the ant with plenty of food and a place to live and raise its young.\n\nThe bullhorn acacia has odd-looking thorns that look like bull horns. The tiny ants cut entrance holes into the thorns, and that’s where they care for their eggs and larvae. In three years, the population of ants can grow from the lone queen ant laying her first eggs to a tree teeming with 16,000 worker ants. The thorns are waterproof and hold in moisture, which protects the eggs and larvae during dry periods. Their sharp tips keep birds from going after the eggs inside.\n\nIn addition to providing housing, the acacia  provides food in the form of nectar from special glands. The nectar is a thick syrup full of sugars. Even more valuable to the ants are tiny sacs full of proteins, fatty nutrients, and vitamins called Beltian bodies that grow on the end of acacia leaves. The ants   feed these Beltian bodies to their larvae. These two food sources provide most of the food for the ants.\n\nSo what does the ant do for the acacia? The fast and agile worker ants race around the tree defending it from plant-eaters such as insects (including other ants) and larger animals like rodents. The ant that finds an invader sends out an odor alarm that causes other ants to attack it. The ants kill any foreign plants, such as vines, that touch the trees. They also aggressively kill any vegetation growing around the base of the tree. Because of this, the acacia does not have to compete for soil nutrients, water, and sunlight with other trees. Recently, scientists have also discovered that the ants also spread bacteria from their feet onto the acacia leaves. These bacteria can kill fungi and other disease-carrying bacteria that have infected the leaves.\n\nMutualistic relationships like this evolve over millions of generations. The relationship helps both the tree and ant survive difficult times like droughts. In human societies, we know that acting alone is less effective than finding ways to work together by sharing resources and ideas. The acacia and the ant have it figured out by meeting each other’s needs in just the right ways."}, {"Source": "savannah", "Application": "agroforestry", "Function1": "functional stability", "Function2": "resilient", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/ecosystems-have-stability-and-resiliency/", "Strategy": "Ecosystems Have Stability and Resiliency\n\nSavannahs have functional stability and resiliency due to unique properties of species and their interaction at system level.\n\n\n“Knoop and Walker (1985) attributed the remarkable functional stability and resilience (ability to recover from change) of savannahs to unique properties of species and their interaction at system level. Special attributes include seed dormancy through seed bank recovery, vegetative reproduction, the presence of underground reserves and related coppicing ability, phenology of different species in relation to rainfall distribution and adaptations to drought and grazing. Parallel attributes of systems include the slow release of inorganic nitrogen, conservation of nutrients by vegetation, reduction of anaerobic conditions by trees and the trophic complementarity between species in system concerned.” (Van Noordwijk and Ong 1999:148)\n\n“Recent insights into the effects of savannah trees on understorey vegetation and soils should provide valuable clues on how to reduce the negative effects of below-ground competition in agroforestry while retaining the positive effects of trees seen in natural ecosystems. It is this opportunity for agroforests to mimic the interactions between trees and other plants in natural ecosystems that led to the recent redefinition of agroforestry (Leakey, 1996), in which different agroforestry practices are viewed as stages in the development of an agroecological succession akin to the dynamics of natural ecosystems. Over time, the increasing integration of trees into land use systems through agroforestry can be seen as the passage towards a mature agroforest of increasing integrity. Similarly, with increasing scale, the integration of various agroforestry practices into the landscape is like the formation of a complex mosaic of patches in an ecosystem, each of which is composed of many niches. These niches are occupied by different organisms, making the system ecologically stable and biologically diverse (Leakey, 1996). In systems like this, the physiological interactions between the tree and crop components of the agroecosystem are more likely to mimic those of natural ecosystems.”"}, {"Source": "bee's antennae", "Application": "design inspired by bees", "Function1": "sense signals", "Function2": "detect movement and vibration", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/antennae-detect-a-variety-of-signals/", "Strategy": "Antennae Detect a Variety of Signals\n\nThe antennae of a bee allows it to sense a variety of signals including chemicals, light, vibrations, and electric fields. \n\n\nThe antennae of  bees serve the same purpose as a nose in humans; they’re filled with receptors for chemical odorants in the environment and help the bee smell the world.\n\nThe antennae of male bees are often much longer than their female counterparts. Male antennae have an extra segment and the segments themselves have more length. This is because male antennae are specialized to pick up the subtle scent of female pheromones. Some honeybee workers have been shown to smell their Queen from up to 60 meters away.\n\nThe receptors on the antennae are divided into 4 categories: plates, pegs, hairs and pits. Plates are receptors for chemicals and light, pegs and pits are for smelling and hairs for touch.  The arrangement of the sensors is very specific, with a tuft of hairs for feeling texture at the tip of the antennae and the majority of the receptors related to smell (known as pore plates) found on the last eight sub-segments. A male bee can have up to 100x the number of sensors on his antennae that a female can.\n\nAnother receptor, the Johnston’s organ, is found inside the antennae near the head. It detects movement and vibration around the antennae and has a variety of applications from allowing the bee to judge its speed, as well to detect electric fields. Bumblebees, for instance, can use the mechanoreceptors on their antennae to sense electric field strengths as small as 15.3 Vm-1.\n\nThis information is also available from the University of Calgary Invertebrate collection, where it was curated as part of a study on design inspired by bees."}, {"Source": "woodward (1993)", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "respond in different ways", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/species-richness-helps-system-respond-to-disturbance/", "Strategy": "Species Richness Helps System\nRespond to Disturbance\n\nEcosystems survive biotic and abiotic disturbances by having multiple species that respond in different ways.\n\n\n“Woodward (1993) in his discussion of how many species are required for a functional ecosystem concludes that there is some evidence that if the individual species in an ecosystem exhibit a range of different frequency responses (i.e. where the resource requirements for optimal growth vary), then the more species, the greater the frequency richness and ecosystem stability. This implies that the greater the number of crop species the more assured one would be of achieving a harvest. This is consistent with the practices of subsistence farmers. A more assured income is also a prerequisite for a commitment to expenditure associated with maintaining landscape level ecosystem services. From this discussion it is possible to conclude that in an agricultural ecosystem diversity is advantageous, however, it must be planned to meet specified design criteria such as yield, insurance against crop failure or supply ecosystem services which contribute to an avoidance of the harmful effects of rising water tables, salinity, soil erosion and changes in soil structure.”"}, {"Source": "red mistletoe's flower", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "attract specific pollinators", "Function2": "cross-pollination", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/flowers-of-the-red-mistletoe-attract-specific-pollinators/", "Strategy": "Flowers of the Red Mistletoe\nAttract Specific Pollinators\n\nThe flowers of the red mistletoe protect from unwanted visitors by utilizing a pollinator-specific design.\n\n\nMany plants have a symbiotic relationship with birds, where birds extract nectar from the flowers of plants, and while doing so transfer pollen between flowers, helping to cross-pollinate them.\n\nWhile many plants open their flowers in order to maximize the number of visitors, the red mistletoe of New Zealand has closed flowers that can only be  opened by two birds,  the tui and the bellbird. When the bird goes to get the nectar the flower “pops” open, showering pollen all over the bird, ensuring that it will carry pollen to the next mistletoe it visits.\n\nThis relationship between the red mistletoe and the tui and bellbird is mutually beneficial. The ripe sealed flower of the mistletoe signals to the birds that the nectar inside has not been eaten by another bird. This reduces the amount of time the birds have to spend foraging. The tui and bellbirds are therefore more likely to visit mistletoes over other plant species, because they know they will consistently receive nectar. This increases the chances of successful cross-pollination for the mistletoe."}, {"Source": "emperor penguins", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "conserve energy", "Function2": "protect themselves from the cold", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/group-organization-protects-from-the-cold/", "Strategy": "Group Organization Protects From the Cold\n\nGroups of emperor penguins protect from the cold due to social huddling.\n\n\nIntroduction \n\nEmperor penguins breed during the cold Antarctic winter, where temperatures can reach -30C and below. To conserve energy and protect themselves from the cold, they adopt a behavioral strategy of huddling close together in large groups. Huddling is considered key to their ability to live in such a cold place. They have different huddling patterns across different breeding stages, with the largest number of penguins huddling during the egg incubation period, when the males must survive fasting while also trying to keep their eggs warm.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nWithin a huddle, emperor penguins shift their position in a wavelike movement. Every 30-60 seconds a penguin will move, triggering neighboring penguins to also move. These actions/reactions result in a wave of movements across the huddle, which over time leads to large scale movement of the huddle. This can increase the size of the huddle, by allowing smaller huddles to eventually join together. These small movements also affect the organization of the huddle by increasing the density, from creating a more orderly arrangement as each penguin finds their ideal position.\n\nOver time, huddles grow larger as individual penguins join or other huddles join together, causing the penguins to be more tightly packed together, which can sometimes cause the penguins to get too hot. When they need to get rid of the excess heat, the penguins leave the huddle in an abrupt breakup. This relatively slow increase in huddle size followed by rapid separation is a behavior that further allows them to regulate their exposure to unwanted temperature."}, {"Source": "flowering plant's stigma", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "selectively recognize pollen", "Function2": "ensure pollination", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/stigmas-ensure-pollination/", "Strategy": "Stigmas Ensure Pollination\n\nThe stigmas of flowering plants selectively recognize pollen from the same species in part through biochemical interactions.\n\n\n“A stigma will not react to pollen from another species. Since the physical shape of the pollen grains is so distinctive, it is tempting to think that the recognition between the two is a geometric one analogous to the way that a lock can recognise a key that belongs to it. This may in fact be the case, though if so it is only part of the mechanism of recognition. Other biochemical stimulations and responses also play a crucial part.”"}, {"Source": "mayfly's reproductive strategy", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "maximize mating prospect", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/timed-mating-optimizes-reproduction/", "Strategy": "Timed Mating Optimizes Reproduction\n\nSwarms of mayflies maximize reproductive chances by timing emergence with the full moon.\n\n\n“In the mayfly (Povilla adusta), a distinct lunar-based pattern of adult emergence and swarming has been documented…swarms appeared within five days of the full moon, with most of them occurring on the second night after full moon. On three separate occasions, swarms were recorded simultaneously at locations roughly 120 miles (75 km) apart. Adult mayflies live only for a few hours, so the purpose of this swarming synchronicity is presumably to bring the two sexes together in order to maximize mating prospects before they die.”"}, {"Source": "wetland", "Application": "clean water", "Function1": "remove nutrient", "Function2": "remove sediments", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/interacting-organisms-remove-nutrients/", "Strategy": "Interacting Organisms Remove Nutrients\n\nWetlands remove nutrients and sediments from water as plants, bacteria, and physical processes interact.\n\n\nHealthy wetland ecosystems are commonly seen as natural water filtration systems. Wetlands can remove sediments and nutrients from the surrounding soil or water, as part of the natural cycling that these elements do between land, water, and air. Nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorous, for example, are taken from the water by bacteria and wetland plants that consume these nutrients as they grow. Physical processes like filtering and sedimentation (particles settling out of the water) can also remove nutrients and particles from the water. These biological and physical processes interact with many other factors, such as temperature and land structure, to affect a wetland’s overall function.\n\nFor instance, dense communities of wetland plants slow down water flow, which gives more time for solid particles to settle out and nutrients to be consumed by plants and bacteria. In addition, the leaves, stems, and roots of wetland plants provide a large surface area on which bacteria and other microbes can attach. Certain wetland bacteria consume nitrate (an ion containing nitrogen) in the water and convert it into nitrogen gas, which is released into the atmosphere. This process of denitrification tends to be the way that most nitrogen is removed from the water in wetlands. The plants take up some nutrients, but this is temporary storage as the nutrients are released again when the plants die and decompose. Nonetheless, the presence of plants and their interaction with other organisms in the ecosystem facilitate the wetland’s ability to clean water flowing through."}, {"Source": "sandy dune ecosystem", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "increase complexity", "Function2": "increase stability", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/food-web-complexity-increases-along-gradient/", "Strategy": "Food Web Complexity Increases Along Gradient\n\nThe complexity of food webs in sandy dune ecosystems increases along productivity gradients, with feedback loops governing the stability of the system.\n\n\n“Understanding how complex food webs assemble through time is fundamental both for ecological theory and for the development of sustainable strategies of ecosystem conservation and restoration. The build-up of complexity in communities is theoretically difficult, because in random-pattern models complexity leads to instability1. There is growing evidence, however, that nonrandom patterns in the strengths of the interactions between predators and prey strongly enhance system stability2, 3, 4. Here we show how such patterns explain stability in naturally assembling communities. We present two series of below-ground food webs along natural productivity gradients in vegetation successions5, 6. The complexity of the food webs increased along the gradients. The stability of the food webs was captured by measuring the weight of feedback loops7 of three interacting ‘species’ locked in omnivory. Low predator–prey biomass ratios in these omnivorous loops were shown to have a crucial role in preserving stability as productivity and complexity increased during succession. Our results show the build-up of food-web complexity in natural productivity gradients and pin down the feedback loops that govern the stability of whole webs. They show that it is the heaviest three-link feedback loop in a network of predator–prey effects that limits its stability. Because the weight of these feedback loops is kept relatively low by the biomass build-up in the successional process, complexity does not lead to instability.”"}, {"Source": "honeybee's colony", "Application": "the decision to relocate", "Function1": "select a new hive location", "Function2": "communicate with waggle dance", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/quorum-determines-new-hive-site/", "Strategy": "Quorum Determines New Hive Site\n\nHoneybees in a colony select a new hive location via quorum.\n\n\n\"Humans aren’t the only ones who vote in important elections. A successful honeybee hive can contain tens of thousands of bees and may eventually become overcrowded due to limited space. When this happens, the colony splits in two and one group of bees leaves the hive in a swarm, clustering together outside until the group can find a new place to live. How do thousands of bees agree on a new location for a hive? The decision is important, because once agreed upon, the new colony will invest all of its energy into making the new location a success.\n\nTo find a location for a new hive, “scout” bees investigate possible sites. Then each scout returns to the swarm and communicates how promising the site it visited is by performing a “waggle dance.” In a waggle dance, a bee shakes or vibrates while walking forward in a wave pattern, then circles back and repeats the process. The faster a bee vibrates, the more promising it thinks the site it explored is. At the same time, the orientation of the bee’s movements conveys the newly proposed hive’s direction, and the time or linear distance over which the bee waggles in each cycle conveys the distance to the new hive. Based upon the relative vigor of each bee’s dance, other scouts locate and assess the more strongly recommended locations.\n\nAs soon as the number of bees at any given potential site reaches about 15, this group returns to the swarm, spreading through it to signal a final decision to relocate to that site. As a result, the swarm follows and sets up its hive in this chosen location.\n\nStudying how honeybees and other species make decisions could provide insights into how humans could make better group decisions too.\""}, {"Source": "macrophage", "Application": "designing response guidelines", "Function1": "scale defense strength", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/immune-system-scales-defense-response/", "Strategy": "Immune System Scales Defense Response\n\nMacrophages use communication to scale defense strength to threat\n\n\n\"If a house is burning, firemen will try to put the fire out with water. Even though the water itself can damage a house, it’s likely less damaging than the fire. A similar logic pertains to our immune system. Our immune system protects us through physical and chemical means, but in the process, it can also damage our own tissues by attacking our own cells. How does our immune system apply enough defense to take care of an injury or infection, but not so much that it might hurt or even kill us in the process?\n\nWhen we get injured, our body can become infected with foreign microbes. For example, if you fall on the ground after scraping your knee, microbes can enter your body through the open wound. This is why it’s important to keep wounds clean. If an area becomes infected, the tissue around it swells and certain cells called macrophages rush to the scene to attack the infection.\n\nMacrophages can attack an infection in different ways. For example, some attack with full strength while some attack less intensely. How a macrophage responds depends on several things. First, individual macrophages communicate with one another to determine how many of them are at an infected site. The more macrophages there are, the more they attack at full strength. Also, if the macrophages have fought the microbe before, a higher number of them will attack at full strength. There are always other macrophages nearby that are ready to attack in case the infection suddenly becomes stronger. However, if the wound is small or there are fewer microbes, the macrophages will respond less intensely.\n\nThis coordinated attack on infections by macrophages helps to make sure our immune systems don’t over-react, and that the right number of immune cells are working as hard as they need to in any given situation. The dynamic way our immune cells react to threats can give people ideas for designing response guidelines for all sorts of potentially threatening situations, such as how to evacuate buildings in the case of fire or earthquake.\""}, {"Source": "arid ecosystems", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "reduce water loss", "Function2": "facilitate seed survival", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/plants-minimize-water-loss/", "Strategy": "Plants Minimize Water Loss\n\nPlants in arid ecosystems self-organize to minimize water loss and aid plant and seed survival.\n\n\n“The vegetation of arid ecosystems displays scale-free, self-organized spatial patterns. Monitoring of such patterns could provide warning signals of the occurrence of sudden shifts towards desert conditions…Scanlon et al. 4 (page 209) and Kéfi et al.5 (page 213) explore the problem of how vegetation in semi-arid ecosystems is organized in space and time. These studies point the way to how forecasting might be achieved. They involve analyses of the size distribution of vegetated patches in the Kalahari Desert 4, and in three different areas of the Mediterranean basin 5, and they cover different spatial scales and types of vegetation…The authors also identify the origin of the mechanism underlying self-organization: a process of ‘local facilitation’ among plants, set against the background of overall control by water availability. Water is the limiting resource, but short-range interactions among plants involve positive effects that are a necessary condition for power laws to exist. The plants create a local environment that minimizes water run-off and facilitates the survival of other plants and seeds (Fig. 1).” "}, {"Source": "deciduous trees", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "shed leaves", "Function2": "reduce evapotranspiration", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/deciduous-trees-allow-higher-seasonal-water-yields/", "Strategy": "Deciduous Trees Allow\nHigher Seasonal Water Yields\n\nDeciduous trees allow more water to reach the soil and seep into streams by seasonally shedding leaves that lose water via evaporation.\n\n\nForest trees play a major role in influencing the flow of water resources. Trees, like most plants, undergo a process called evapotranspiration. This is where water taken up from the roots moves through the plant to be utilized for photosynthesis in the leaves. The water is then released from the leaves into the air as water vapor. In forests with a large amount of trees, the effects of this process are readily seen in the changes in streamflow and soil water. For example, harvesting or cutting down forests substantially increases streamflow because fewer trees are able to draw up and cycle the water back into the atmosphere.\n\nForests with different types of trees vary in their capacity for water interception and transpiration. Deciduous trees are species that shed their leaves when conditions are unfavorable (such as too cold, not enough water, etc.). Since the evapotranspiration process occurs through the trees’ leaves, deciduous trees transpire much less during their dormant seasons. This means that deciduous trees such as oak, maple, and hickory allow more rain to seep into the soil (rather than into roots and through the leaves into the air) and eventually flow downstream. In contrast, evergreen trees (like pines) retain their leaves year-round, and have been shown to have higher annual evapotranspiration and therefore reduce streamflows.\n\nDeciduous trees play an important role in ecosystem maintenance by seasonally generating higher water yields. This increase in soil water and streamflow provides a valuable resource to the community. The higher flow can help fill storage reservoirs and mitigate water shortages during drought seasons. Thus, in municipal watersheds and other areas where water resources are of concern, it is important to consider the effects of forest conversion. If forests are converted from deciduous trees to evergreen trees, then local communities will surely see some form of water yield reduction."}, {"Source": "bracket fungi and mature trees", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "gain nutrients", "Function2": "structural stability", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/relationship-provides-nutrients-stability/", "Strategy": "Relationship Provides Nutrients, Stability\n\nBracket fungi and mature trees gain nutrients for both and structural stability for the trees thanks to their mutualistic relationship.\n\n\n“Because this first visible sign of the [bracket] fungus only appears when the tree is elderly or already stricken, it is usually assumed that it is the fungus that has infected the tree like a disease and is bringing about its death. But that is hardly just. The fungus has not attacked the living tissues of the tree, only the dead timber. And now, far from harming the tree, it brings it considerable advantages.\n\n“To start with, the remains of the wood, after the fungus has digested it, are in a form that the tree can absorb. So as this rotted pulp accumulates on the ground within the hollowed trunk, the oak puts out small roots into what was once its centre to reclaim some part of its lifetime savings. And there is new valuable nutriment there too. The hollow trunk has become an attractive home for animals. Bats roost in it, hanging from its walls. Owls nest there. And droppings from these creatures fall on to the ground within and provide further rich sustenance for the tree.\n\n“The removal of the tree’s dead heart brings yet another advantage. The change of form from solid pillar to hollow cylinder alters the way in which the trunk reacts to mechanical stress. It is much more resilient and stable. The removal of many tons of timber also reduces the strain on the tree’s elderly and doubtless somewhat decayed root system. The result is that an old hollow tree is often able to withstand a gale better than a younger undecayed one. In the ancient hunting parks of England such as Windsor, where trees stand out in the open, unprotected by others from the wind, it is by no means rare after a storm to discover that hollow oaks, four or five hundred years old, remain upright when younger ones, a quarter their age, have been blown over. Tree and fungus, each pursuing its own best interests, have come together to the benefit of both.”"}, {"Source": "forest tree", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "renewal and reorganization of a disturbed system", "Function2": "ecosystem recovery", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/ecosystems-recover-from-disturbance-2/", "Strategy": "Ecosystems Recover From Disturbance\n\nForests and other ecosystems can return to their predisturbance composition and struture through the presence of biological legacies, mobile links, and support areas.\n\n\n“A forest ‘remembers’ its predisturbance composition and structure by the presence of at least three interacting parts (Nystrom and Folke 2001; Lundberg and Moberg 2003; Folke et al. 2004): biological legacies, mobile links, and support areas. Biological legacies are species, patterns, or structures that persist within a disturbed area and act as sources of ecosystem recovery, such as large living and dead trees or tree clusters that provide seeds, buried rhizomes or roots, and nutrients to the regenerating stand (Franklin and MacMahon 2000). In some cases these legacies may be biased towards structures or patches that are more likely to survive the disturbance, such as wet or low-lying sites during forest fires. Mobile links are ‘keystone’ organisms that move between habitats and ecosystems after a disturbance to provide essential ecosystem processes that are lacking, such as pollination, seed dispersal, or nutrient translocation, by connecting areas that may be widely separated spatially or temporally (Lundberg and Moberg 2003). Support areas refer to landscape patches or habitats that maintain viable populations of mobile links (Lundberg and Moberg 2003). Together these interacting parts play a pivotal role in renewal and reorganization of a disturbed system.”\n \n“We term this network of species, their dynamic interactions between each other and the environment, and the combination of structures that make reorganization after disturbance possible; the ‘ecological memory’ of the system (21, 22)…The ecological memory is a key component of ecological resilience, i.e. the capacity of the system to absorb disturbances, reorganize, and maintain adaptive capacity (25)…The ecosystem renewal cycle in forests gives rise to a coarse mosaic of patches in different stages of a forest cycle (67), initiated by disturbance and comprising a series of structural phases; commonly recognized are the i) gap (in our terms reorganization), ii) building (exploitation), iii) mature (conservation), and eventually iv) degenerative (release) phases (68, 69). The build-up of ecological memory in the form of biological legacies and species in the mosaic landscape usually takes several forest generations during which the soil is formed and nutrient pools and decomposer organisms are accumulated. Although it is common to characterize forest types by particular disturbance regimes, most forests are affected by various disturbances acting at different temporal and spatial scales (Fig. 3; 70-73). Organisms in natural forests have adapted, over evolutionary time, to the characteristic disturbance regimes of these forests. Boreal taiga forests and Mediterranean forests (74) are often disturbed by large-scale fires, while temperate deciduous forests, e.g. beech in Central Europe, mainly are affected by small-scale windthrows.” "}, {"Source": "broom shrub's seed pod", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "split pod", "Function2": "catapult seed", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/tension-releases-seeds/", "Strategy": "Tension Releases Seeds\n\nSeed pods of broom shrub disperse seeds via evaporative tension buildup and release.\n\n\n“Broom powers its explosions in exactly the opposite manner. Its launching energy comes not from an increase of liquid but from its evaporation. As a pod warms on a summer’s day, the side facing the sun dries faster than that in the shade. This sets up a tension in the pod which finally causes it to split suddenly into its two halves, catapulting its tiny black seeds in all directions as it does so.”"}, {"Source": "sea bean's seed", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "dispersed in water", "Function2": "carried by water", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/seeds-dispersed-across-the-sea/", "Strategy": "Seeds Dispersed Across the Sea\n\nThe seeds of sea beans are dispersed great distances in water thanks to durable woody pods.\n\n\nSea beans are “gigantic compared with those of other members of the bean family, for they are about two inches across and carried in gigantic pods four feet long. When they first form, these pods, like other bean pods are green and soft, but as they ripen they become woody and heavy. Eventually, the pod falls into the river beside which the tree is growing and floats away. The pod breaks apart along thin grooves that run across it between the seeds. Each seed, with its own section of pod as packaging, then starts its own individual journey. Some may be stranded on a sand bank or a muddy beach within a few yards of their parents. But others regularly float down the whole length of the river, past the mangrove swamps around its estuary and on out to sea. By the time the seed gets washed up on a beach it may have lost every vestige of its pod, but even after a year at sea, it can still be viable. The sea-bean’s transport is so efficient that its seeds occasionally get carried far beyond the reach of the climate in which they can grow successfully.”"}, {"Source": "african wild dog", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "make group decisions", "Function2": "decide whether to stay or go", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/african-wild-dogs-use-versatile-voting-system/", "Strategy": "African Wild Dogs Use Versatile Voting System\n\nAfrican wild dogs make group decisions through versatile voting system\n\n\nIntroduction \n\nHave you ever been with a group of friends trying to decide what to do? It’s not always easy coming to a decision, because not everyone in the group always feels like doing the same thing. Sometimes, a really outgoing member of the group convinces just a few other members to do something, and the rest of the group goes along. But other times, especially when the outgoing members of the group are kind of quiet, it can take a while for enough people in the group to finally agree on something.\n\nWell, as it turns out, it’s similar with African wild dogs. African wild dogs live across sub-Saharan Africa in savannas and arid areas, in packs containing pups, juveniles and adults, led by a dominant male and female adult. Dominant individuals control many things in the pack, including mating and the care of pups. But when it comes to making decisions about leaving a resting area — to go on a hunt, for example — decision-making is a little more flexible.\n \nThe Strategy \n\nAfrican wild dogs decide whether to stay or go by voting. They don’t vote by casting a ballot, or raising a hand (paw?), but instead vote using a sound, an abrupt exhale, a little like a sneeze. How many votes it takes to decide to go depends on who starts the sneezing. If a dominant individual sneezes first, then it only takes a few more sneezes by the rest of the dogs for the group to rally and go. If a different (non-dominant) individual sneezes first, the group can still decide to go, but it takes many more sneezes by other group members to make this happen.\n\nThe Potential \n\nSome flexibility in decision-making processes can be useful. Even when a group has leaders, leaders may not always take action, or they may not understand what the rest of the group really needs or wants. Flexibility allows leaders to be overruled when enough other members of a group agree on a different course of action."}, {"Source": "forests of the pacific northwest", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "provide water and nutrients", "Function2": "support seedlings", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/nurse-logs-provide-new-habitat/", "Strategy": "Nurse Logs Provide New Habitat\n\nTall, wide trees in the forests of the Pacific Northwest serve as nurse logs to their seedlings after they fall, providing decades of water and nutrients as they slowly decay.\n\n\n“In the coniferous forests of the north-west coast of America, the trees – Sitka spruce, hemlock and Douglas fir – may grow over two hundred feet high and they cut out most of the light. There is enough, however, to sustain ferns and other shade-loving plants, and the soil is so rich that they form a dense ground-cover through which you wade waste high. But beneath them, on the surface of the soil, it is very dark indeed. Seedlings, even if they were able to germinate, would not be able to gather enough light for them to photosynthesise. How then, can the giant trees regenerate themselves?\n\n“They do so with the aid of their own dead bodies. The girth of an adult tree is such that the upper side of a fallen trunk remains above the ferns. A seed from a neighbouring tree that lands on it can thus get sufficient light to germinate. Being perched there brings another advantage: the bark of the prostrate tree is very fibrous and holds moisture like a sponge to the young plant does not lack for water. As the seedling sprouts, it sends down roots. They grow over the flank of the log and down into the rich soil beneath. As they gain strength, these roots thicken. While they are doing so, fungi are feasting in the wood of the log. Slowly it rots and begins to crumble away providing more sustenance for the young trees. After several decades, the log has been reduced to mouldering fragments. But the young seedlings still hold their position high above the ferns for their roots have now become so thick, they support them like stilts.”"}, {"Source": "soil", "Application": "waste treatment system", "Function1": "break down chemicals", "Function2": "recycle chemicals", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/diverse-community-lives-in-soil/", "Strategy": "The World’s Most Diverse\nCommunity Lives in the Soil\n\nA diverse community of organisms interacts to break down and recycle chemicals to maintain soil fertility.\n\n\nIntroduction \n\nA shovelful of soil from a forest contains far more different types of living things at the micro scale than the Serengeti Plain in Africa at the macro scale with all its roaming hordes of animals. The top 2 to 4 inches (5 to 10 centimeters) of soil contains billions of organisms that are always interacting. This complex underground community creates and maintains the substance that plants, trees, and animals depend on.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nA cubic meter of soil may contain thousands of different species of bacteria and fungi; single-celled protists and microscopic nematodes (roundworms); and larger animals such as mites, springtails, earthworms, ants, termites, lice, and beetles. Each species takes part in breaking down leaves, twigs, fruit, animal carcasses, and feces and recycling them into smaller organic materials that plants use to live and grow. And each species has specific abilities that take advantage of different niches in the environment.The largest decomposers are earthworms, ants, termites, millipedes, woodlice, and beetles. They play a crucial role, creating tunnels through which air and water seep into the soil.\n\nSlightly smaller animals such as mites and springtails occupy air-filled pores within soil. They, too, are arthropods––closely related to, but distinct from, insects. They also help decompose organic material and graze on bacteria.\n\nWoven into and around plant roots are fungi, in a relationship that benefits both. The fungi grow out in long narrow tendrils that extend the plants’ root systems deep into and across the soil and give plants more access to minerals they need to grow. The fungi also provide a sheath that protects plants from pathogens and toxic metals. In exchange, the fungi receive sugars that the plants make via photosynthesis.\n\nNematodes and protists living in water in the soil eat organic material and excrete it in particles that are smaller and/or more easily absorbed by roots. Nematodes also eat bacteria, keeping their populations in balance.\n\nThose bacteria have diverse roles to play as well. Some species convert gaseous nitrogen into solid nitrates that plants take up for essential chemical functions. Others specialize in decomposing tough, slow-rotting molecules like cellulose that plants produce to keep stiff and strong.\n\nThe Potential\n\nPeople have learned the hard way that radically changing the landscape above ground can have dire impacts on the underground ecosystem, turning vital soil into infertile dust. Herbicides and insecticides take out segments of the interconnected community that recycle and replenish the soil. Farming and clearcutting forests cut the supplies to underground species. Heavy equipment compacts soil too much for air and water to penetrate. Understanding, maintaining, and working in harmony with the diverse community in the soil holds great potential for helping us to manage our activities on the land more sustainably.\n\nIn addition, learning the intricacies of how different organisms break down waste can lead to more effective and eco-friendly waste treatment systems."}, {"Source": "banksia plant's two-valved seed capsule", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "dispersal of seeds", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/fire-opens-seed-capsules/", "Strategy": "Fire Opens Seed Capsules\n\nSeeds of Banksia plants are dispersed via two-valved seed capsules that open in high fire temperatures.\n\n\n“Banksias are spectacular evergreen bushes and trees related to the proteas of South Africa but, with the exception of one whose range extends into the Pacific, they are totally restricted to Australia. Of the 75 or so species that exist, 60 grow only in this south-western corner [of Australia]. Their strange inflorescences consist of several thousand small florets massed together in a single spike and arranged in vertical lines, that in some species have a gentle spiral twist…They take several months to develop and then open over several weeks. Birds such as lorikeets and marsupials like the honey possum come to drink nectar from them and in the course of doing so pollinate them. Usually, however, only a small proportion of the florets produce seed. In some species, those that are unsuccessful remain attached to the flower head, forming a grey rather bristly fur…It takes about a year for the seeds to mature. Like the bottlebrush, some banksias will not shed their seeds unless there is a fire. Indeed, it is almost impossible to remove them from the plant because they are held in hard woody two-valved capsules. But as the flames scorch the branches, the intense heat causes the capsules to open. Their front ends resemble pairs of brown lips on the side of the furry spike…By releasing their seeds only in the wake of a fire, the banksias ensure that they will fall on well-cleaned, brightly-lit ground recently fertilised with ash and so get the most favourable of starts in what is, even at best, an extremely harsh and demanding environment.”"}, {"Source": "dandelion seed", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "efficiently dispersed on the wind", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/lightweight-structure-aids-dispersal/", "Strategy": "Lightweight Structure Aids Dispersal\n\nThe seeds of dandelions are efficiently dispersed on the wind thanks to tiny discs of radiating threads that act as parachutes.\n\n\n“The dandelion provides its seeds with a slightly more complex flying apparatus, a tiny disc of radiating threads that form, in effect, a parachute. A dandelion presents these seeds to the wind hoisted on the top of a stem and arranged as a fragile elegant globe.”"}, {"Source": "starlings", "Application": "edible digital detox", "Function1": "attack infection", "Function2": "prevent over-react", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/starlings-coordinate-movements-within-a-flock/", "Strategy": "Immune System Scales Defense Response\n\nStarlings stay together within a flock by paying attention to the movements of the seven other birds closest to it\n\n\nIf a house is burning, firemen will try to put the fire out with water. Even though the water itself can damage a house, it’s likely less damaging than the fire. A similar logic pertains to our immune system. Our immune system protects us through physical and chemical means, but in the process, it can also damage our own tissues by attacking our own cells. How does our immune system apply enough defense to take care of an injury or infection, but not so much that it might hurt or even kill us in the process?\n\nWhen we get injured, our body can become infected with foreign microbes. For example, if you fall on the ground after scraping your knee, microbes can enter your body through the open wound. This is why it’s important to keep wounds clean. If an area becomes infected, the tissue around it swells and certain cells called macrophages rush to the scene to attack the infection.\n\nMacrophages can attack an infection in different ways. For example, some attack with full strength while some attack less intensely. How a macrophage responds depends on several things. First, individual macrophages communicate with one another to determine how many of them are at an infected site. The more macrophages there are, the more they attack at full strength. Also, if the macrophages have fought the microbe before, a higher number of them will attack at full strength. There are always other macrophages nearby that are ready to attack in case the infection suddenly becomes stronger. However, if the wound is small or there are fewer microbes, the macrophages will respond less intensely.\n\nThis coordinated attack on infections by macrophages helps to make sure our immune systems don’t over-react, and that the right number of immune cells are working as hard as they need to in any given situation. The dynamic way our immune cells react to threats can give people ideas for designing response guidelines for all sorts of potentially threatening situations, such as how to evacuate buildings in the case of fire or earthquake."}, {"Source": "social insect colony", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "self-organize", "Function2": "carry out complex group tasks", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/colonies-self-organize/", "Strategy": "Colonies Self‑organize\n\nColonies of social insects self-organize and carry out complex group tasks through many simple individual interactions.\n\n\nFor social insects, teamwork is predominantly self-organized. Coordinated primarily through the interactions of individual colony members, the insects can solve complex problems even though each interaction may be very simple.\n\nTo understand the power of self-organization, consider how ants find the shortest distance to a food source simply by laying and following chemical trails. For example, two ants leave their nest in search of food and venture off on separate paths. While walking, they release a trail of pheromones (chemicals) that the other ants in the colony can detect. The ant that takes the shorter route doubles back to the nest more quickly, adding more pheromones on top of those already left on the first passage (away from the nest). This reinforcement of pheromones leaves a higher concentration for other ants to sense, and as a result, other members of the colony detect and follow this more distinct trail of pheromones, as well.\n\nIn the same way, some termites, with no supervision, collectively build above-ground mounds that may facilitate gas exchange with their below-ground nests. Although science has yet to fully explain the exact mechanisms through which these mounds are created, several models indicate that termites are more likely to deposit soil particles where other individuals have just placed particles, due to the presence of short-lived pheromones.\n\nSelf-organization enables a swarm of social insects to carry out complex tasks through the collective duties of individuals within the colony without being centrally controlled. The collective effort of the whole group is the only means by which the group is able to sustain itself and grow as a community."}, {"Source": "caesaria tree", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "increase diversity", "Function2": "prevent extinctions", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/fruiting-tree-holds-key-role-in-forest/", "Strategy": "Fruiting Tree Holds Key Role in Forest\n\nThe Caesaria tree helps maintain diversity and prevent extinctions in its forest ecosystem because it produces fruit to sustain several animal species through times of scarcity.\n\n\n“In the tropics, keystone plants are often those that provide fruit for important seed-dispersing animals. The relationship between fruiting trees and fruit-eating animals is called a mutualism because both parties benefit. Animals need the nourishment in the nutrient-packed pulp and seeds, and the plant needs to have its seeds carried to new sites, perhaps gaps in vegetation where seedlings stand a better chance of surviving…This service is valuable enough that 50 to 90 percent of the canopy trees and almost all shrubs and smaller trees in the tropical forests of Central and South America bear fruits that are fleshy, brightly colored, or otherwise attract animals. The brilliant red-coated fruits of the tree Casearia corymbosa provide an example of this type of keystone mutualism. During a critical period each December when fruit is otherwise scarce in the forest, these fruits sustain twenty-two species of birds, including cotingas, toucans, parrots, and robin-sized tityras. If Casearia trees were to disappear from the La Selva biological preserve in eastern Costa Rica, Henry Howe of the University of Iowa predicts the loss would lead to the disappearance not only of masked tityras–the only birds that reliably spread the Casearia‘s seeds far and wide–but also of toucans. The toucans need Casearia to sustain them through December’s scarcity, but by January they move on to other preferred fruits, ranging widely and scattering the seeds of a number of plants, including nutmegs. Thus the loss of Casearia, especially from a patch of forest isolated amid a landscape of agricultural fields and grasslands, could precipitate a slow-moving wave of extinctions among an array of forest species.” "}, {"Source": "fungus-growing ant's fungi garden", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "produce constantly changing antibiotics", "Function2": "protect the fungi from outside threats", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/bacteria-on-fungus-farming-ants-produce-antibiotics/", "Strategy": "Bacteria on Fungus Farming\nAnts Produce Antibiotics\n\nBacteria growing on ants produce constantly changing antibiotics that invading fungi cannot develop resistance to.\n\n\nIn nature, species work with each other to build long-lasting relationships. One example is the relationship between a  fungus-growing ant,  fungi, and bacteria. Fungus-growing ants grow a garden of fungi. The ants provide the fungi with food and an ideal habitat to grow, and in turn the fungus is a food source for the ants. Special bacteria living on the ants help protect the fungi from outside threats, such as other invading fungi. This three-way relationship is mutually beneficial. This means that two or more species work together to help each other and that the relationship has a positive benefit for everyone.\n\nWhere Are the Ants Carrying All Those Leaves?\n\nFrom time to time, bad fungi will try to invade the ant’s fungi garden. However, the ants cannot eat these fungi, so they would not benefit. Two species of bacteria live on the ant and receive food from the ant. In turn, they make a variety of antibiotic compounds that can stop the growth of these bad fungi. The bacteria can make a variety of different antibiotics by using different parts of their DNA. DNA provides instructions that tells the cells what kinds of compounds to make. The bacteria constantly use different parts of the instructions so that the antibiotic is always different. As a result, the bad fungi cannot develop a defense fast enough. To visualize this, imagine that the bad fungi need to produce a perfect key to open the gate to the ant’s fungi garden. To stop this from happening, the bacteria only need to make small changes to the key slot to stop the bad fungi from opening the gate. As a result, the bad fungi are rarely able to develop a defense against the antibiotics.\n\nHumans can develop infections caused by bacteria. To treat the infections, doctors give antibiotics consisting of only one compound to kill the bacteria. Over time, the bacteria can learn to protect themselves and become resistant to the antibiotic. Therefore, humans could apply fungus-farming ant’s strategy by making small changes to the antibiotics that will make it more difficult for the bacteria to develop resistance."}, {"Source": "brazil nut seed pod", "Application": "lightweight materials for transport containers", "Function1": "protect from cracking", "Function2": "absorb energy", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/the-toughest-nuts-to-crack/", "Strategy": "The Toughest Nuts to Crack\n\nBrazil nut seed pods hurtle down from tall treetops, but their complex structure deters them from cracking open. \n\nIntroduction\n\nPeople foraging for Brazil nuts in Amazon forests know they should always wear hard hats. The trees can reach 164 feet (50 meters) high. The nuts are encased in hard-shelled spherical pods roughly 6 inches (15 centimeters) in diameter that can weigh up to 5 pounds (2 kilograms). When those pods drop, they hurtle down like cannonballs at speeds of 50 miles per hour (80 kilometers per hour) and could easily smash your skull.\n\nBut the pods themselves don’t smash open. If they did, the nuts, or seeds, wouldn’t end up far from the parent tree. Brazil nut pods are built to ensure that they are dispersed by the one animal that can crack them open: the agouti. This guinea pig-like rodent has chisel-shaped teeth and muscular jaws. The pods are densely packed with up to two dozen nuts—more than an agouti can eat at once. So the provisioning critter will carry some away and bury them to eat later. The nuts the agoutis never come back for can take root and grow into trees.\n\nThat explains why Brazil nut pods are built so tough. But figuring out exactly how the pods can withstand such impacts has been a much harder nut to crack.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nThe secret to the pod shell’s impact resistance is a layer of material about half an inch (1 centimeter) thick, called the mesocarp. Only recently have scientists begun to take a microscopic look at this layer. Their research reveals that it is a multilayered amalgam of different-shaped cells and empty spaces—all arranged in a complex pattern that absorbs shocks and resists cracking.\n\nThe mesocarp contains two types of cells, both with thick walls made of lignin, a strong polymer that gives plant stems their rigidity. First, there are elongated cells, organized like cables into strong, elastic fiber bundles. They are arranged in three layers. The two on the outside point in the same direction. Sandwiched in the middle is a bigger layer, oriented perpendicular to both.\n\nFilling in most of the spaces between these bundles are spherical husks of dead cells called sclereids. Their centers are hollow, but their lignin walls are tough. This mesh of cells also has occasional voids—remnants of circulatory channels that transported water and nutrients to the fruit when it was growing. Using hollow or dead cells is a common strategy in nature that simultaneously helps optimize strength, stiffness, and weight.\n\nWhen the pod smashes against the ground, the hollow sclereid cells compress, but don’t break apart. That absorbs a lot of shock, similar to the way foam does inside car bumpers.\n\nThe toughness of the lignin fibers resists cracking, but any cracks that do form in the outer layers stop when they hit the wall of perpendicular fibers in the middle layer.\n\nThe empty channels help in two ways. First, they provide spaces for cells to compress or slide into, dissipating some energy from impacts. Then, they offer paths of lesser resistance, directing energy along them and away from the fibers. Altogether, the mesocarp works to absorb energy from impact and create spiderweb-like networks of little tears that don’t converge into gaping cracks.\n\nThe Potential \n\nBrazil nut pods offer an excellent model for fracture-resistant materials. Studying how the sizes, shapes, distribution, and orientation of cells in the mesocarp prevent cracking can inspire lightweight materials for transport containers, packaging, helmets and other protective gear, and devices to shield vehicles and buildings against impacts."}, {"Source": "coconut palm's seed", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "survive long sea voyages", "Function2": "enclosed in nutrient-rich, water-filled protective shells", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/seeds-survive-long-sea-voyages/", "Strategy": "Seeds Survive Long Sea Voyages\n\nThe seeds of coconut palms survive long sea voyages because they are enclosed in nutrient-rich, water-filled protective shells.\n\n“Some trees send their seeds, not by air, but by sea. The most famous of all is the coconut palm. It dispatches its seed inside a hard shell that contains everything needed for a long voyage. Inside there is a supply of rich food, the so-called meat, and a half-a-pint or so of water. On the outside, it is fitted with a fibre float that keeps it on the surface of the water. This survival package serves it so well that coconut palms have colonised beaches throughout the tropics.” "}, {"Source": "mangrove seed", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "enhance chances of survival", "Function2": "stab into the soft mud", "Function3": "resist the swill of the returning tide", "Function4": "float horizontally", "Function5": "photosynthesize", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/seeds-survive-various-conditions/", "Strategy": "Seeds Survive Various Conditions\n\nSome species of mangrove seedlings enhance their chances of survival due to several characteristics: sharp spikes stick in the ground, photosynthesizing stem, and adaptations for both salty and fresh water.\n\n“The aerial prop roots give adult trees considerable stability. But seedlings have more difficulty in getting a hold on the capriciously moving surface of the mud. Some species of mangrove, however, manage to plant their offspring with as much firmness as a gardener armed with a dibble. The seeds germinate while they are still attached to their parent. A long green spike develops that hangs vertically downwards. In some species it may measure as much as two feet. Eventually, it falls. If the tide is out, it may stab straight into the soft mud. Tiny rootlets then grow out from its flanks with great speed and within hours the young seedling may have established itself firmly enough to resist the swill of the returning tide…If the tide happens to be in when the seedling falls, then instead of rooting immediately, it travels. That may be riskier, for it may be swept out to sea and lost altogether. But potentially it is more beneficial for the species as a whole, for the youngster is taken away from its natal swamp where it would be competing with its parent and ferried to territory that may not yet have been colonised by mangroves. At first, it hangs vertically in the brackish water. But if it is carried beyond the estuary then the water becomes saltier and more buoyant so that the seedling begins to float horizontally. That may save its life. If the tender terminal bud, from which leaves will spring in due course, were exposed, unshaded in the tropical sun, it could easily over-heat, even scorch. Floating horizontally, however, it is continually lapped by water and kept cool. The flank of the long root benefits from being exposed along its length for it is green with chlorophyll and is able to photosynthesize. The food it manufactures keeps the whole root alive and growing and it can survive floating at sea for months. If eventually the capricious tides do carry it to another brackish estuary, then the buoyancy of the water is reduced and the young mangrove once again hangs vertically, ready to catch on the bottom of shallows which might be a suitable place to grow.”"}, {"Source": "frog skin", "Application": "alternative antifungal drugs", "Function1": "stop fungi growth", "Function2": "inhibit fungal infections", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/bacteria-on-frog-skin-releases-anti-fungal-compounds/", "Strategy": "Bacteria on Frog Skin Releases\nAnti‑fungal Compounds\n\nLipoproteins released by bacteria on frog skin protects frogs from fungal disease.\n\n\nFrogs live in humid environments such as tropical forests. Because of the high humidity, there is a lot of water in the air, and this helps fungi to grow more easily. Fungi can infect frogs and cause infections, similar to how humans can get fungal infections such as ‘Athlete’s Foot’. Some frog species are on the decline or have become extinct as a result of fungal infections. However, certain frog species have developed a defense against these fungi. Bacteria living on the skin of frogs of the Anuran family in Panama release compounds that protect the frogs from fungi. One specific compound, viscosin, can stop fungi growth.\n\nViscosin belongs to a class of compounds called lipopeptides. Lipopeptides are compounds made by different types of bacteria that can kill other bacteria by creating holes in their cell membrane. The cell membrane protects the cell from the outside environment and only allows certain molecules to pass through. For example, the flow of potassium ions into and out of the cell is maintained by the membrane and must be very tightly controlled. If a hole is created in the membrane, the cell can lose or gain more of an ion from the environment, causing an imbalance. As a result, the cells will die.\n\nScientists have recently shown that viscosin can also inhibit fungal infections. A major difference between bacteria and fungi is their cell wall. Gram-negative bacteria are a type of bacteria that make up the majority of infections. They have an outer membrane and an inner membrane. In contrast, a fungus cell has an outer wall made up of sugar proteins and chitin, and an inner membrane. Chitin is a strong material that protects the fungi cells and is much stronger compared to the bacterial membrane. Scientists think that viscosin works by breaking down chitin to disrupt fungus cell function, similar to bacteria. This has not been studied before and may lead to a new understanding of how different compounds kill fungi cells.\n\nResearchers have been working to discover new antifungal medicine because certain types of fungi cannot be killed using current medicines. The discovery of new compounds, such as viscosin, can help us in our fight against fungal diseases."}, {"Source": "wetland", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "have long-lived seeds", "Function2": "long-term persistence", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/native-plants-persist-in-changing-conditions/", "Strategy": "Native Plants Persist in Changing Conditions\n\nSome native plant species in wetlands have long-term persistence despite fluctuating water levels because they have long-lived seeds deposited in the soil seed bank.\n\n“In wetlands subject to large water-level fluctuations, most of the species in these wetlands have long-lived seed that can persist in their seed banks for decades. When these wetlands go dry, all of the emergent species become re-established simultaneously (van der Valk and Davis 1978). The long-term persistence of clonal emergent species in wetlands with fluctuating water levels is due to the presence of their seeds in seed banks of these wetlands.”"}, {"Source": "marigold flower", "Application": "insecticides", "Function1": "emit limonene", "Function2": "repel whiteflies", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/limonene-from-marigolds-repels-whiteflies/", "Strategy": "Limonene From Marigolds Repels Whiteflies\n\nMarigold flowers emit limonene, which protects tomatoes by repelling whiteflies.\n\n\n\"Monoculture, the practice of planting only one crop, is commonly used in the agriculture industry. In monocultures, there is no biodiversity. This is an issue because a monoculture crop provides an abundant supply of food to a pest that favors it, and the pest can easily reproduce and travel between plants. In order to suppress pests, agriculturalists often use pesticides that damage the environment. Man-made pesticides are typically chemicals that kill other plants or pests along with beneficial organisms, such as bees and soil microbes.\n\nHealthy ecosystems usually have a large variety of species. An area that consists of many plant, animal, and microbe species is an area with high biodiversity. Species living in that area can provide important services to each other. Pest control is an example of a service a plant can provide to another plant. In agriculture, companion planting, or planting at least two crops in the same field, can be used as a way to help control pests.\n\nAn example of companion planting is planting  tomatoes with marigolds. In a field where only tomatoes are grown, whiteflies are a common pest that can destroy the crop. Long ago farmers solved this problem by planting marigolds next to tomato plants. They believed that doing so protected the tomato plants from whiteflies. Recently, scientists confirmed that whitefly populations were smaller when tomatoes were planted with marigold flowers. They’ve identified that limonene, a chemical substance found in marigolds, is the substance that repels whiteflies. Limonene belongs to a group of chemical substances called volatile plant compounds (VPCs). VPCs are emitted by plants to send signals to other plants or to attract or repel insects. An insect’s antennae or other sensory organs detect the VPCs, just as a human nose detects many chemical compounds. VPCs can be isolated from a plant. The isolated substances can then be sprayed or emitted to repel pests. However, in the case of tomatoes, planting marigolds directly can provide more benefits than using the isolated limonene VPC. It also increases biodiversity and provides nectar for bees.\n\nIn nature, distinct VPCs are emitted by different plants. Together, these plants can repel different insect species and provide a safe method for pest control. This suggests that a careful mix of plantings could repel all sorts of pests. Scientists have much more to learn from natural systems regarding methods of pest control. Those lessons should guide scientists towards effective and safe pest control and could reduce or eliminate the need for man-made pesticides.\""}, {"Source": "e. coli", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "maintain stable relationship", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/circular-competition-benefits-community/", "Strategy": "Circular Competition Benefits Community\n\nCircular competition among three strains of E. coli helps maintain a stable community.\n\n\nIntroduction \n\nIn nature, competition usually means dominant species exclude others. If species are to keep from wiping each other out, they need to have something that helps to equalize them. One option is to specialize in a particular resource, such as a type of food, that their competition doesn’t eat. Another way is to have a relationship where each organism can restrict the other in some way to ensure that no one organism takes over. This is known as a rock-paper-scissors relationship.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nIn the children’s game of rock-paper-scissors, rock smashes scissors, scissors cut paper, and paper covers rock. There can always be different winners and losers, but no one person can win outright every time. Scientists have found species in nature that also compete this way, including some lizards and plants. One example involves three strains of the bacteria E. coli that scientists have nicknamed C, S, and R (see illustration).\n\nEach has its own strengths but also its own weaknesses. C (rock) produces a toxin (called colicin, hence the nickname C) that can kill S (scissors). However, producing that toxin slows the growth of C. R (paper) is resistant to the toxin and grows faster than C, taking over its area. S (scissors) can outgrow R but is sensitive to the toxin.\nThese strains can exist together as long as they live in patches where there is space to grow uninhibited by the others. If R grows into C’s patch, some of C might die out but C in turn can expand into S’s patch, while S can grow into R’s patch, etc.\n\nThe Potential \n\nThere are many ways in nature to cooperate rather than compete. Learning from the rock-paper-scissors strategy, we might want to try maintaining stable relationships with others who we usually think of as competitors. By using a ‘give-and-take’ strategy and not over-using resources, everyone in the relationship  can prosper."}, {"Source": "horsetail plant's elater", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "spore dispersal", "Function2": "change in humidity", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/spring-directs-spore-dispersal-in-low-humidity/", "Strategy": "Spring Directs Spore Dispersal in Low Humidity\n\nThe elaters of horsetail plants aid spore dispersal by coiling and uncoiling in response to humidity.\n\n“Besides their distinctive stems and leaves, horsetails and calamites bear spores in cones produced at the tips of the stems or branches. Each cone is composed of many tightly fitting, polygonal scales attached to a central axis (Figure 66). On the inner surface of the scale are several oblong yellowish sporangia filled with green, photosynthetic spores. When the spores are ripe, the central axis of the cone elongates, separating the scales and exposing the sporangia to the air. Upon drying, the sporangia split lengthwise and release the spores, allowing them to be carried away by air currents. The spores are helped on their journey by four strap-like structures called elaters that catch the wind. The elaters coil and uncoil in response to changes in humidity. When the air is dry they extend outward and create wind resistance so that the spores float (Figure 67). When the air is humid the elaters coil around the spore so that buoyancy decreases and the spore drops–with luck onto moist soil where it can germinate. Elaters occur only in horsetails and calamites and are evidence of the close relationship between these plants.”"}, {"Source": "ant-plant and antlodger", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "provide nutrients", "Function2": "provide protection", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/relationship-provides-nutrients-protection/", "Strategy": "Relationship Provides Nutrients, Protection\n\nAnt-plants and their ant lodgers gain nutrients and protection thanks to their mutualistic relationship.\n\n“One group of plants, the ant-plants, provide even more lavish accomodation for their ant-lodgers. They are epiphytes, and are very common growing on the branches of mangroves. In such a position, without roots in the ground, they are in particular need of mineral nutrients. Their guests provide it. The ant-plant’s stem is swollen into a globe the size of a football and armoured on the outside by prickles. Ants swarm all over it, scurrying in and out of holes on the surface. Within, there are a number of large interconnected chambers. Some are the ants’ living quarters. There the queen sits, steadily producing her eggs, and there too are the nurseries where the young larvae are kept and reared. These apartments have smooth light-coloured walls. But other chambers are different. These have darker walls which are covered with small warty outgrowths. Here the ants deposit the remains of their insect meals and their droppings. Both are rich in phosphates and nitrates, exactly the nutrients that the plant badly needs since, hanging on the branches of a mangrove tree in a brackish swamp, it is cut off from the soil. It absorbs them through the walls of these compartments and so is able to flourish in one of the most difficult and impoverished of habitats for a plant. But it can only do so because its insect lodgers pay rent by feeding it.”"}, {"Source": "fine-leaf fescue", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "release growth-inhibiting chemicals", "Function2": "mimic nutrients", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/compounds-control-weeds/", "Strategy": "Compounds Control 'weeds'\n\nRoots of fine-leaf fescue help them outcompete other plants because they release growth-inhibiting chemicals that mimic nutrients.\n\n\nFescue species release a \"fake\" amino acid into the surrounding soil. Weeds take it up thinking it is a nutrient when it is really empty (i.e., it’s a mimic), and thus the fescue can outcompete the weeds and reduce germination of weed seeds."}, {"Source": "stratus cloud", "Application": "carbon cycle", "Function1": "increase microbial activity", "Function2": "improve carbon cycling", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/fog-drip-aides-carbon-cycling/", "Strategy": "Fog Drip Aides Carbon Cycling\n\nBelow-ground microbial communities increase carbon cycling due to fog drip and reduced evaporation caused by low-lying clouds.\n\nStratus cloud cover has numerous effects and benefits on soil, one of which is an increase in microbial activity. Stratus clouds are low to the ground, and so have more effect of ecosystems. Microbial communities are incredibly responsive to the fog drip and water pulses generated by increased stratus clouds, and their increased activity provides more carbon cycling for ecosystem productivity. These results are particularly notable during the summer when the ecosystem is under water stress."}, {"Source": "uropygial gland", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "secrete antiseptics", "Function2": "slow the pace of keratin degradation", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/compounds-from-symbiotic-bacteria-kill-pathogens/", "Strategy": "Compounds From Symbiotic\nBacteria Kill Pathogens\n\nThe uropygial glands of hoopoe birds contain a symbiotic bacteria that secrete antiseptics targeted at feather-eating bacteria.\n\n\nBacteria that consume the keratin of bird feathers are obvious enemies of birds. Without their plumage, they could not fly and would not be able to regulate their internal temperatures. The hoopoe bird prevents growth of these keratin-consuming bacteria by cultivating populations of symbiotic bacteria within special glands accessed during preening. These bacterial allies secrete antiseptics called bacteriocins that can kill the keratin-consuming bacteria. However, it appears that the birds apply enough of the antiseptic to slow the pace of keratin degradation rather than totally wiping out the bacterial parasites perhaps in an effort to ward off an aquired resistance."}, {"Source": "arctic ground squirrel's tissues", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "increase lean body mass", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/tissues-avoid-damage-from-steroids/", "Strategy": "Tissues Avoid Damage From Steroids\n\nTissues of Arctic ground squirrels are protected from damage by suppressing androgen receptors except in muscles.\n\nWhen Arctic ground squirrels are getting ready to hibernate they not only add fat, they also build up muscle. They do it without suffering the harmful effects that high levels of testosterone and other anabolic steroids usually cause.\n\nArctic ground squirrels increase their anabolic steroid levels and keep them high not just during the spring mating season, but during the summer and fall. These high levels of androgens help both males and females to increase lean body mass (i.e., muscle) by about 25 percent in the months leading up to winter hibernation – mass which is then consumed as they hibernate. To avoid the damaging effects of these high levels, they seem to suppress androgen receptors in all tissues except muscle."}, {"Source": "macrophage", "Application": "designing response guidelines", "Function1": "attack infection", "Function2": "coordinated attack on infection", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/mixed-species-bird-flocks-optimize-benefits/", "Strategy": "Immune System Scales Defense Response\n\nSimple rules allow mixed-species bird flocks to find food and minimize predation\n\n\n\"If a house is burning, firemen will try to put the fire out with water. Even though the water itself can damage a house, it’s likely less damaging than the fire. A similar logic pertains to our immune system. Our immune system protects us through physical and chemical means, but in the process, it can also damage our own tissues by attacking our own cells. How does our immune system apply enough defense to take care of an injury or infection, but not so much that it might hurt or even kill us in the process?\n\nWhen we get injured, our body can become infected with foreign microbes. For example, if you fall on the ground after scraping your knee, microbes can enter your body through the open wound. This is why it’s important to keep wounds clean. If an area becomes infected, the tissue around it swells and certain cells called macrophages rush to the scene to attack the infection.\n\nMacrophages can attack an infection in different ways. For example, some attack with full strength while some attack less intensely. How a macrophage responds depends on several things. First, individual macrophages communicate with one another to determine how many of them are at an infected site. The more macrophages there are, the more they attack at full strength. Also, if the macrophages have fought the microbe before, a higher number of them will attack at full strength. There are always other macrophages nearby that are ready to attack in case the infection suddenly becomes stronger. However, if the wound is small or there are fewer microbes, the macrophages will respond less intensely.\n\nThis coordinated attack on infections by macrophages helps to make sure our immune systems don’t over-react, and that the right number of immune cells are working as hard as they need to in any given situation. The dynamic way our immune cells react to threats can give people ideas for designing response guidelines for all sorts of potentially threatening situations, such as how to evacuate buildings in the case of fire or earthquake.\""}, {"Source": "plant and lichen", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "limit dispersion", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/communities-prevent-asbestos-dispersion/", "Strategy": "Communities Prevent Asbestos Dispersion\n\nCommunities of plants and lichens limit dispersion of asbestos mine fibers by spontaneous colonization due to xerophytism, metal tolerance, and pioneerism.\n\n“Plant and lichen phytosociological studies describe the different dynamic stages of colonization. This approach has been applied to the Balangero asbestos mine, the most important of Western Europe up to 1990, which is a potential source for the air-dispersion of carcinogenic fibres. Vegetation relevés and maps have shown that plants and lichens develop spontaneously on the asbestos-rich substrates. Early colonization stages with low-covering hyperaccumulators, such as Thlaspi sylvium and Minuartia laricifolia, and with Thymus alpestris and T. cfr. humifusus, are followed, some decades later, by mature plant communities, which completely cover the asbestos-rich debris, thereby limiting the dispersion of fibres. Lichen colonization, even when limited to low covering early stages with pioneer crustose species, such as Scoliciosporum umbrinum and Candelariella vitellina, and young foliose thalli of Xanthoparmelia tinctina, is important whenever asbestos veins are exposed on serpentinite blocks and walls. Plants and lichens can be considered as bioattenuation (spontaneous bioremediation) agents in ecological recovery.”"}, {"Source": "plant community", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "maintain genetic diversity", "Function2": "enhance species diversity", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/maintaining-genetic-and-species-diversity/", "Strategy": "Maintaining Genetic and Species Diversity\n\nIn some plant communities, genetic variation among individual plants may depend on the diversity of competitor species, and the conservation of species diversity may also depend on genetic diversity among individuals.\n\n“The forces that maintain genetic diversity among individuals and diversity among species are usually studied separately. Nevertheless, diversity at one of these levels may depend on the diversity at the other. We have combined observations of natural populations, quantitative genetics, and field experiments to show that genetic variation in the concentration of an allelopathic secondary compound in Brassica nigra is necessary for the coexistence of B. nigra and its competitor species. In addition, the diversity of competing species was required for the maintenance of genetic variation in the trait within B. nigra. Thus, conservation of species diversity may also necessitate maintenance of the processes that sustain the genetic diversity of each individual species.”"}, {"Source": "organic coffee farm", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "buffering coffee production system", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/pests-kept-in-check/", "Strategy": "Pests Kept in Check\n\nPests on organic coffee farms are kept in check through a complex web of direct and indirect interactions.\n\n“A 10-year study of an organic coffee farm in Mexico suggests that,\nfar from being romanticized hooey, the ‘balance and harmony’ view is on\nthe mark. Ecologists John Vandermeer and Ivette Perfecto of the\nUniversity of Michigan and Stacy Philpott of the University of Toledo\nhave uncovered a web of intricate interactions that buffers the farm\nagainst extreme outbreaks of pests and diseases, making magic bullets\nunnecessary.…\n\n“The major players in the system—several ant species, a handful of\ncoffee pests, and the predators, parasites and diseases that affect the\npests—not only interact directly, but some species also exert subtle,\nindirect effects on others, effects that might have gone unnoticed if\nthe system had not been studied in detail.…\n\n“‘Our view is that interaction webs of this sort will prove common in\nagro-ecosystems in general,’ said Perfecto, professor of ecology and\nnatural resources. ‘Although widely appreciated in natural systems, such\nwebs haven’t been seen in agro-ecosystems because the people studying\nthem haven’t looked at them in this way. They’re looking for\nmagic-bullet solutions; they want to find the thing that causes the\nproblem and then fix it. Our approach is to understand systems that are\nworking well, where there are no problems. By doing that, we can define\nsystems that are more resilient and resistant to pest outbreaks.'” \n\n“This system involves at least 13 components (insects and fungi), six ecological processes (competition, predation, parasitism, hyperparasitism, disease, mutualism), many subtle yet important nonlinearities, and a key role for spatial dynamics. We conclude that the ecological network effectively generates the ecosystem service of buffering coffee production systems against extreme outbreaks of pests and diseases. The complete operation of this system is neither obvious nor straightforward, but rather involves several complicated, dynamic connections that lead to sometimes-surprising system behavior. Nevertheless, the system seems to act in a way that promotes the regulation of several key potential pests in an autonomous, or endogenous, fashion.” "}, {"Source": "nematodes", "Application": "soil fertilization", "Function1": "increase nitrogen availability", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/feeding-behavior-increases-nitrogen-availability/", "Strategy": "Feeding Behavior Increases\nNitrogen Availability\n\nThe feeding behavior of nematodes increases nitrogen availability to plants because they prey on nitrogen-hoarding bacteria and excrete excess nitrogen in a form plants can use.\n\n“What good are nematodes? Thanks to microcosm studies [small-scale replicas of ecosystems with only certain types of organisms added to sterilized soil], scientists now know that these tiny grazers may be responsible for 30 percent or more of the nitrogen released to plants, useful work that has traditionally been attributed solely to the labors of bacteria and fungi. Russell Ingham and others then in the lab of David Coleman at Colorado State University found that bacteria thrived in larger numbers when they were placed in a microcosm of grassland soils with their nematode predator. Blue grama grass grew faster, too, and initially took up more nitrogen when the nematodes were at work below. It turns out that bacterial cells contain more nitrogen than nematodes can use, so the feasting nematodes excrete a lot of it as ammonium wastes. Both the surviving bacteria and the plants clearly benefit from this extra nitrogen source. Similar results have been found in other soil types, from those of the forests of Sweden to those nourishing winter wheat fields in The Netherlands. For instance, wheat grown where both bacteria and bacteria-grazing protozoa were active grew significantly better than in soils only bacteria present. Of course, in the real world, the action never involves just two interacting types of soil creatures, but rather a whole web of predators and prey.”"}, {"Source": "leaf miner moth larva", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "manipulate plant physiology", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/moth-larvae-manipulate-host-plant-physiology/", "Strategy": "Moth Larvae Manipulate Host Plant Physiology\n\nLarvae of leaf-miner moths keep patches of wilting host leaves alive to ensure successful development with the help of bacterial endosymbionts.\n\n“The life cycles of many organisms are constrained by the seasonality of\nresources. This is particularly true for leaf-mining\nherbivorous insects that use deciduous leaves to\nfuel growth and reproduction even beyond leaf fall. Our results suggest\nthat\nan intimate association with bacterial\nendosymbionts might be their way of coping with nutritional constraints\nto ensure successful\ndevelopment in an otherwise senescent environment.\nWe show that the phytophagous leaf-mining moth Phyllonorycter blancardella (Lepidoptera) relies on bacterial endosymbionts, most likely Wolbachia,\nto manipulate the physiology of its host plant resulting in the ‘green-island’ phenotype—photosynthetically active green\npatches in otherwise senescent leaves—and to\nincrease its fitness. Curing leaf-miners of their symbiotic partner\nresulted\nin the absence of green-island formation on leaves,\nincreased compensatory larval feeding and higher insect mortality. Our\nresults suggest that bacteria impact green-island\ninduction through manipulation of cytokinin levels. This is the first\ntime,\nto our knowledge, that insect bacterial\nendosymbionts have been associated with plant physiology.”"}, {"Source": "burrow", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "stabilize loose sand", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/stabilizing-loose-sand/", "Strategy": "Stabilizing Loose Sand\n\nSome spiders stabilize loose sand in their burrows using silk.\n\n\n“The burrowing spiders have long spinnerets with very long spigots (observed for heteropodids, Seothyra, Hermacha and Asemesthes; Peters, 1992a; pers. obs.) that the spiders use to bind the burrow walls. For instance, Leucorchestris stabilizes its burrow wall with a ring of silken nodules that is made by pushing the very long spigots far into the sand to interweave the sand grains (Peters, 1992a). The silken nodules project 2–3 mm into the sand beyond the burrow wall, corresponding to about 10% of the spider’s body length. A progression of nodule rings runs along the length of the burrow wall (Henschel, 1990b). This pattern appears to be similar in the burrow-walls of several other spiders (huntsmen, Seothyra, Ariadna), judging by the succession of rings along the burrow. The burrow walls, although not rigid, stabilize the burrows to such an extent that they are functional even in the loose sand of the slipface (Carparachne), although the micro-mechanics are not understood. The investment in silk by individual spiders appears to be very high, but this has only been examined for Seothyra, which requires 6% of its body mass on the first night of burrow construction (Henschel & Lubin, 1992) and probably at least twice as much until the web is functional. The burrows do not deteriorate in undisturbed sand, but there is no evidence of reuse. I have found three fossilized burrows with walls that resemble those of Leucorchestris in Tsondab sandstone, which were formed between 55 and 5 Myr ago (Ward et al., 1983).”"}, {"Source": "macrophage", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "attack infection", "Function2": "respond to threats", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/macaques-use-simple-voting-process-to-stay-together/", "Strategy": "Immune System Scales Defense Response\n\nMacaques use simple, clear, inclusive voting process to stay together as a group\n\n\nIf a house is burning, firemen will try to put the fire out with water. Even though the water itself can damage a house, it’s likely less damaging than the fire. A similar logic pertains to our immune system. Our immune system protects us through physical and chemical means, but in the process, it can also damage our own tissues by attacking our own cells. How does our immune system apply enough defense to take care of an injury or infection, but not so much that it might hurt or even kill us in the process?\n\nWhen we get injured, our body can become infected with foreign microbes. For example, if you fall on the ground after scraping your knee, microbes can enter your body through the open wound. This is why it’s important to keep wounds clean. If an area becomes infected, the tissue around it swells and certain cells called macrophages rush to the scene to attack the infection.\n\nMacrophages can attack an infection in different ways. For example, some attack with full strength while some attack less intensely. How a macrophage responds depends on several things. First, individual macrophages communicate with one another to determine how many of them are at an infected site. The more macrophages there are, the more they attack at full strength. Also, if the macrophages have fought the microbe before, a higher number of them will attack at full strength. There are always other macrophages nearby that are ready to attack in case the infection suddenly becomes stronger. However, if the wound is small or there are fewer microbes, the macrophages will respond less intensely.\n\nThis coordinated attack on infections by macrophages helps to make sure our immune systems don’t over-react, and that the right number of immune cells are working as hard as they need to in any given situation. The dynamic way our immune cells react to threats can give people ideas for designing response guidelines for all sorts of potentially threatening situations, such as how to evacuate buildings in the case of fire or earthquake."}, {"Source": "magicicada cicada's body", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "provide nutrients", "Function2": "increase microbe biomass", "Function3": "increase nitrogen availability", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/insects-cycle-nutrients/", "Strategy": "Insects Cycle Nutrients\n\nBodies of Magicicada cicadas provide mass pulses of nutrients that encourage growth of the forest trees they feed on thanks to their periodical lifecycle.\n\nIntroduction \n\n“Forest trees in the eastern USA grow quicker in years after large numbers of cicadas have emerged. Cicadas spend most of their lives underground, where they consume tree root juices, depriving leaves of valuable nutrients. Some periodical species then emerge en masse every 13 or 17 years and feast on tender tree branches before laying their eggs and dying. Now Louie Yang at the University of California at Davis has established that, in dying en masse in this way, the insects provide a deluge of compost that fertilises forest soils and helps trees grow faster.”\n\nThe Strategy\n\n“Yang applied various densities of dead cicadas to 1-metre-square forest plots. After a month, plots laden with a typical 240 cicadas contained more microbes, three times the concentration of available ammonium and 2.5 times the concentration of nitrates compared with untreated plots.” (Courtesy of the Biomimicry Guild)\n\n“Resource pulses are occasional events of ephemeral resource superabundance that occur in many ecosystems. Aboveground consumers in diverse communities often respond strongly to resource pulses, but few studies have investigated the belowground consequences of resource pulses in natural ecosystems. This study shows that resource pulses of 17-year periodical cicadas (Magicicada spp.) directly increase microbial biomass and nitrogen availability in forest soils, with indirect effects on growth and reproduction in forest plants. These findings suggest that pulses of periodical cicadas create ‘bottomup cascades,’ resulting in strong and reciprocal links between the aboveground and belowground components of a North American forest ecosystem.”"}, {"Source": "fish's fins", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "send warning signal", "Function2": "synchronize movement", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/fins-used-to-communicate/", "Strategy": "Fins Used to Communicate\n\nFins of some fish send a warning signal to fellow fish or synchronize movements by vibrating.\n\n“Some fishes use their sense of distant touch not just to navigate but also to communicate, vibrating their fins in specific ways to warn others of their species of danger. The male of the Siamese fighting fish (Betta splendens), which cares for the young, alerts its offspring to danger by vibrating its long, flowing fins. Other fishes use their powers of distant touch to synchronize their movements when swimming together in schools.”"}, {"Source": "rock ant colony", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "make nest", "Function2": "find better nest site", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/rock-ant-colonies-calculate-the-quality-of-nest-sites/", "Strategy": "Rock Ant Colonies Calculate\nthe Quality of Nest Sites\n\nRock ant colonies find better nests by calculating how much better a new site is on average compared to the old site. \n\n\nRock ants live throughout Europe and make nests for shelter in the various cracks that form in rocks. Individual scouts from a colony roam throughout an area near the nest in order to identify other potential nest sites that might be better than the existing one. If a better nest site is found, the entire colony will move to it. Rock ants determine if a potential nest site is superior based on how many scouts gather at the new potential site. If the number of scouts reaches a certain threshold, they will return to the colony and start moving  to the new site.\n\nWhat determines whether a new site is better than the old one? Ants will look for a number of features, but they usually prefer nest sites that are darker because it offers more protection from harmful weather.  If a new site is darker than the old one, it is relatively easy for ants to decide to make the switch. But what happens when the choice is less obvious? For example, a new site that’s under a tree might be completely dark for 75% of the time on a windy day, and light only 25% of the time. If the old nest site is only moderately dark 100% of the time, how do the ants decide whether to switch sites or not?\n\nThe question is similar to deciding where to go to dinner based on how many people are in two different restaurants. It makes sense to go to the fuller restaurant. But what if you know that one restaurant serves consistently mediocre food, while the other varies in quality between better-than-mediocre and worse? How does one decide then?\n\nRock ants are able to navigate this difficult situation by determining the average quality of a new nest site. If a new nest site is of good quality 75% of the time and poor 25% of the time, they will transfer from an old nest site that is consistently (100%) of mediocre quality. However, if a new nest site is of poor quality 75% of the time and good only 25% of the time, they won’t move. Rock ants are able to calculate the average quality of a variable nest site because more scouts eventually spend more time in nest sites that are of higher quality. Thus, the probability of enough scouts gathering in higher quality sites is greater than in lower quality sites (where scouts leave after shorter periods of time)."}, {"Source": "mountain hemlock forest", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "weed out less fit or vigorous individuals", "Function2": "recycle essential nutrients", "Function3": "influence the mix of species", "Function4": "influence the direction and pace of successional change", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/fungal-root-rot-renews-forest/", "Strategy": "Fungal Root‑Rot Renews Forest\n\nFungal root-rot renews mountain hemlock forests by causing nitrogen release.\n\n“Disease outbreaks are certainly part of the natural cycle. Occurring periodically in virtually all populations, they can weed out less fit or vigorous individuals, recycle essential nutrients, influence the mix of species and the direction and pace of successional change in a community. A case in point is the fungal root-rot dieback that sweeps through stands of mature mountain hemlock every 90 to 150 years in the conifer forests of the U.S. Pacific Northwest. The outbreak starts from one or a few infected trees and moves out in a radial pattern as the fungal mycelia spread underground from the roots of one tree to another. Pamela Matson of the University of California, Berkeley, and Richard Boone, then of Oregon State University, found that after the disease front has moved through a stand, nitrogen release in the soil doubles. The standing dead trees often give way to fire and then to young hemlock seedlings that grow in the fire-swept clearings, where the extra sunlight and nitrogen help them withstand the effects of the fungus. The young hemlocks are subsequently joined by resistant lodgepole pines and an array of other species, depending on the soil moisture, creating a vigorous and often more species-rich patch of young forest.”"}, {"Source": "transvaal savanna", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "tap different parts of the soil for water", "Function2": "coexist by using water effectively", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/tree-and-grass-savanna-maintains-equilibrium/", "Strategy": "Tree and Grass Savanna Maintains Equilibrium\n\nGrasses and trees in the Transvaal savanna coexist by tapping different parts of the soil for water.\n\n“In the Transvaal of Africa, the tree and grass savanna maintains itself in equilibrium. “Why is such coexistence possible here but not in the Jornada? [see entry about black grama grass in Chihuahan Desert]. Researchers think that because rainfall on the savannas varies greatly from year to year, changing the relative proportions of water in each soil level, neither trees nor grasses have a constant advantage that would allow one to completely eliminate the other. Only when both are in the system does the full water resource get used effectively for plant growth, since grasses cannot reach much of the water freed up by removal of shrubs and vice versa.”"}, {"Source": "olive baboon troop", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "make distributed decision-making", "Function2": "make compromise", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/baboons-stay-together-by-making-compromises-as-a-group/", "Strategy": "Baboons Stay Together by\nMaking Compromises As a Group\n\nBaboons stay together through distributed decision-making and compromise\n\n\nOlive baboon troops travel together in large groups as they forage for food, and they tend to follow one another as they move across the land. The troops consist of dominant males and females that make many of the troop’s decisions. Sometimes one baboon will be interested in fruit in one area, while another baboon may be interested in eating some leaves in another area. Because they must always stay together, how do baboons decide as a group which baboon to follow? Interestingly, these dominant individuals don’t determine the direction the troop forages in. Instead, the troop’s direction is shaped moment to moment by a set of simple rules.\n\nIf two leading baboons are heading in different directions, a follower baboon has to make a choice. Does it follow one of the leaders, or go in its own direction? It turns out that it depends on how far apart the two leading baboons are. Imagine there is an angle created between the two leading baboons and the follower. The leading baboons are the two points at the ends of the lines that make up the angle, and the follower is the vertex, or point where the two lines intersect. If the angle created between the three baboons is greater than 90 degrees, the follower baboon follows one of the leaders. If the angle is less than 90 degrees, the follower baboon moves in between the two baboons so that it splits the difference between them.\n\nHence, the movement of baboons through their environment is a continuous compromise. The group may not go where any one individual would choose, but each individual can shape, and be shaped by, the group’s direction. Most importantly, this system of internalized decision-making rules keeps the group’s many individuals together."}, {"Source": "heather moorland", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "maintain microbial biodiversity", "Function2": "maintain nutrient cycling", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/microbial-biodiversity-maintained/", "Strategy": "Microbial Biodiversity Maintained\n\nThe soil microbial community of heather moorlands is kept in balance by above-ground ecosystem engineers.\n\n“Ecosystem engineering by a single species can have a cascading effect on many ecosystem processes. While the impact of above-ground ecological engineers on soil chemical properties has been studied, few studies have assessed their impact on the soil microbial community, which is largely responsible for many ecosystem functions.” \n\n“Utilizing a long-term experiment where birch was planted on heather moorland 20 years ago, the engineering impact of a single tree species (Betula pubescens) on the soil microbial community was assessed…Changes in the soil microbial community were then related to soil chemical and physical variables and tree performance variables.” \n\n“Under birch, total microbial biomass (total PLFA–[phospholipid fatty acid profiling]) declined, species richness increased and the ratio of fungal : bacterial PLFA declined. The fungal PLFA marker increased with increasing organic matter and depth of the LFH and O soil horizons, characteristics associated with moorland soils. Bacterial PLFAs increased with increasing birch canopy cover. The fungal community of the birch plots was different from that in the heather plots and changes in the fungal community composition were related to the size of the birch trees in the plots.”\n \n“Changes in the soil microbial community were also related to changes in mineralizable N [nitrogen]. Mineralizable N was correlated with both decreasing total soil microbial biomass and decreasing fungal : bacterial ratio.” \n\n“The durability of the engineering effects of birch was studied in a second experiment. Plots were established in first-generation birch woodland that had developed on Calluna-dominated moorland. The plots were cleared of birch and planted with heather. After 20 years, there was no difference in the community composition of the PLFAs. In contrast, there were significant differences in the fungal community composition as judged by DGGE [denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis] analysis, with the fungal community in the felled birch plots being similar to the heather moorland.” \n\n“This work demonstrates that addition of a single tree species to heather moorland results in changes in below-ground soil microbial communities and in nutrient cycling.”"}, {"Source": "cicadas", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "sense cyclical cues", "Function2": "time their emergence", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/periodic-emergence-synchronized/", "Strategy": "Periodic Emergence Synchronized\n\nThe emergence of cicadas may be triggered by their sensing of cyclical cues from nearby tree roots.\n\n“Three species of cicada (genus Magicicada) with remarkable rhythms live in the United States. In the south, nymphs spend 13 years underground before emerging within a few days of each other and transforming into adults. In the north, the nymph stage lasts 17 years…However, recent studies suggest that the cicadas may use cues from nearby tree roots (such as sap quality, which varies cyclically) to time their emergence.”"}, {"Source": "lake ecosystem", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "keep algae-eating zooplankton in check", "Function2": "keep the standing stocks of algae lower", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/predatory-fish-maintain-ecosystem-functions/", "Strategy": "Predatory Fish Maintain Ecosystem Functions\n\nPredatory fish maintain lake ecosystems by keeping trophic cascade levels in equilibrium.\n\n“More than a decade ago, Steve Carpenter of the University of Wisconsin and his colleagues proposed that the key could be found in the food webs of these lakes. Large populations of predatory fish, such as pike, bass, walleye, and muskellunge in a lake hold down numbers of smaller prey fish such as minnows, which in turn keep algae-eating zooplankton in check. Algal growth, finally, depends on nutrient supplies. When pike are abundant and minnow numbers are reduced, the researchers reasoned, zooplankton thrive and keep the standing stocks of algae lower than the maximum allowed by nutrient levels. The researchers proposed that a change in just one of these links in the food web–for instance, heavy fishing that reduces pike numbers–sends a ripple effect through the system that eventually affects the amount of algae in the lake. Carpenter and James Kitchell, also of Wisconsin, set up a test of this ripple effect, called a trophic cascade, in a series of lakes in Wisconsin. The most dramatic shift came in Tuesday lake, which had no bass but had abundant minnows. The researchers removed 90 percent of the minnows by weight and introduced stocks of largemouth bass from a nearby lake. The abrupt decline in minnows, which had kept the zooplankton numbers low, caused populations of these tiny grazers to expand dramatically and knock down the high densities of algae by 80 to 90 percent.”"}, {"Source": "diatom", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "engineer the environment", "Function2": "stabilize the environment", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/estuaries-rely-on-ecosystem-engineers/", "Strategy": "Estuaries Rely on Ecosystem Engineers\n\nEstuarine ecosystems rely on diatoms because they act as ecosystem engineers by binding sand to stabilize the environment.\n\n“Many organisms modulate the availability of resources to other species by causing state changes in biotic or abiotic materials (ecosystem engineering), in the process frequently changing the selection to which the ecosystem engineers and other organisms are exposed (niche construction)…In the Bay of Fundy, Canada, estuarine sediments are dominated by benthic diatoms that produce carbohydrate exudates. These secretions bind the sand and stabilize its movement, which causes a physical state change in the environment that allows other species to colonize the area (figure 1;Daborn et al. 1993, Jones et al. 1997). An amphipod (Corophium volutator) that grazes on the diatoms affects soil stability; where these amphipods are abundant, sand stabilization by diatoms is reduced. In turn, migratory sandpipers (Calidris pusilla) feed on the amphipods (figure 2). With the appearance of these birds, amphipod numbers decline, promoting restabilization of the habitat by diatoms. Jones and colleagues (1997) point out that the sandpiper might be seen as the keystone species in the system, since it meets keystone definitions, and variation in its abundance has great knock-on effects on the ecosystem. However, these effects transpire only because of the engineering activities of the diatoms, which are the key ecosystem engineers. Conservation efforts to counteract sediment erosion would be misguided if directed solely at the keystone predators.” "}, {"Source": "peatland", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "regulate water flow", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/habitat-regulates-water-flows/", "Strategy": "Habitat Regulates Water Flows\n\nPeatlands regulate water flows because they lack topographic relief and well-defined channels, and have shallow water tables.\n\n“Peatlands are of particular interest to water resource managers because they occur extensively in the headwater areas of many streams and rivers. Peatlands can have large impacts on the quantity and quality of the receiving waters (e.g. Brooks 1992; Verry 1997). The response of peatlands to large rainstorms is different from that of mineral soil uplands. The lack of topographic relief, the absence of well-defined channels, and the shallow water tables all combine to make peatlands behave hydrologically like unregulated, shallow reservoirs. Some peatlands act to regulate the flow of water in the landscape. Flow regulation would attenuate flow in wet conditions and release it in dry conditions. Some wetlands are good flood attenuators (mid-basin stream or riparian wetlands). Others, for example many bogs, are not.”"}, {"Source": "butterflies", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "increase population stability", "Function2": "provide a greater range of resources and microclimates", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/varied-landscapes-increase-population-stability/", "Strategy": "Varied Landscapes Increase Population Stability\n\nLandscapes with diverse topography and habitat types encourage population stability in butterflies, likely from greater availability of resources and microclimates.\n\n\n\"“Rugged, hilly landscapes with a range of different habitat types can\nhelp maintain more stable butterfly populations and thus aid their\nconservation…\n\n“The scientists…found that sites with a greater diversity of habitat\ntypes (e.g. woodland, grassland, heathland) and more varied terrain\ntended to have butterfly populations that were more stable over time.\n\n“The study’s lead author, Dr Tom Oliver from the Centre for Ecology &\nHydrology, said, ‘More stable insect populations are better for\nconservation because it means that, in years with extreme weather (e.g.\ndrought years), populations are less likely to go extinct…‘\n\n“Co-author Dr Jane Hill of the Department of Biology at the University of\nYork said, “Our findings show that more diverse landscapes may provide a\ngreater range of resources and microclimates, which can buffer insect\npopulations from declines in difficult years.'” "}, {"Source": "pathogenic bacteria in chronic wounds", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "produce cell-cell signaling molecules", "Function2": "mediate cell-cell communication", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/communication-molecules-coordinate-behavior/", "Strategy": "Communication Molecules Coordinate Behavior\n\nPathogenic bacteria in chronic wounds communicate using signaling molecules.\n\n“‘Bacteria, often viewed as simplistic creatures, are in fact very\nsociable units of life,’ said Alex Rickard, assistant professor of\nbiological sciences [at Binghamton University]. ‘They can physically and chemically interact with\none another and are quite selective about who they hang out with. How\nbacteria might communicate in chronic wounds, however, was somewhat of a\nmystery.’\n“Working with researchers and physicians at the Center for Biofilm\nEngineering at Montana State University and the Southwest Regional Wound\nCare Center in Lubbock, Texas, Rickard and a team of undergraduates\nwere able to identify specific types of chronic wound bacteria and to\ntest their ability to produce cell-cell signaling molecules.\n“…close to\n70 percent of…chronic wound strains produce a specific type of\ncommunication molecule – autoinducer-2 (AI-2). A smaller percentage –\naround 20 percent – produce a different type of communication molecule,\ncalled acyl-homoserine-lactones (AHLs). Scientists already know that\nstructurally different bacterial cell-cell signaling molecules are able\nto mediate cell-cell communication, including AI-2 and AHLs.\n“‘Based on our findings, we think that most resident species – the ‘good’ bacteria that live on us and don’t cause disease – produce AI-2,\nwhile the pathogenic species typically produce AHLs,’ said Katelynn\nManton, who was part of the undergraduate team and is now pursuing her\ndoctorate. ‘And it didn’t seem to matter what kind of chronic wound we\nlooked at – diabetic ulcers, vascular ulcers or environmentally induced\nchronic wounds. They all indicated a presence of possible AHLs or\nAI-2s.’…\n“According to Rickard and his team, the typically pathogenic bacteria\ncommunicate in one language; the ‘good’ bacteria in another. The big\nquestion now is whether any of them are bilingual and can listen in on\none another’s ‘conversations.’ Being able to interpret – or perhaps even\nguide – these cell-cell signals could influence wound development.” "}, {"Source": "tropical jungle", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "gain support", "Function2": "grow together", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/interwoven-trees-gain-structural-support/", "Strategy": "Interwoven Trees Gain Structural Support\n\nTrees gain support by growing together in an upward spiral.\n\n“In tropical jungles, with their great variety of species, we encounter a multitude of mechanical ideas for construction…We also find thin trunks joining into bundles, supporting each other and forming an upward winding spiral. Obviously, the plants compete for the light at the top by sophisticated technical means.”"}, {"Source": "urban stream", "Application": "design measures to intercept rainfall", "Function1": "maintain aquatic organisms", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/hydrological-regimes-maintain-organisms/", "Strategy": "Hydrological Regimes Maintain Organisms\n\nStreams maintain aquatic organisms by maintaining natural hydrological regimes.\n\n“Recent studies of urban impacts on streams in Melbourne, Australia, on water chemistry, algal biomass and assemblage composition of diatoms and invertebrates, suggested that the primary degrading process to streams in many urban areas is effective imperviousness (EI), the proportion of a catchment covered by impervious surfaces directly connected to the stream by stormwater drainage pipes. The direct connection of impervious surfaces to streams means that even small rainfall events can produce sufficient surface runoff to cause frequent disturbance through regular delivery of water and pollutants; where impervious surfaces are not directly connected to streams, small rainfall events are intercepted and infiltrated. We, therefore, identified use of alternative drainage methods, which maintain a near-natural frequency of surface runoff from the catchment, as the best approach to stream restoration in urban catchments and then used models of relationships between 14 ecological indicators and EI to determine restoration objectives. Ecological condition, as indicated by concentrations of water-quality variables, algal biomass, and several measures of diatom and macroinvertebrate assemblage composition, declined with increasing EI until a threshold was reached (EI 0.01–0.14), beyond which no further degradation was observed. We showed, in a sample catchment, that it is possible to redesign the drainage system to reduce EI to a level at which the models predict detectable improvement in most ecological indicators. Distributed, low-impact design measures are required that intercept rainfall from small events and then facilitate its infiltration, evaporation, transpiration, or storage for later in-house use.”"}, {"Source": "termite mound", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "increase diversity", "Function2": "create or alter resource flows", "Function3": "act as an ecosystem engineer", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/mounds-increase-diversity/", "Strategy": "Mounds Increase Diversity\n\nThe mounds created by some termites increase diversity in wetlands because they form 'islands,' supporting trees and other species during the wet season.\n\n“On the Okavango, the point of formation of many tree islands is a termite mound. Colonies of the mound-building termite (Macrotermes michaelseni) build subterranean nests during prolonged dry periods in seasonally flooded areas (Fig. 5.13). These nests are eventually crowned by a turret connected to the nest by a series of air passages. These turrets or mounds can be 4 m tall and have a basal area of 50 m2 (Dangerfield et al. 1998). Termite colonies redistribute resources by moving fine soil particles to their nests to build up the mound, thus changing the local topography and soil textural properties of the wetland. Termites also carry organic matter to their nests, thus redistributing nutrients locally. Because of their elevation above the floodplain, termite mounds can be colonized by tree species. During the wet season, the termite colonies may be killed. However, any trees on the mounds survive because they are growing above the mean water level. The presence of trees attracts birds and other animals that carry seeds and nutrients to the newly formed island (Fig. 5.13). Consequently, tree islands become biodiversity hotspots that are colonized or used by a variety of plant and animal species.”\n \n“Many organisms create or alter resource flows that affect the\ncomposition and spatial arrangement of current and future organismal\ndiversity. The phenomenon called ecosystem engineering is considered\nwith a case study of the mound building termite Macrotermes michaelseni.\nIt is argued that this species acts as an ecosystem engineer across a\nrange of spatial scales, from alteration of local infiltration rates to\nthe creation of landscape mosaics, and that its impacts accrue because\nof the initiation of biophysical processes that often include feedback\nmechanisms. These changes to resource flows are likely to persist for\nlong periods and constrain the biological structure of the habitat. The\nvalue of ecosystem engineering is discussed as a holistic way of\nunderstanding the complexity of tropical ecology.”"}, {"Source": "soil bacteria", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "suppress plant-killing pathogens", "Function2": "prevent infection", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/bacterial-consortium-suppresses-pathogens/", "Strategy": "Bacterial Consortium Suppresses Pathogens\n\nBacteria in soils work together to suppress plant-killing pathogens by involving a complex tight-knit consortia of soil microbes.\n\n“Disease-suppressive soils are exceptional ecosystems in which crop plants suffer less from specific soil-borne pathogens than expected owing to the activities of other soil microorganisms…Our data indicate that upon attack by a fungal root pathogen, plants can exploit microbial consortia from soil for protection against infections.”\n\n“[T]he relative abundance of several bacterial taxa is a more important indicator of disease suppression than the exclusive presence of specific bacterial taxa.” \n\n“[Our] findings suggest that the complex phenomenon of disease suppressiveness of soils cannot simply be ascribed to a single bacterial taxon or group, but is most likely governed by microbial consortia. The observation that bacterial strains, which lack activity against pathogens when tested alone, can act synergistically when part of microbial consortia (14) further exemplifies the complexity of adopting Koch’s postulates for identification of microorganisms involved in disease suppressiveness of soils.”"}, {"Source": "seaside arrowgrass", "Application": "nature-based approaches for managing landscapes", "Function1": "create elevated mounds", "Function2": "provide nutrients and shelter", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/arrograss-engineers-marsh-oases/", "Strategy": "Arrowgrass Engineers Marsh Oases\n\nArrowgrass roots create elevated mounds in salt marshes that provide fertile habitats for diverse plants.\n\nIntroduction\n\nCast your eyes across a flat expanse of marshland and you might notice it’s dotted with little isles of tall grasses swaying in the breeze. These isles are created by the plants that inhabit them: seaside arrowgrass.\n\nArrowgrass are “ecosystem engineers.” They build wide circular mounds of dirt that rise high above incoming tides. These elevated rings add dry, fertile ground to the watery environment and allow a diverse range of plants to grow in places where they otherwise could not.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nTo avoid getting waterlogged, arrowgrass grows a shallow system of roots that spread outward near or above the surface of the surrounding water. As the arrowgrass dies and decomposes, it builds up a pile of nutrient-rich matter atop the roots. The roots continue to spread out around the center, expanding the elevated rings. They can reach up to 2 feet (60 centimeters) high and 6 feet (2 meters) wide.\n\nThe elevated rings provide ground for airborne seeds to settle and also catch seeds that float by. The porous root structure below allows oxygen to get in, which enhances plant growth. It also drains out salty water that would drown and kill plants. The arrowgrass plots become tiny isles that provide nutrients and shelter for a variety of plants to flourish.\n\nThe Potential\n\nMost living things evolve abilities to adapt to their environments. But some, like arrowgrass and beavers, are “ecosystem engineers” that modify their environment to better suit their needs. This is known as “niche construction.”\n\nMore and more, scientists are keeping these ideas in mind as they look for ways to conserve endangered habitats and the organisms in them. They can protect essential ecosystem engineer species or devise strategies that mimic the essential functions that the species perform. As climate change threatens to raise global sea levels, arrowgrass-like strategies can help keep plants above water and stabilize salt marsh ecosystems. Theys can also inspire nature-based approaches for raising ground above water or flood levels, or otherwise managing landscapes in sustainable and eco-friendly ways."}, {"Source": "pharaoh ant's foraging route", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "guide fellow foragers away", "Function2": "repel foragers", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/marking-unrewarding-routes/", "Strategy": "Marking Unrewarding Routes\n\nForaging members of Pharaoh ant colonies guide fellow foragers away from unrewarding routes via a repellent pheromone.\n\n“Forager ants lay attractive trail pheromones to guide nestmates to food1, 2 but the effectiveness of foraging networks might be improved if pheromones could also be used to repel foragers from unrewarding routes3, 4. Here we present empirical evidence for such a negative trail pheromone, deployed by Pharaoh’s ants (Monomorium pharaonis) as a ‘no entry’ signal to mark an unrewarding foraging path. This finding constitutes another example of the sophisticated control mechanisms used in self-organized ant colonies.”"}, {"Source": "meerkat", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "manage conflict", "Function2": "resolve conflict", "Function3": "foster coordination and cohesion", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/meerkats-resolve-conflict/", "Strategy": "Meerkats Resolve Conflict\n\nMeerkats manage conflict by taking turns leading\n\n\nIntroduction \n\nMeerkats, like many species, tend to stay together as a group while foraging for food. This raises questions because meerkats, like other species, differ individually in their need for nutrients and knowledge of where food sources are. Some individuals, such as lactating females, need more food while raising young. Meanwhile, some individuals may know different information about where food sources may be. These factors can lead to disagreements about in which direction meerkat groups should forage. How do meerkats manage to resolve these conflicts and forage together?\n\nThe Strategy \n\nEach morning, in their southern African desert habitats where they live, meerkats emerge from their burrow and head off as a group in a direction to forage for insects, fruit, eggs, and scorpions. However, to learn more about how meerkats manage conflict, researchers created a somewhat artificial circumstance, making some individuals in a group aware of food sources and not others. What the experimenters discovered is that, when two different meerkats in a group know about food sources in different directions, the group still doesn’t split up. Instead, the group follows the first meerkat that heads off in a certain direction. It doesn’t matter if that meerkat is a dominant or subordinate individual. If they head off first, that’s where the group follows. This behavior by the group’s followers makes sense: to set off first in a direction suggests strong motivation and likely knowledge about a food source.\n\nBut there’s more to the story. The first meerkat to head off in a certain direction – the initiator – isn’t the same every day. Instead, the initiator often changes from one day to the next. If one meerkat who knows about a food source initiates a group’s foraging direction one day, another meerkat who knows about a food source often initiates a group’s foraging direction the next. In other words, being first to pick a direction guides a group’s movements, but taking turns over time being the leader plays an important role in resolving potential conflicts too.\n\nThe Potential \n\nDisagreements are a normal part of life, not just for humans, but for many other species. How other species manage to resolve disagreements can be helpful for humans to understand, generating insight into other species and helping our own species see other options for fostering coordination and cohesion."}, {"Source": "mangrove forest", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "manage conflict", "Function2": "resolve potential conflicts", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/collaboration-benefits-multiple-participants/", "Strategy": "Meerkats Resolve Conflict\n\nSeveral species of epiphytes, ants, fungi, and butterflies in mangrove forests provide benefits to each other through mutualism.\n\n\nIntroduction \n\nMeerkats, like many species, tend to stay together as a group while foraging for food. This raises questions because meerkats, like other species, differ individually in their need for nutrients and knowledge of where food sources are. Some individuals, such as lactating females, need more food while raising young. Meanwhile, some individuals may know different information about where food sources may be. These factors can lead to disagreements about in which direction meerkat groups should forage. How do meerkats manage to resolve these conflicts and forage together?\n\nThe Strategy \n\nEach morning, in their southern African desert habitats where they live, meerkats emerge from their burrow and head off as a group in a direction to forage for insects, fruit, eggs, and scorpions. However, to learn more about how meerkats manage conflict, researchers created a somewhat artificial circumstance, making some individuals in a group aware of food sources and not others. What the experimenters discovered is that, when two different meerkats in a group know about food sources in different directions, the group still doesn’t split up. Instead, the group follows the first meerkat that heads off in a certain direction. It doesn’t matter if that meerkat is a dominant or subordinate individual. If they head off first, that’s where the group follows. This behavior by the group’s followers makes sense: to set off first in a direction suggests strong motivation and likely knowledge about a food source.\n\nBut there’s more to the story. The first meerkat to head off in a certain direction – the initiator – isn’t the same every day. Instead, the initiator often changes from one day to the next. If one meerkat who knows about a food source initiates a group’s foraging direction one day, another meerkat who knows about a food source often initiates a group’s foraging direction the next. In other words, being first to pick a direction guides a group’s movements, but taking turns over time being the leader plays an important role in resolving potential conflicts too.\n\nThe Potential \n\nDisagreements are a normal part of life, not just for humans, but for many other species. How other species manage to resolve disagreements can be helpful for humans to understand, generating insight into other species and helping our own species see other options for fostering coordination and cohesion."}, {"Source": "post-fire habitat", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "stimulate germination", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/smoke-stimulates-germination/", "Strategy": "Smoke Stimulates Germination\n\nFlowers in post-fire habitats are stimulated to germinate by chemical substrates in smoke.\n\n“Western Australia is famous for the beauty of the small flowers that cover the ground at the beginning of the rainy season…Many smaller bushes also contribute to the splendour of the spring displays. But rain is not the only necessary cue. Flowering is also greatly influenced by previous fires. Chemical substrates in the smoke produced by the fire impregnate the surface layers of the soil. When, perhaps months later, rain does fall, it dissolves these chemicals and washes them down more deeply into the ground where they reach the dormant seeds. It is these substances that are the essential triggers for germination. Water by itself is not enough. Nor is this phenomenon limited to Australia. Seeds from African heathland plants have the same requirement.”"}, {"Source": "fruit fly's sensory organ precursor", "Application": "creating a computer algorithm", "Function1": "organize with minimal knowledge", "Function2": "reduce communication", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/sensory-bristles-organize-with-minimum-communication/", "Strategy": "Sensory Bristles Organize With\nMinimum Communication\n\nThe sensory organ precursors (starting point of sensory bristles) of fruit flies organize themselves with minimal knowledge and communication.\n\n\n“Computational and mathematical methods are extensively used to analyze and model biological systems…We provide an example of the reverse of this strategy, in which a biological process is used to derive a solution to a long-standing computational problem…All large-scale computing efforts, from web search to airplane control systems, use distributed computing algorithms to reach agreement, overcome failures, and decrease response times. Biological processes are also distributed. Parallel pathways are used to transform environmental signals to gene expression programs, and several tasks are jointly performed by independent cells without clear control.”\n[A long-standing distributed computing problem is that of electing a local set of leaders, called the maximal independent set or MIS, in a network of connected processors.] \n“The selection of neural precursor during the development of the [fruit fly] nervous system resembles the MIS election problem. The precursors of the fly’s sensory bristles [sensory organ precursors (SOPs)] are selected during larvae and pupae development from clusters of equivalent cells…a cell that is selected as a SOP inhibits its neighbors by expressing high level of the membrane-bound protein Delta, which binds and activates the transmembrane receptor protein Notch on adjacent cells…This lateral-inhibition process is highly accurate…resulting in a regularly spaced pattern in which each cell is either selected as SOP or is inhibited by a neighboring SOP…Thus, as in the MIS problem every proneural cluster must elect a set of SOPs (A) so that every cell in the cluster is either in A or connected to a SOP in A, and no two SOPs in A are adjacent.” \n“Although similar, the biological solution differs from computational algorithms in at least two aspects. First, SOP selection is probably performed without relying on knowledge of the number of neighbors that are not yet selected. Second, mathematical analysis demonstrated that SOP selection requires nonlinear inhibition that in effect reduces communication to the simplest set of possible messages (binary).”"}, {"Source": "iridescent bee's antennae", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "detect scent", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/antennae-detect-individual-orchid-species/", "Strategy": "Antennae Detect Individual Orchid Species\n\nThe antennae of iridescent bees detect the scent of individual orchid species using especially sensitive chemoreceptors.\n\n\nIn the forests of Central America, “Each of the twenty or so species of bucket orchid has its own brand of scent. Although human nostrils cannot distinguish between them, the iridescent bees that live in these forests certainly can. Each species of orchid attracts its own species of bee.”"}, {"Source": "orchid bee", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "rely on orchid bee", "Function2": "rely on certain species of orchids", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/relationships-essential-to-pollination/", "Strategy": "Relationships Essential to Pollination\n\nThe Brazil nut tree relies on the orchid bee for pollination, which in turn relies on certain species of orchids for reproduction.\n\n“Efforts intended to create habitats are often unsuccessful. When farmers tried to grow Brazil nuts commercially, they cut down tropical rainforest and planted Brazil nut trees in rows, plantation-style. But these trees depend on orchid bees for pollination, and without the natural orchids of the rainforest, there were not enough orchid bees in the plantations. Hence no nuts were produced.”"}, {"Source": "bee", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "sense electromagnetic waves", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/sensitivity-encourages-return-to-hive-before-storm/", "Strategy": "Sensitivity Encourages\nReturn to Hive Before Storm\n\nBees protect themselves from approaching storms by sensing electromagnetic waves.\n\n“Bees, for instance, are very responsive to electrical discharges in the air that occur just before a thunderstorm, ultimately causing lightning, which in turn generates electromagnetic waves. These waves stimulate bees to return swiftly to their hives and remain inside until the storm is over.”"}, {"Source": "wetland", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "create microhabitats", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/microtopographic-relief-fosters-diversity/", "Strategy": "Microtopographic Relief Fosters Diversity\n\nWetlands create diversity by having microtopographic relief that creates microhabitats for plants and animals.\n\n“At the macroscale (Fig. 5.2), the most widespread plant communities form the matrix within which microscale plant communities are often embedded. At the microscale, micro-topographic relief, for example, hummocks in Sphagnum-dominated peatlands (Fig. 5.3), or openings created by disturbances, for example, animal feeding activities, allow species and animals to persist that otherwise would not be present in the macroscale plant community (Wheeler 1999). A series of plant communities found along an environmental gradient are referred to as a coenocline. Coenoclines can be found at both the macro- and microscale in wetlands (Figs 5.2 & 5.3).”"}, {"Source": "hot springs panic grass and curvularia fungus", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "tolerate high temperatures", "Function2": "provide thermal protection", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/relationship-provides-thermal-protection/", "Strategy": "Relationship Provides Thermal Protection\n\nHot springs panic grass and Curvularia fungus are protected from extreme heat thanks to their mutualistic relationship.\n\nHot springs panic grass (Dichanthelium lanuginosum) appears to tolerate the high temperatures of Yellowstone’s geyser basin because of a fungus that attaches to the plant and lives between its cells. Researchers cultivated specimens with and without the fungus, called Curvuluria, then heated the soil. They found that, while plants with the fungus survived to 149 degrees F, plants lacking the fungus shriveled at 122 degrees. More experiments showed that the plant provided thermal protection for the fungus, as well. (Courtesy of the Biomimicry Guild)\n“All plants studied in natural ecosystems are symbiotic with fungi, which obtain nutrients while either positively, negatively, or neutrally affecting host fitness. Plant adaptation to selective pressures is considered to be regulated by the plant genome. To test whether mutualistic fungi contribute to plant adaptation, we collected 200 Dichanthelium lanuginosum plants from geothermal soils at 10 sites in Lassen Volcanic (LVNP) and Yellowstone (YNP) National Parks. These soils have annual temperature fluctuations ranging from about 20° to 50°C…In the absence of thermal stress, endophyte-colonized (symbiotic) and endophyte-free (nonsymbiotic) plants showed no measurable growth or developmental differences. When root zones were heated with thermal tape (Fig. S1), nonsymbiotic plants (45/45) became shriveled and chlorotic at 50°C (Fig. 1A). In contrast, symbiotic plants (45/45) tolerated constant 50°C soil temperature for 3 days and intermittent soil temperatures as high as 65°C for 10 days. All nonsymbiotic plants (45/45) died during the 65°C heat regime, whereas symbiotic plants (45/45) survived. The endophyte was reisolated from surface sterilized roots and leaves of all surviving plants, indicating that both the fungus and the host were protected from thermal stress. [Note: similar results were found when testing seedlings returned to the hot springs area.]…In addition to thermotolerance, the basis of mutualism in this system may involve other benefits (e.g., nutrient acquisition by the fungus). Several possible symbiotic mechanisms could confer thermotolerance. In planta, the fungal endophyte produces cell wall melanin (Fig. S3) that may dissipate heat along the hyphae and/or complex with oxygen radicals generated during heat stress. Alternatively, the endophyte may act as a “biological trigger” allowing symbiotic plants to activate stress-response systems more rapidly and strongly than nonsymbiotic plants.”"}, {"Source": "mesembryanthemum's capsule", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "launch seeds", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/capsules-launch-seeds/", "Strategy": "Capsules Launch Seeds\n\nThe seeds of many Mesembryanthemums are launched from their capsules for dispersal thanks to a valve mechanism that uses rainwater as a trigger.\n\n“Most of the Namaqualand mesems [Mesembryanthemums], as they are known for short, do not scatter their seeds after flowering but retain them in capsules. The structure of these devices is usually very intricate indeed. When the first rain falls, perhaps as a short and isolated shower, the capsules absorb moisture and swell, causing a star-shaped set of valves to open. But even now the seeds are not shed. That must wait for a second shower. Then a raindrop striking a valve operates a mechanism that flings out the seeds for a distance of yards.” "}, {"Source": "scandinavian subalpine and alpine habitats", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "maintain habitat", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/disturbances-maintain-habitat/", "Strategy": "Disturbances Maintain Habitat\n\nScandinavian subalpine and alpine habitats are maintained when they continue to experience pulsed disturbances.\n\n“We term this network of species, their dynamic interactions between each other and the environment, and the combination of structures that make reorganization after disturbance possible; the ‘ecological memory’ of the system (21, 22)…The ecological memory is a key component of ecological resilience, i.e. the capacity of the system to absorb disturbances, reorganize, and maintain adaptive capacity (25)…Among the major disturbances [in Scandinavian alpine and subalpine regions, dominated by heaths and mountain bird forests] are grazing by rodents, reindeer and moth caterpillars (Epirrita autumnata) (87–90). These occur as pulses with different frequencies and spatial scales (Table 3). Rodents are usually cyclic (87) and play a role in the maintenance and dynamics of dwarf shrubs and mosses (88). Reindeer, controlling the abundance of lichens, traditionally grazed in a pulsed manner both between years on single sites and regionally on a longer time scale, as reindeer populations waxed and waned on a 30–50 year cycle (89). Fire occurs irregularly, and affects dwarf shrub composition, favoring Vaccinium at the expense of Empetrum (91)…However, if we recognize the dynamic nature of the mountain ecosystems and the rights of the Sami and other local residents to use these areas for their subsistence, another approach is more likely to be successful. This includes the removal of fences that hinder the natural migration routes, and a dynamic reserve or set-aside system aimed at restoring the seminatural dynamics of mountain ecosystems, with their pulsed disturbances.”"}, {"Source": "tropical gallery forest", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "resist burning", "Function2": "prevent fire", "Function3": "afford protection", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/surviving-in-fire-prone-areas/", "Strategy": "Surviving in Fire‑prone Areas\n\nTropical gallery forest patches located in the midst of fire-prone savannas resist burning due to changes in fuel characteristics at the forest boundary, moisture levels, and the presence of fire-adapted species adjacent to the savanna.\n\n“Rain-forest fragments are often human-induced and can be highly susceptible to fire; most species are fire sensitive. Tropical gallery forest, however, occurs naturally as patches within fire-prone savannas. These fragments can represent significant refugia for fire-sensitive species (Kellman et al., 1998). Investigations into how fire-sensitive species persist alongside a fire-prone environment can yield useful information for the management of fire within human-derived forest fragments…Kellman and Meave (1997), Kellman and Tackaberry (1997), Biddulph and Kellman (1998) and Kellman et al. (1998) examine the impact of fire on tropical gallery forest–savanna ecotones in Belize and Venezuela. It was found that fires were mostly prevented from penetrating the gallery forest by changes in fuel characteristics at the forest boundary. The timing of fires was also critical: the savannas tended to burn before the gallery forest fuels were sufficiently cured. In addition, woody species directly adjacent to the savanna were found to be fire adapted. They act as a buffer zone, affording some protection from fire to the fire-sensitive within the gallery forest interior. Kellman and Meave (1997:23) also found that a moderate fire regime can ‘have an enriching, rather than depauperizing effect on the forest communities’ as fire will act in a similar way to that of tree-fall gap dynamics – as a selection agent. They also suggest that if forest fragments are to survive, fire-tolerant species at the forest edge are needed to protect fire-sensitive species within the interior: ‘The most valuable fragments are likely to be those in regions lacking any species pre-adapted to this agent’ (Kellman and Meave, 1997:34).”"}, {"Source": "resource partitioning", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "recover from disturbances", "Function2": "colonize newly created habitats", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/ecosystems-recover-from-disturbances/", "Strategy": "Ecosystems Recover From Disturbances\n\nEcosystems recover from disturbances through resource partitioning as resilient species colonize newly created habitats.\n\n“Other species attributes such as ability to cope with disturbances and colonization ability can contribute to successful coexistence of species that otherwise show little resource partitioning. One example is the Leucotrichia (caddis)-Paragyractis (moth) interaction where floods remove the competitively superior caddis species and allow colonization of rock surfaces by the moth, the more resilient species (McAuliffe 1984a). The rapid colonization ability of certain species (e.g. blackfly and chironomid larvae) allows them to exploit temporarily empty areas created by disturbances before they are displaced by other, slower colonists (see p. 191). Colonization ability could therefore be considered another niche dimension.”"}, {"Source": "carex stricta sedges", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "enhance species diversity", "Function2": "provide multiple micro-habitats", "Function3": "undergo seasonal changes in composition", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/tussocks-enhance-species-diversity/", "Strategy": "Tussocks Enhance Species Diversity\n\nTussocks of Carex stricta sedges in meadows enhance species diversity by providing multiple micro-habitats and undergoing seasonal changes in composition.\n\n“Carex stricta dominates sedge meadows in southern Wisconsin, USA. In contrast with invasive species that dominate as monotypes, C. stricta supports a diversity of co-occurring species by forming tussocks. Concerns about diversity loss and the potential to restore species-rich tussocks led us to ask how tussocks foster high species richness and affect composition…We conclude that tussocks enhance species richness in three ways, by increasing surface area, by providing multiple micro-habitats, and by undergoing seasonal changes in composition. Our detailed data on plant-diversity support by large tussocks form a benchmark for tussock meadow conservation, as well as a target for restoration of degraded meadows…In one bare restoration site, we used hands and shovels to form approximately 200 dirt mounds (artificial tussocks). Plots with mounds had twice as many species as plots without mounds (Peach 2005). Created micro-topography could also enhance the water quality improvement and flood control functions of restored wetlands (Tweedy and Evans 2001). If cost-effective methods of mimicking tussocks could be found, the addition of surface area and multiple micro-habitats could increase species richness.” "}, {"Source": "grazers and plants", "Application": "water-repellent self-cleaning antifogging", "Function1": "resist losses to grazers", "Function2": "rebounding from grazing", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/species-diversity-maintains-grasslands/", "Strategy": "Species Diversity Maintains Grasslands\n\nThe species diversity of grazers and plants helps maintain grasslands by offering a menu of plants of different palatabilities.\n\n“[O]n Tanzania’s Serengeti Plain, grasses are subject to heavy foraging by some of the world’s most spectacular nomadic grazers–about 3 million individuals of twenty-seven species, including wildebeest, zebra, Thomson’s gazelle, buffalo, and topi. Samuel McNaughton of Syracuse University examined the impact of these grazers on grassland productivity over a number of years. He found that diversity was not linked to the most prolific productivity but rather to the most constant productivity. Specifically, good rains and moderate levels of grazing (rather than high plant diversity) produced the lushest grass crop. Nonetheless, the more diverse the plant community, the better it resisted losses to grazers, partly because the species-rich areas included a wide array of plants that certain grazers found unpalatable and therefore avoided eating. The species-rich grasslands also showed greater resilience, rebounding from the effects of grazing and recovering to a full standing crop more quickly at the onset of the rainy season.” "}, {"Source": "beavers", "Application": "therapies and medical treatments to alleviate symptoms of people suffering", "Function1": "create a mosaic of habitats", "Function2": "act as natural firebreaks", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/habitat-mosaics-stop-fires/", "Strategy": "Habitat Mosaics Stop Fires\n\nBeavers reduce fire impacts in spruce stands by creating a mosaic of habitats that act as natural firebreaks.\n\n“Not only do the appetites of moose and beavers help determine when a northern forest will reach this flammable spruce stage, but beavers also indirectly affect the extent of the burn. The mosaic of aspen and willow stands, meadows, ponds, and wetlands they maintain amid the flammable spruce forests can serve as natural firebreaks, keeping fires smaller than they would be in homogeneous landscapes. Both the moose and beaver then benefit from the effects of fire because it clears the way for the regrowth of aspen and willows in the nutrient-laden ash.”"}, {"Source": "army ants", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "form three lanes of traffic", "Function2": "form three lanes of traffic", "Function3": "maintain efficiency", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/groups-move-efficiently/", "Strategy": "Groups Move Efficiently\n\nArmy ants move efficiently in large numbers by maintaining three lanes of traffic; two outer lanes travel opposite the inner lane and are governed by behavioral differences related to possession of food.\n\n“By forming three lanes of traffic during hunting expeditions, army ants in Panama come close to achieving the maximum possible rate of traffic flow. Given that army ants are blind, and that a hunting party might consist of 200,000 ants marching in opposite directions, it is surprising that they are able to maintain such efficiency. The answer lies in the behavioral differences between ants with food and ants without. Ants returning from a successful hunt are less likely to deviate when bumped. Weighed down by their prize, they simply continue to march in a line, guided by the pheromone trail of the ants in front of them. Ants traveling away from the nest carry no food, and are more likely to get out of the way. The result is a middle lane of food-toting ants moving in one direction, and two outer lanes of unburdened ants moving in the opposite direction. Using a computer model, researchers from Princeton University and the University of Bristol learned that, as behavioral differences decrease, traffic efficiency goes down. If burdened and unburdened ants behaved in roughly the same way, the three-lane system would deteriorate.” \n"}, {"Source": "douglas fir forest", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "create microhabitats", "Function2": "mix the soil", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/pit-and-mound-topography-fosters-biodiversity/", "Strategy": "Pit‑and‑mound Topography\nFosters Biodiversity\n\nThe pit-and-mound surface microtopography of the forest floor in Douglas fir forests helps create and maintain diversity by creating microhabitats.\n\n“When you look closely at the surface of the forest floor, it becomes apparent that there is no such thing as a smooth slope. The forest floor is roughened by the scattered pieces and stumps of collapsed snags and by whole fallen trees, their uprooted butts, and the pits and mounds left after their uprooting. Living trees roughen the surface of the forest floor by sending roots outward along slopes, often near the litter layer. Tree trunks also distort the surface by sloughing bark and by arresting creeping soil at their bases…Of all of the factors that affect the soil of the forest near the spring, surface microtopography, particularly the pit-and-mound topography, is the most striking. The effects of this topography have a major influence on creating and maintaining species richness of the herbaceous understory and on the success of tree regeneration. Pit-and-mound topography, for example, has been, is, and will be a major factor in mixing the soil of the forest floor as the forest evolves through time.” "}, {"Source": "mangrove forest", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "compete for resources", "Function2": "exhibit r-selected and k-selected attributes", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/selective-strategies-aid-competitive-success/", "Strategy": "Selective Strategies Aid Competitive Success\n\nMangrove forests successfully compete for resources by exhibiting both r-selected (pioneer) and K-selected (competitive) attributes.\n\n“Succession is part of the normal dynamics of many forest types: the chance appearance of gaps, rapidly colonised by opportunistic ‘weeds’ which are progressively ousted by slower-growing but more competitive species until a mature forest reappears…Some of the differences and similarities between mangroves and their non-mangrove counterparts are shown in Table 2.4. The comparisons suggest that mangroves resemble (r-selected) pioneer species in their reproductive characteristics, but as adult trees they behave more as mature-phase competitive (K-selected) species. This observation, that mangroves contrive to have their cake and eat itshould prove a fruitful insight into the dynamics of mangrove forests.” "}, {"Source": "beavers", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "increase habitat heterogeneity", "Function2": "increase species richness", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/enhancing-species-richness/", "Strategy": "Enhancing Species Richness\n\nBeavers enhance species richness in their environments by increasing habitat heterogeneity.\n\n“Many organisms modulate the availability of resources to other species by causing state changes in biotic or abiotic materials (ecosystem engineering), in the process frequently changing the selection to which the ecosystem engineers and other organisms are exposed (niche construction)…Jones and colleagues  hypothesized that at a scale encompassing unmodified or ‘virgin’ habitats, engineered habitats, and degraded areas abandoned by engineers, the net effect of ecosystem engineering should be to enhance species richness via a net increase in habitat diversity. Recent studies provide support for this hypothesis. For example, natural sites with and without beavers (Castor canadensis) exhibit low overlap in species composition. By increasing habitat heterogeneity, beavers increased herbaceous plant species numbers by more than 33% .” "}, {"Source": "plant's defense system", "Application": "antifungal and antibacterial compounds", "Function1": "protect organism from bacterial infections", "Function2": "cause bacteria self-destruct", "Function3": "open opportunities to craft novel compounds", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/the-trojan-horse-chemical-that-makes-bacteria-self-destruct/", "Strategy": "The Trojan Horse Chemical That\nMakes Bacteria Self‑destruct\n\nAlkaloid molecules protect plants from bacterial infections.\n\nIntroduction\n\nAs ubiquitous as the visible creatures in every nook and cranny of our planet are the invisible threats they face in the form of microbes that can sicken or kill them.\n\nThe defending organisms, for their part, have evolved the ability to produce a variety of chemical compounds that fight off such attacks. Among these compounds is a category of molecules known as tetrahydro-β-carboline (THβC) alkaloids. These small but powerful molecules cause bacteria to self-destruct by disrupting their ability to protect themselves from detrimental forms of oxygen.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nA wide variety of plants, including many of the fruits and vegetables we consume, make THβC alkaloids. They do so by combining amines and aldehydes to form a basic “backbone” structure and adding molecular attachments that serve different functions, much as a vacuum cleaner might have a brush to clean fabric or a crevice tool to reach into tight spaces. Scientists have found that various members of this group of compounds have beneficial impacts such as fighting tumors and reducing inflammation, in addition to providing protection from disease-causing organisms.\n\nTHβC alkaloids share a common basic structure consisting of carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen molecules arranged into three rings. Different species use different forms of THβC for different purposes, depending on their needs.\n\nIn plants, some THβC alkaloids have a particularly powerful impact on bacteria. When microbes breach a plant’s cellular barriers, the plant signals the THβC alkaloids to leave their headquarters—most likely a storage room within cells called a vacuole—and attack the invaders.\n\nAlthough the exact mechanisms are unclear, scientists have hypothesized that THβC alkaloids work in part by derailing the cells’ oxygen-defense mechanisms, increasing the concentration of reactive oxygen species (ROS) inside the microbes. ROS are molecules that include an oxygen atom that reacts readily with other molecules. ROS occur naturally in cells and are essential for proper cell functioning, but at increased levels, the highly reactive oxygen can damage DNA molecules and disrupt essential cellular processes, leading to the death of the cell.\n\nThe Potential\n\nThe use of THβC alkaloids to fight certain diseases, especially in fruits and vegetables, opens the door to huge opportunities to craft novel compounds that can be applied to plants to prevent or treat disease. This could be useful in the fight against bacterial diseases in plants of economic value, including food, fiber, and fuel crops. This would be particularly useful as the bacteria-vs.-plant arms race pushes bacteria to evolve resistance to existing antifungal and antibacterial compounds."}, {"Source": "andean stream community", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "maintain efficiency", "Function2": "guided by pheromone trail", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/stream-community-depends-on-ecosystem-engineers/", "Strategy": "Groups Move Efficiently\n\nAndean stream communities depend on detritivorous fish that modify habitat structure and resource availability.\n\n“By forming three lanes of traffic during hunting expeditions, army ants in Panama come close to achieving the maximum possible rate of traffic flow. Given that army ants are blind, and that a hunting party might consist of 200,000 ants marching in opposite directions, it is surprising that they are able to maintain such efficiency. The answer lies in the behavioral differences between ants with food and ants without. Ants returning from a successful hunt are less likely to deviate when bumped. Weighed down by their prize, they simply continue to march in a line, guided by the pheromone trail of the ants in front of them. Ants traveling away from the nest carry no food, and are more likely to get out of the way. The result is a middle lane of food-toting ants moving in one direction, and two outer lanes of unburdened ants moving in the opposite direction. Using a computer model, researchers from Princeton University and the University of Bristol learned that, as behavioral differences decrease, traffic efficiency goes down. If burdened and unburdened ants behaved in roughly the same way, the three-lane system would deteriorate.” "}, {"Source": "douglas fir forest", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "stabilize soil", "Function2": "trap sediment", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/fallen-trees-stabilize-enrich-soil/", "Strategy": "Fallen Trees Stabilize, Enrich Soil\n\nTrees in Douglas fir forests provide growing conditions for plants and animals by stabilizing soil and trapping sediment when they fall across a slope.\n\n“Trees that fall across a slope seem to be used more by vertebrates than are trees that fall up or down a slope, especially on steep slopes. Large, stable trees lying across a slope help reduce erosion by forming a barrier to creeping and raveling soils that gradually work their way downslope and may eventually end up at the bottom. Soil deposited along the upslope side of fallen trees reduces loss of nutrients from the site. Such spots are excellent for the establishment and growth of vegetation, including tree seedlings. As vegetation becomes established on and helps to stabilize this new soil, and as invertebrates and small vertebrates begin to burrow into the new soil, they not only enrich it nutritionally with their feces and urine but also constantly mix it by their burrowing activities.” "}, {"Source": "animal community", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "self-sacrifice", "Function2": "help others survive", "Function3": "gain no direct personal benefits", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/individual-actions-benefit-group/", "Strategy": "Individual Actions Benefit Group\n\nMembers of many animal communities improve the survival of the group by self-sacrificing time, energy, and resources.\n\n“Helena Cronin, codirector of the Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Science at the London School of Economics, has a new approach to Darwinism: Only the altruistic survive. Smart evolution, Cronin says, involves self-sacrifice to aid the greater cause. Darwin himself recorded numerous examples of animals giving up their time, their food, their mates, and even their lives to help others in the population. By applying these principles to the economy, Cronin says, we can evolve to new heights. Cronin suggests stressing cooperation, putting renewed emphasis on policy, and understanding that competition is to be approached not as mortal combat, but as a display–similar to lekking behavior exhibited by male grouse.”\n\n“White-fronted African bee eaters will face spitting cobras, forage tirelessly for bees and delay having their own young–all to help close relatives raise a clutch of baby birds. Why would any bird engage in such magnanimous behavior? Years of direct observation have led two scientists to suggest this altruism is an inherited trait that gives the “helper bird’s family a survival edge in the harsh African savannah.\n\n“Helper birds postpone opportunities to breed in order to help family members,” says Cornell University biologist Stephen T. Emlen. But the behavior is genetically “selfish” because it helps young relatives\nsurvive, thereby perpetuating the family’s genes, Emlen says…Emlen and Wrege believe African bee eaters provide evidence for the evolution of helping behavior even among birds that gain no direct personal benefits from their action. Other researchers have suggested\nthat some bird species do benefit directly by helping another couple raise a family. For example, they note, young helper birds may gain experience that boosts their chance of successfully raising offspring of their own later on. In bee eaters, however, a comparison of\nfirst-time breeders with and without prior helping experience showed\nthat this factor had no effect on the number of young produced, report\nEmlen and Wrege.”"}, {"Source": "gannet's beak", "Application": "human-made structures", "Function1": "prevent water from rushing in", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/beak-protects-during-dives/", "Strategy": "Beak Prevents Water Uptake During Dives\n\nA closable gap in the beak of a gannet, instead of open nostrils, prevents water from rushing in during high-speed dives.\n\nIntroduction\n\nMammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians are very different in many ways. But one of the traits we share is that we all have holes in our heads. In particular, nostrils or nares allow us to breathe with our mouths shut. In some animals, including seabirds and marine iguanas, they also serve as exit portals for secretions from a gland that concentrates and expels salt.\n\nAs useful as nares are for most birds, for gannets (Morus species), they could spell big trouble. Gannets are fish-eating seabirds that capture their prey by plummeting from a height of up to 100 feet (30 meters) into the ocean. As they hit the water at speeds of around 45 miles per hour (20 meters per second), external nares on the top of the beak would allow the impact to force harmful amounts of water into the mouth, throat, and lungs.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nFortunately for gannets, that’s not an issue. As a gannet embryo develops inside its egg, the spaces that in other species would become nares fill in with bone and keratin, creating a smooth, impenetrable surface.\n\nHow does a gannet breathe without functioning nares? The bony structures that shape the sides of the beak where it meets the head create a slight opening between the top and bottom bill. The bird is then able to inhale and exhale through the sides of its mouth when it’s not diving. The main bone forming this structure, the jugal operculum, is not rigidly attached to the skull. As a result, when the bird hits the surface of the water, the force of impact presses the bone against the top bill, like an automatic shut-off valve, temporarily closing the gap.\n\nThe gannet’s approach to excreting excess salt takes a different path from other birds as well. Instead of exiting through the nares, the fluid travels along a channel at the roof of the gannet’s mouth to the tip of its beak, where the bird expels it.\n\nA bone that creates an outpouching where a cape gannet’s beak meets its face also createsa collapsible gap the bird can use to breathe above water but that shuts down when it dives.\n\nPotential\n\nThe compressible bone structure that allows the gannet to breathe freely through the sides of its beak but that rapidly closes upon the bird’s forceful entry into water can provide a useful model for human-made structures that require different permeabilities to environmental liquids or gases under different circumstances.\n\nExamples might include gannett-inspired valves on aircraft, submersible vehicles used for ocean exploration, and offshore equipment for drilling or harvesting the energy of waves or tides.\n\nThe ability to maintain a separation from external liquids or gases during rapid movement also might inform strategies for creating packaging that allows exchanges with external substances, but only under controlled conditions."}, {"Source": "honeybee", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "improve human collaboration", "Function2": "knowledge sharing", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/collaborating-for-group-decisions/", "Strategy": "Collaborating for Group Decisions\n\nHoneybees collaborate when foraging, selecting a new hive through knowledge sharing.\n\n“Researchers at the Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, led by principal researcher Feniosky Pena-Mora, are looking at ways to improve human collaboration during disaster relief efforts. They are attempting to draw inspiration from the collaboration patterns that honeybees use in their decision-making process when selecting a new hive or foraging, ants’ behavior when they are under threat, and how infectious diseases spread among human populations. The team includes biological, computer, and social scientists, and civil engineers. The team believes that civil engineers should be a fourth group of first-responders at disaster relief efforts involving critical physical infrastructures. The researchers will develop ad hoc communication networks to spread critical information among first responders, similar to how a virus spreads. Models of collaboration based on study of ants and bees may be useful in understanding the basic principles and best practices when developing strategies to coordinate knowledge sharing in chaotic social settings.” "}, {"Source": "spider silk's protein", "Application": "antibacterial coating", "Function1": "prevent bacterial attachment", "Function2": "prevent microorganisms from landing and sticking", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/spider-silks-antibacterial-power/", "Strategy": "Spider Silk’s Antibacterial Power\n\nThe nanostructure of some spider silk proteins prevents bacterial attachment\n\nIntroduction \n\nDelicate as a whisper, a spider’s silken web seems too fragile to last very long. Yet, once they’re spun, some webs can survive with minimal repairs for days or even weeks without being destroyed by decomposing organisms like fungi and bacteria. Not only that, but throughout history people have used spider silk to dress wounds, suggesting that they may have antimicrobial super powers. Why aren’t these webs degraded by bacteria and fungi, even though they’re made of microbes’ favorite foods? The answer appears to lie not in chemicals that kill bacteria and fungi, but from the arrangement of the proteins that are one of the main components of spider silk.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nThe outer layer of spider silk is made up of various proteins and fat molecules. As in other biological materials, the proteins play a big role in how the material is structured. They are composed of hundreds of individual building blocks, called amino acids, strung together like beads on a string. Different amino acids have different traits, as well as positive or negative charges. Opposite charges attract, while similar charges repel each other. These interactions mean that, depending on the kinds and order of amino acids in the chain, different parts of a protein end up organized into different shapes. One of these shapes is known as a helix that contains parts known as beta sheets.This is where spider silk’s microbe-repelling skills appear to come from. Scientists have discovered that some spider silk protein conglomerations called fibroins have beta-sheet sections with similar charges that cause them to repel each other, creating a regular arrangement of hydrophobic (water-repelling) patches across the surface of the silk. These patches effectively prevent microorganisms from finding a place to land and stick—much as a team of skilled volleyball players scattered over a court can keep the ball from hitting the ground anywhere.\n\nThe Potential\n\nThe ability of bacteria and fungi to adhere to a surface can cause big problems for humans. In medical settings, microbes can attach to implants and prosthetic devices, giving themselves a chance to multiply and create a colony bigenough to protect itself from antibiotics. In drinking water systems and food preparation settings, such “biofilms” can increase the risk of spreading contamination by giving microbes a place to grow and multiply. By emulating spider silk proteins and their bacteria-repelling arrangement of uncharged beta-sheet sections, humans could create coatings for medical devices and other surfaces that will make it harder for bacteria to stick around and cause trouble."}, {"Source": "moth's tympanal organs", "Application": "hearing aid", "Function1": "hear bat biosonar", "Function2": "avoid oncoming bats", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/how-moths-outwit-bats-with-their-super-hearing/", "Strategy": "How Moths Outwit Bats\nWith Their Super Hearing\n\nThe tympanal organs of moths can \"hear\" bat biosonar and trigger behavioral responses.\n\nIntroduction\n\nAlmost all species on Earth fall into the category of predator or prey–some fall into both. A battle of wits determines who wins: the one who needs to eat or the one who needs to not be eaten. Evolution has refined the strategies of insect-eating bats and their moth prey to the point where what was once perceived as an advantage for the bats can be considered their downfall in this case.\n\nInsect-eating bats use biosonar to detect their prey in the air, while moths have evolved the ability to hear bats coming towards them. Exceptional hearing has been useful for reproductive and predator avoidance strategies among nocturnal species. Millions of years of predation pressure from bats on nocturnal flying insects like moths have resulted in their heightened acoustic awareness.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nBats inadvertently warn moths of their approach through their very efforts to locate their prey. They get the information they need about their prey’s location from how and when their biosonar signals are echoed back to them after hitting their target. Moths can successfully avoid oncoming bats in the dark by hearing their chirps before the echoes bounce off the moths and return to the bats.\n\nLow-frequency sound signals are detected by a moth’s receptor hairs, while the tympanal organs detect high-frequency signals. As such, the ultrasonic frequencies of bat biosonar, ranging from 20 to 200 kHz, are detected with the tympanal organs, found in various locations on the body, depending on the family. Most moths can only detect frequencies that cover a portion of the bat’s biosonar range (20 to 50 kHz), but some moths can hear frequencies of over 200 kHz.\n\nSimilar to timpani in an orchestra, the tympanal organs consist of a membrane covering an air sac. The sac in turn is attached to sensory cells that translate the vibrations into a neural signal, which is then processed and triggers the appropriate behavioral response. Tympanal organs are so useful that they have evolved independently across multiple families of moths.\n\nThe Potential\n\nThis kind of frequency-targeted, distributed sound detection could be useful for medical devices such as hearing aids. It could also be useful for sensor development in general, improving security systems on property, collision avoidance for vehicles, or wildlife monitoring.\n\n"}, {"Source": "immune system", "Application": "medical bandage", "Function1": "monitor threats", "Function2": "respond in force", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/how-immune-systems-identify-real-threats/", "Strategy": "How Immune Systems Identify Real Threats\n\nImmune systems constantly monitor threats, but respond in force when there are signs of cell death.\n\nIntroduction\n\nIt can be easy to think of your immune system as generally inactive, waiting to spring into action when a major infection comes on, but it is in fact never at rest. Daily, the immune system is assessing the danger of foreign particles: flower pollen, carpet bits you inhale, harmless bacteria on surfaces you touch, and, not infrequently, potentially dangerous microbes.\n\nImmune system responses are costly in terms of energy and while they are of critical importance, they also take a toll on the body. These reactions and overreactions can range from uncomfortable to even dangerous for the host. Which particles should an immune system react to, and which should it ignore? Getting the answer right is literally a matter of life and death.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nMicrobes and chemicals that are a threat to our bodies share a feature that harmless ones do not: they cause cell death. When a cell dies due to an attack, the contents of that cell pour out, flowing into the fluids between other cells. Some of these molecules normally found inside cells and their derivatives then serve a new purpose: they can function as signals, triggering a response from the still healthy cells that comprise our immune system. In this way, an immune system can distinguish between dangerous and non-dangerous microbes, and minimize overreacting to foreign particles that actually are no threat.\n\nFor example, as pathogenic microbes injure and destroy cells inside a mammal, the genetic material in these cells (RNA and DNA) begins to fall apart. Genetic material contains large amounts of a molecule called purine. Liberated from genes, purine loses an electron (oxidizes) to form a new compound, uric acid. Thus, during infection, large amounts of uric acid are produced by cells dying from infection, and that acid pours into the extracellular matrix. This sets off a chain reaction in which the uric acid stimulates dendritic cells to become more numerous and more active. These activated dendritic cells then travel to lymph nodes where they alert immune cells such as T cells that an infection is underway. The T cells then travel to the infection site to attack the pathogenic microbe.\n\nAn immune response to harmless foreign particles would keep the body in a near-constant state of immune activity, use unnecessary energy, and be more susceptible to autoimmune disorders. The “dead cell alert” process helps ensure that the immune system doesn’t become active simply due to the presence of a foreign particle. Foreign matter and evidence of cell death are both needed to trigger an immune response.\n\nThe Potential \n\nKnowing what triggers our immune system response can open up opportunities for moderating that response, such as developing interventions which change the level of triggering molecules in our bodies. In addition, we, like our immune systems, can use these triggers to help diagnose the presence of dangerous infections. A new medical bandage, inspired by the immune system response to dangerous microbes, has capsules filled with fluorescent dyes embedded in it. When toxins from dangerous bacteria are present, they break down the capsule walls and release the fluorescent dye, creating a quick and easy way for doctors to detect infections forming on a wound."}, {"Source": "fur of camel", "Application": "customized material designs", "Function1": "reduce heat transfer", "Function2": "reflect light energy", "Function3": "minimize heat transfer", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/how-a-camels-fur-coat-keeps-it-cool/", "Strategy": "How a Camel’s Fur Coat Keeps It Cool\n\nCamel fur and sweat glands combine to form a powerful temperature management system.\n\nIntroduction\n\nDromedary camels of the Sahara Desert (Camelus dromedarius) don’t just look unusual. They also defy our expectations of what’s possible, by somehow managing to combine two things that normally don’t go together: activity in high temperatures, and low water use. Another species, Homo sapiens, also can be active under high temperatures, but we do so by sweating copious amounts of water in order to cool our bodies down––quantities of water which camels can’t often afford to lose.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nBecause their fur stays dry to the touch, it used to be believed that camels didn’t sweat at all. That couldn’t be further from the truth. The unique interaction of their sweat and fur is the key to camels keeping cool.\n\nCamels have sweat glands distributed throughout their skin, from which water removes body heat through evaporation, much as in humans. However, camel skin is also covered by thick fur––4 inches (10 cm) deep in places. This fur doesn’t impede the evaporation of water though. What it does do is insulate the camel from incoming heat.\n\nThis insulating power of the camel’s fur reduces the amount of heat transferred to the camel’s body from its hot ambient environment by three main mechanisms. The light color of a camel’s fur reflects light energy, reducing heat transfer to its skin by radiation. The trapped air in the camel’s fur functions as a thin material, with space between the individual molecules, minimizing heat transfer to the skin by conduction. Finally, the individual hairs of the camel’s fur impede the movement of air, reducing heat transfer to its skin by convection.\n\nBetween the outer surface of their fur and their skin, temperatures can vary by as much as 54 degrees Fahrenheit (30 degrees Celsius)––the difference between a summer day and a snow day. As a consequence, camels need to evaporate much less water from their skin in order to cool themselves down. The importance of their fur is emphasized by the fact that camels with shorn fur use much more water than camels with fur intact.\n\nThe Potential\n\nRival elk bulls may have a few bones to pick with each other. Fortunately, inherent plasticity and microfracture toughening protect their antlers during these head-butting battles.\n\nHumans are taking their cue and incorporating these features into customized material designs for specific applications. Researchers recently combined a type of flexible plastic used to make contact lenses with strong fiberglass to create a new material. This so-called “metamaterial” combines toughness with strength, making it suitable to repair or replace injured tendons and ligaments."}, {"Source": "elk antler", "Application": "metamaterials", "Function1": "resist fractures", "Function2": "withstand high-impact collision", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/elk-antlers-thwart-breakage/", "Strategy": "Clashing Elk Antlers Thwart Breakage\n\nInherent plasticity and microfracture toughening mechanisms work together to prevent antlers from breaking. \n\nIntroduction\n\nEach autumn, elk descend from the high country and fill the cool air of mountain meadows with the sounds of their high-pitched bugling and the clatter of clashing antlers. Competitors lock together, pushing each other around like sumo wrestlers. A large set can grow to a combined weight of up to 40 pounds (18 kilograms)––about the weight of an entire newborn calf.\n\nThese heavy crowns don’t fulfill the typical bone functions of supporting body weight or protecting organs. Instead, they’re used for sparring and to display a bull’s vim and vigor to prospective mates.\n\nIn early winter, after the mating rut ends, the antlers fall off. In the spring, the cycle begins again and bulls sprout a new pair of bones from their skulls, growing as fast as an inch per day.\n\nHow does something grown so quickly, with only the materials gained from the elk’s natural diet, withstand repeated, high-impact collisions without breaking?\n\nThe Strategy\n\nAntler is one of the toughest known biomaterials. Toughness is resistance to fracture. Strength is resistance to bending. To have one quality generally requires sacrificing some of the other. To achieve balance, elk antlers use the same ingredients as human bone, but the recipe is slightly different. Antlers have fewer hard calcium crystals and higher amounts of pliable collagen, which gives them higher flexibility. This makes antlers much tougher than human bones because they can bend farther before they break. But because they’re more flexible, they are not as strong.\n\nIt’s not just flexibility that helps antler resist fracture. The way its building blocks are organized also helps give it built-in crack resistance. Similar to other kinds of compact bone, the basic components of antlers are cylindrical structures called osteons.\n\nThe Potential\n\nRival elk bulls may have a few bones to pick with each other. Fortunately, inherent plasticity and microfracture toughening protect their antlers during these head-butting battles.\n\nHumans are taking their cue and incorporating these features into customized material designs for specific applications. Researchers recently combined a type of flexible plastic used to make contact lenses with strong fiberglass to create a new material. This so-called “metamaterial” combines toughness with strength, making it suitable to repair or replace injured tendons and ligaments."}, {"Source": "soil-feeding termite's gut bacteria", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "make soil nitrogen available", "Function2": "protect from ammonia toxicity", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/bacteria-help-volatilize-and-mineralize-ammonia/", "Strategy": "Bacteria Help Volatilize and Mineralize Ammonia\n\nThe gut bacteria of soil-feeding termites help make soil nitrogen available to plants and protect from ammonia toxicity via ammonia volatilization and mineralization.\n\n“Volatilization of ammonia [about 10 nmol (g fresh wt.)_1 h_1], either directly by emission from the termite body or indirectly from their feces, led to NH3 concentrations in the nest atmosphere of C. [Cubitermes] ugandensis that were three orders of magnitude above the ambient background – a relative accumulation that is considerably higher than that observed with CH4 and CO2. Together with previous results, these observations document that through their feeding activity and due to the physicochemical and biochemical properties of their digestive system, soil-feeding termites effectively catalyze the transformation of refractory soil organic nitrogen to a plant-available form that is protected from leaching by adsorption to the nest soil. Nitrogen mineralization rates of soil-feeding termites may surpass those effected by tropical earthworms and should contribute significantly to nitrogen fluxes in tropical ecosystems.” "}, {"Source": "forest ecosystem", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "create canopy gaps", "Function2": "enhance heterogeneity", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/natural-disturbances-enhance-heterogeneity/", "Strategy": "The heterogeneity of forest ecosystems is enhanced by natural disturbances that create canopy gaps.\n\nThe heterogeneity of forest ecosystems is enhanced by natural disturbances that create canopy gaps.\n\n“Forest canopy gaps are measurable indicators of past small-scale disturbances. These disturbances can impact forest stand dynamics in ways that help maintain and enhance many ecosystem values…Gaps fell into four groups, which could be interpreted as three ecologically functional groups on the basis of their role in stand development. Gaps caused by the same agents commonly fell within the same functional group: (1) flooding, logging, spruce budworm; and windfall cause stand level impacts that reset the stand development sequence; (2) bark beetles, tree fall, and root diseases cause within stand impacts that altered the rate of stand development; and (3) stem decay and dwarf mistletoe, and, under some circumstances, all disturbance agents, could kill trees yet have no impact on stand development except create space into which neighboring trees expand…Gaps are composed of standing dead and live trees, downed woody debris, and regenerating vegetation. The size, shape, abundance, composition, and spatial/temporal distribution of these elements can affect many ecological features of the forest, including animal and plant habitat, stand development and succession, tree, shrub, seedling, and herb composition, density, growth rate, decomposition and abundance of downed fine woody and nonwoody materials, and underground tree growth dynamics (Attiwill 1994, Bradshaw 1992, and Coates and Burton 1997). Physical factors such as humidity, light intensity, air temperature, wind, snow distribution, and soil moisture, temperature, and nutrient availability may also be affected.”"}, {"Source": "stromatolite", "Application": "network management", "Function1": "make independent decisions", "Function2": "maintain communication", "Function3": "share workload", "Function4": "develop resistance", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/colonies-self-assemble/", "Strategy": "Bacterial colonies that form stromatolites self‑assemble by making independent decisions while maintaining communication.\n\nBacterial colonies that form stromatolites self-assemble by making independent decisions while maintaining communication.\n\n“Stromatolites are colonies of bacteria that self-assemble into rock formations in tidal salt flats. Each stromatolite can make independent decisions, while maintaining communication with the colony. The workload is shared among all colony individuals. Stromatolites breed rapidly, and quickly develop resistance to antibiotics and other threats by developing new genes. Ian Marshall plans to incorporate these principles into the next wave of BT network management. Like the stromatolites, each element of BT’s [British Telecom] network will be able to make independent decisions, yet will remain fully communicative with neighbors. Workload–i.e., incoming calls–will be spread evenly through the network. And in a process mimicking natural selection, desirable services will be quickly distributed to BT customers, while undesirable services die out.”"}, {"Source": "fungal skin", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protect from uv light", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/fungus-provides-uv-protection/", "Strategy": "The algal element of lichens is protected from UV radiation by a fungal skin.\n\nThe algal element of lichens is protected from UV radiation by a fungal skin.\n\n“Others [lichens] develop minuscule branches and grow into dense curling thickets a few inches high. Their outer skin is formed by the compacted threads of the fungi and is sufficiently impermeable to prevent the loss of water from the partnership; beneath are the algal cells, kept moist and protected from harmful ultra-violet radiation by the fungal skin; and below them, in the centre of the structure, there is looser tissue, also provided by the fungus, where food and water is stored.”"}, {"Source": "tortoise's shell", "Application": "structures", "Function1": "withstand pressure", "Function2": "withstand puncture", "Function3": "absorb pressure", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/shapes-cover-curved-surfaces-efficiently/", "Strategy": "Shell Geometry and Materials Resist Cracking\n\nThe shell of a tortoise withstands pressure through interlocking scutes of various shapes consisting of both rigid and flexible layers.\n\nIntroduction\n\nTortoises are a group of turtles that can be distinguished in part by their round, dome-like shells. This shape provides protection from the teeth and claws of predators and helps a tortoise to right itself if it happens to roll (or be flipped) onto its back. The surface of a tortoise shell is covered in bony geometrical shapes called scutes that are packed tightly together. The scutes in the center of the shell are hexagons. These are surrounded by a ring of pentagons and irregular shapes, and finally a smooth outer edge of additional irregular shapes. Hexagons are the ideal shape for packing an area tightly with a repeated shape, but they cannot form a curved surface on their own. Pentagons are needed to create a tension-free bend. The range of shapes that fit together to form a tortoise’s curved shell are the result of millions of years of evolution and present a natural solution to the mathematical and physical problem of creating a dome-like structure that is both strong and lightweight.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nThe scutes are made of keratin, the same protein that is the building block for hair, nails, feathers, and claws. Beneath them is a bone plate. This rigid outer layer prevents the teeth and claws of predators from puncturing the shell, but there’s more to a shell than what is visible on the outside.\n\nThe shell’s durability is largely due to its internal layers. Filling the space below the outer layer is a more sponge-like material that gives the shell some flexibility by absorbing pressure if the shell is pushed down. This inner layer is made of its own sections, separate from the scutes, that interlock with each other through ridges at their edges. These joints give the shell additional room to bend––a critical adaptation since a curved shell is more likely to crack under pressure.\n\nThe Potential\n\nThe tortoise shell offers an example of how a combination of shapes and materials can be used to build structures that would normally be vulnerable to breakage. In human applications, such structures could last longer, requiring less frequent replacement. The tortoise’s domed shell has helped it survive the predators and conditions of a wide range of habitats over hundreds of millions of years, proving that stability is not only found in straight lines."}, {"Source": "sacred lotus", "Application": "paints", "Function1": "maintain self-cleaning", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/surface-allows-self-cleaning/", "Strategy": "Surface Allows Self‑Cleaning\n\nLeaves of the sacred lotus are self-cleaning thanks to hydrophobic microscale bumps.\n\nIntroduction\n\nLotus plants (Nelumbo nucifera) stay dirt-free, an obvious advantage for an aquatic plant living in typically muddy habitats, and they do so without using detergent or expending energy. The plant’s cuticle, like that of other plants, is made up of soluble lipids embedded in a polyester matrix – wax – but the degree of its water repellency is extreme (superhydrophobic). This is accomplished through the micro-topography of their leaf surfaces, which while showing a variety of structures, all share a similar mathematical set of proportions associated with superhydrophobicity.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nLotus leaves, for example, exhibit extensive folding (i.e., papillose epidermal cells) and epicuticular wax crystals jutting out from the plant’s surface, resulting in a roughened microscale surface. As water and air adhere less well than water and solids, roughened surfaces tend to reduce adhesive force on water droplets, as trapped air in the interstitial spaces of the roughened surface result in a reduced liquid-to-solid contact area. This allows the self-attraction of the polar molecule of water to express more fully, causing it to form spheres.\n\nThe Potential \n\nSurface finishes inspired by the self-cleaning mechanism of lotus plants and other organisms (e.g., many large-winged insects) have now been applied to paints, glass, textiles, and more, reducing the need for chemical detergents and costly labor."}, {"Source": "otter's fur", "Application": "structure design", "Function1": "protect from water penetration", "Function2": "insulating", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/fur-keeps-heat-in-and-cold-water-out/", "Strategy": "Fur Keeps Heat in and Cold Water Out\n\nOtters and seals have a two-layer fur system that prevents water penetration and creates an insulating layer.\n\nIntroduction\n\nAquatic mammals such as otters and seals face a serious physical challenge: they must stay warm while spending significant periods of time in extremely cold waters. Sea lions and walruses have thick layers of blubber to keep them warm, while fur seals have much thinner layers, and otters do not have any blubber at all. Instead, fur seals and otters rely on very specialized layers of hair, the function of which is already being mimicked to design products that need to keep water out and keep heat in.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nThe pelts of all fur-bearing animals are actually made up of two different types of hair that grow in clusters together: guard hairs and underhairs. Underhairs are shorter and denser, with three or more underhairs growing in a follicle for every one guard hair. Guard hairs are longer, and usually extend out over the surrounding underhairs, creating a protective canopy for them.\n\nThe Potential\n\nThe tortoise shell offers an example of how a combination of shapes and materials can be used to build structures that would normally be vulnerable to breakage. In human applications, such structures could last longer, requiring less frequent replacement. The tortoise’s domed shell has helped it survive the predators and conditions of a wide range of habitats over hundreds of millions of years, proving that stability is not only found in straight lines.\n"}, {"Source": "spongy bones", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "handle stress efficiently", "Function2": "distribute fine strands", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/fine-strands-stabilize-bones/", "Strategy": "Fine Strands Stabilize Bones\n\nThe spongy bones of humans handle stress efficiently via the distribution of fine strands called trabeculae.\n\n"}, {"Source": "bird's stress response", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "suppress stress response", "Function2": "prioritize reproduction", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/stress-response-suppressed-to-prioritize-reproduction/", "Strategy": "Stress Response Suppressed\nto Prioritize Reproduction\n\nIn the face of environmental stress, birds with fewer chances to breed suppress their stress response, keeping their focus on reproduction instead of survival.\n\nIntroduction \n\nIn the arctic, the arrival of migrating snow buntings signals the start of spring. They breed farther north than any other land bird, nesting in “islands” of tundra called nunataks that poke through surrounding ice.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nLike other animals, birds have evolved an emergency response that shifts their bodies into survival mode during environmental stressors such as severe weather, habitat loss, or famine. The process elevates blood concentrations of corticosterone, a hormone that at high levels can suppress reproduction. The net result is that would-be parents can attend to their own survival needs rather than diverting resources to children.\n\nSome birds however have adapted to suppress this emergency response, keeping lower corticosterone levels in the face of environmental threats. This appears to depend on their “brood value,” or the value of producing offspring relative to their own survival.\nFrom an evolutionary perspective, breeding and raising young is the goal of all species, but it comes at a price. For birds, the cost is energy to build a nest, to lay and incubate an egg, and to find food for the chicks once they hatch. In times of stress, all that work may not be worth the risk to the adults’ survival.\n\nLonger-living birds such as arctic terns and great horned owls have more opportunities to breed resulting in lower brood values because their species’ survival isn’t constrained by limited breeding windows. When these birds experience environmental stress, their emergency response functions as expected—corticosterone levels increase and interrupt the normal hormonal changes that transition them through various reproductive stages. They might delay the process of molting and growing their breeding plumage, or may even abandon their duties to existing eggs or chicks. When the stress has passed, these so-called “prudent parents” live to breed another day.\nOther birds like finches and hummingbirds live shorter lives and have fewer occasions to breed. For them, procreation has a high value because the entire species depends on far fewer reproduction events. Some species of birds with high brood values appear to have adapted to suppress corticosterone levels in times of stress, keeping their focus on “the birds and the bees.” In other words, it’s worth the risk for them to expend the energy to breed and care for young because even if they survive the immediate stress, they may not have another opportunity to breed.\n\nThe Potential\n\nMany birds, like the snow bunting, migrate far and wide to breed. With increasing environmental stressors such as habitat loss due to human construction and warming temperatures due to climate change, understanding how birds respond might help us protect their dwindling populations.\n\nFurthermore, it may seem at first glance that birds with higher brood values have overridden a primal evolutionary goal to survive. But nature is driving them to succeed as a species, not just as individuals. It can be beneficial to populations as a whole for some members to act self-sacrificially. And more abstractly, sometimes ignoring or overriding certain instincts for an immediate apparent benefit can bring a broader success to the community or project as a whole in the long term."}, {"Source": "natural ecosystem", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "increase biodiversity", "Function2": "respond to reduced biodiversity", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/nature-maintains-biodiversity/", "Strategy": "Nature Maintains Biodiversity\n\nNatural ecosystems react to low biodiversity levels by exploiting unused or poorly used resources to increase biodiversity.\n\n“In the case of skeleton weed biodiversity was inadvertently increased by the accidental introduction and then deliberately increased in the hope of achieving an effective biological control. In one sense the foregoing are simply weeds or pests in another they are modern examples of the response of nature to reduced biodiversity or the availability of unexploited or poorly exploited resources. MacArthur (1972) argued that when production is left unused, the system is open to invasion. In the present case I am viewing resources in a wider context but the principle is the same. In terms of biodiversity, nature is doing what it has always done, namely restoration following a decline. The mimicry is two sided. We may be mimicking nature, but nature sees cultivated crops as mimics of resource rich, species poor environments resulting from extinctions and reacts as it has done to these events in the past. This conclusion offers little hope that a permanent or universal solution can be found to the question of how much biodiversity is enough to prevent invasions, pests and diseases and that manipulation by the farmer will always be necessary.” "}, {"Source": "cabbage groundsel's outer leaves", "Application": "insulating material", "Function1": "insulating", "Function2": "protect from freezing temperature", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/leaves-protect-from-freezing/", "Strategy": "Leaves Protect From Freezing\n\nInsulated outer leaves of the cabbage groundsel protect tender inner leaves from freezing by folding inward to enclose them at night.\n\n\nIntroduction\n\nThe cabbage groundsel (Dendrosenecio keniensis) is a shrub-like plant with clustered leaves found at elevations of around 3,000–4,000 meters (10,000 to 13,000 feet) on the slopes of Mt. Kenya in eastern Africa. Its thick, platter-sized leaves form a rosette, with 50 or more older, tougher leaves encircling a cluster of tender young leaves that form a bud shape at the center.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nThe rocky, barren places the cabbage groundsel grows are warm and sunny during the day. At night, however, temperatures regularly drop below freezing. The cold could stunt the growth of the newly emerging leaves in the center of the rosettes except for one thing: The insulating power of the older leaves that surround them. The thick, leathery outer leaves have air pockets inside them that slow the movement of heat, much as a styrofoam cooler does.\n\nWhen temperatures plummet as dusk falls, some of the cells in the large leaves release fluid into the space between cells, causing the inward-facing surface to become less stiff. As a result, the leaves fold upward and inward, forming an insulating layer around the more tender parts of the plant and protecting the newer, clustered leaves from the cold. The outer leaves freeze, but they are hardy enough to thaw out the next day, when they reopen within minutes to catch the morning sun.\n\nThe Potential\n\nWe’re already quite familiar with the ability of thick layers of material with air pockets to insulate. Consider foam wall insulation and down comforters, for instance. Combining that trait, as the cabbage groundsel does, with a temperature-triggered mechanism for moving insulation could be valuable for everything from protecting landscape plants from frost to improving the energy efficiency of entire buildings."}, {"Source": "hedgerows in bavaria", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protect nearby fields", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/resident-insects-protect-nearby-fields/", "Strategy": "Resident Insects Protect Nearby Fields\n\nHerbivorous insects in hedgerows in Bavaria help protect nearby wheat fields from aphids by attracting generalist predators that feed on them as well as the aphids.\n\n“Hedgerows along the borders of fields in Bavaria date back hundreds of years. In a land where most forests have been converted to timber plantations, these hedgerows now represent Germany’s most diverse woody vegetation, containing as many as thirty species of woody plants. They also serve as prime habitat for herbivorous insects, most of which are highly specialized feeders that have no interest in nearby crops. Instead, their presence attracts generalist predators and parasites, which not only feast on them but consume aphids in the neighboring grain fields. Because of these insects, northeast Bavaria is one of the few parts of Germany where farmers have no need to spray for wheat aphids.”"}, {"Source": "dung beetle", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "recycle essential nutrients", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/insects-digest-fecal-waste/", "Strategy": "Insects Digest Fecal Waste\n\nDung beetles play an important role in nutrient cycling and soil generation because they feed on and bury feces.\n\n“During parts of the year in India, dung beetles bury an estimated forty to fifty thousand tons of human excrement each day.” \n\n"}, {"Source": "vertebrates' stress response", "Application": "fish farms", "Function1": "emergency state", "Function2": "stress response", "Function3": "reduce stress", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/hormones-regulate-stress/", "Strategy": "“Fight or Flight” and “Emergency\nState” Manage Stress\n\nTwo classes of hormones drive different responses to help vertebrates survive short- and long-term stressors.\n\nIntroduction \n\nA cat’s claws come out. A deer bolts across a field. An average human performs an extraordinary feat of strength to rescue someone in immediate danger. We are generally well versed in the stress response known as “fight or flight.” But what do we know about vertebrates’ other major stress response: the emergency state?\n\nThe Strategy\n\nIn fight or flight, sensory organs hear a warning noise or detect danger and send impulses to the brain that scream, “Help!” The brain fires nerves connected to adrenal glands located in the upper portion of the kidneys. Within a few seconds of sensing the danger, these glands pump hormones into our blood.\n\nEpinephrine (adrenaline) and norepinephrine course into our bloodstream. The hormones dock onto receptors dispersed on tissues throughout the body, unlocking various functions that ready us for battle or departure. Pupils dilate, improving vision. The heart races, blood pressure rises, and breathing rate quickens, increasing oxygen intake and distribution. Blood vessels to noncritical organs constrict while those around the brain and muscles dilate, diverting blood to where it’s needed most. These hormones also cause muscles to tremble, priming them for action. If an animal survives the immediate attack, the fight or flight response abruptly ends, and the body resumes normal function within a couple of minutes.\n\nLonger-term stressors like severe weather, loss of a mate, habitat loss, or exposure to pollution cause the second type of stress response, putting the body in a state of emergency. The emergency response is a bit slower, taking from minutes to hours to ramp up. Also, the effects are longer-lived, lasting from hours to weeks, depending on the duration of the stressor.\n\nAs with fight or flight, hormones drive the emergency response. In this case, the brain sends signals to a different region of the adrenal glands, releasing a group of hormones called glucocorticoids. In fish and mammals, glucocorticoids consist primarily of cortisol, but in reptiles, birds, amphibians, and rodents, the main glucocorticoid is corticosterone. These hormones generally help regulate glucose production, immune system function, and reproduction. They also affect migrating and feeding behaviors.\n\nWhen a stressor increases glucocorticoid production, the emergency response shifts resources from long‑term investments to survival mode.\n\nThe Potential\n\nStudying the stress response in animals, especially chronic stress, could help us design fish farms, zoos, and research facilities to reduce animal stress. Larger cages, natural lighting, and appropriate temperature can all mitigate chronic stress symptoms. Considering behavioral needs such as social interactions and stimulating natural activities can also reduce chronic stress in captivity. Animals provide us much. Learning to reduce their stress in captivity can go a long way toward making our interactions more mutually positive.\n\nAdditionally, we humans are animals like any other, and much of our modern lifestyle involves conditions that are known to activate the emergency stress response: constrained quarters, separation from the natural environment, persistent questions about security or stability. The stress response is nature’s way of drawing attention to harmful conditions. Heeding its message could help us to create better living conditions for people in all levels of society in all sorts of environments, including shelters, office buildings, schools, or apartments, and even lead to better rehabilitation of those in prisons or recovery in hospitals."}, {"Source": "bone", "Application": "composite building materials", "Function1": "protect bone from fracture", "Function2": "dissipate energy", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/crystals-and-fibers-provide-strength-flexibility/", "Strategy": "Flexible Collagen Fibers With\nStrong Minerals Dissipate Energy\n\nA combination of mineral crystals and collagen fibers protects bone from major fractures by sacrificing small structural elements.\n\n\nIntroduction\n\nIn our hands, in our legs, around our brains: Bones provide structural support for the bodies of humans and of every other vertebrate, from fish to tigers to birds.\n\nIt might seem that bone is inflexible, but its basic component is a springy and versatile protein called collagen––found in elastic tissues like skin, tendons, and ligaments. Collagen molecules consist of three intertwining spiral chains, allowing the molecules themselves to bend and stretch. Individual molecules then overlay one another in a staggered pattern like bricks in a wall, forming relatively fine fiber structures called “fibrils.” If bone were comprised of just collagen, it might make yoga poses easier but it wouldn’t be very strong.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nEnter calcium, the mineral that gives bone its strength and hardness. When bone develops, calcium crystals form in the gaps and bond to the flexible collagen like mortar amid the bricks.\n\nDr. Markus Buehler, a materials engineering professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, compared the stress behavior of ordinary collagen fibrils to mineralized collagen fibrils. Buehler analyzed the stress exerted on bundles of fibrils under the strain of pulling their two ends apart. At first, fibrils with and without minerals both stretch like a rubber band. They don’t stretch as much as a rubber band, but the stress on the tissue increases linearly with the strain of pulling. Keep tugging, however, and the fibrils deform, releasing the tension the way caramel candy does when you stretch it.\n\nThis is the point where the calcium makes a difference. Pull even harder on pure collagen fibrils and they continue to behave like caramel candy. During what’s called plastic deformation, molecules easily slip past one another and only a tenuous string connects the two ends. It becomes easier and easier to pull them apart as the wispy connective string stretches and thins. Eventually, failure occurs and the two ends separate.\n\nIn contrast, when mineralized collagen fibrils begin plastic deformation, their slipping molecules are quickly interrupted. The stress lurches down, then up again as the strong bonds between crystals and collagen break one at a time. This spreads the molecular slipping over many stages. Imagine trying to open an extension ladder that catches on every rung. Tugging hard cracks the bond between one mineral and one collagen molecule and releases a single ladder rung. But then the ladder snags on another bond until enough force breaks that and pulls the next rung down. Before reaching structural failure, all the bonds must break. In this way, minerals dissipate energy, permitting failure on minute scales to protect the entire bone from fracturing.\n\nThe Potential\n\nBones need to be tough but able to dissipate the forces we put them under. If they couldn’t bend slightly, they’d snap apart every time we jumped or fell. In that regard, bones are like other composite building materials that give man-made structures strength while imparting the flexibility to dissipate energy from wind, earthquakes, and storms. Furthermore, engineering design—like staged molecular slipping—usually includes redundancy so that when small elements fail, the overall structure remains intact."}, {"Source": "fijian red seaweed's bromophycolide compound", "Application": "antimalarial compounds", "Function1": "interrupt the parasite's ability to protect itself", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/compounds-disrupt-malaria-parasite/", "Strategy": "Compounds Disrupt Malaria Parasite\n\nBromophycolide compounds in the Fijian red seaweed provide protection against malaria by interrupting the parasite's ability to protect itself from toxic byproducts.\n\n\nMore than a million people die each year from malaria, which is caused by the parasite Plasmodium falciparum. The parasite has developed resistance to many antimalarial drugs and has begun to show resistance to artemisinin – today’s most important antimalarial drug. The stakes are high because half of the world’s population is at risk for the disease.\n\nMultifunctionality is a common characteristic of natural chemical compounds. Often, each of the functions is utilized by the organism producing the compound, such as beetles’ chitin-based covering that provides, among other functions, hard shielding, waterproofing, and coloring.\n\nIn the case of the Fijian red seaweed, an organic compound called bromophycolide A serves as an antifungal agent. This same compound also disrupts the metabolism of the malarial parasite, Plasmodium falciparum. While that’s a non-issue for the seaweed itself, it’s good news to red-blooded humans because the malarial parasite feasts on our oxygen-carrying hemoglobin. As the parasite masticates hemoglobin, free heme molecules are released. To protect themselves from the toxicity of free heme, the parasite transforms it into nontoxic hemozoin. It’s this transformation that bromophycolide A disrupts, leaving the parasite vulnerable to the toxic crumbs left at its dining table.\n\nMultifunctionality is a common characteristic of natural chemical compounds. Often, each of the functions is utilized by the organism producing the compound, such as beetles’ chitin-based covering that provides, among other functions, hard shielding, waterproofing, and coloring.\n\nIn the case of the Fijian red seaweed, an organic compound called bromophycolide A serves as an antifungal agent. This same compound also disrupts the metabolism of the malarial parasite, Plasmodium falciparum. While that’s a non-issue for the seaweed itself, it’s good news to red-blooded humans because the malarial parasite feasts on our oxygen-carrying hemoglobin. As the parasite masticates hemoglobin, free heme molecules are released. To protect themselves from the toxicity of free heme, the parasite transforms it into nontoxic hemozoin. It’s this transformation that bromophycolide A disrupts, leaving the parasite vulnerable to the toxic crumbs left at its dining table.\n\nChemists have examined the chemical architecture of bromophycolide A to determine which functional groups decorating the molecule play key roles in the antimalarial process. It appears that carbon atoms at positions 15 and 18 (see structure diagram) play key roles, the former designed with functional groups that do not facilitate hydrogen bonding with free heme and carbon 18 designed to promote it. Such results will provide insight for potential future designs of bromophycolide-inspired antimalarial compounds. It is not clear at this time if the antifungal activity of bromophycolide uses a similar mechanism."}, {"Source": "cucumber's leaf", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "disorient males", "Function2": "prevent attack", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/leaves-disorient-beetles-prevent-attack/", "Strategy": "Leaves Disorient Beetles, Prevent Attack\n\nThe leaves of cucumbers prevent infestation by beetles by releasing a chemical that mimics that of female beetles, disorienting the males.\n\n“Under normal conditions, for example, a young cucumber plant can disorient many of the small beetles that live on its leaves. The male beetles need to find mates at one time or another in the summer and, being short-sighted, they do so by sniffing for the distinctive chemical cloud which a female of their species produces. A healthy cucumber–one that’s well spaced from its fellow plants—is quite capable of producing a cunning duplicate of that chemical. It sprays the stuff out all around the male beetle. The insect turns about in place, desperately trying to find the true location of its mate in the rising haze. The male fails to find her, or at least gets delayed, and the cucumber is less likely to be chewed by hordes of baby beetles.” (Bodanis 1992:81)"}, {"Source": "papaya stem", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "turgor pressure", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/stem-grows-tall/", "Strategy": "Stem Grows Tall\n\nStem of papaya grows tall because turgor pressure in cells is so high\n\nPapaya plants can reach up to 12 meters in height and look like trees. However, they lack wood and are in fact some of the world’s largest herbs. Wood is how trees are able to withstand the forces required to grow so large, so how do papayas, which often grow in regions subject to frequent high winds, manage to stand tall without wood?\n\nThe answer is a mixture of factors. Papayas, like all large plants, have two sets of vessels responsible for transporting water up from the roots, and sugars down from the leaves. The two sets of vessels have very different physical characteristics and, in papayas, these work together to make a stronger stem. The phloem, which transports sugars down from the leaves, can withstand tension (stretching) forces, while the xylem, which transports water up from the roots, is able to withstand compression (squeezing).\n\nAs well as the pairing of xylem and phloem, papayas also use turgor pressure to grow so tall. Plant cells are like bags of water surrounded by a rigid box (the cell wall). If water is lost from the bag, the walls of the box can collapse, while if the wall breaks, the bag can be squashed. Together, however, the water-filled bag inside the cell wall is strong. This mechanism is how all herbaceous plants stand up and you can see it in the wilting of your house plants if you forget to water them. Turgor pressure is the water pressure inside the cell and wilting happens when plants suffering from drought cannot maintain sufficient turgor pressure and their cells collapse under the weight of the plant’s own tissues. In papayas, the turgor pressure is much higher than other plants (up to 1.25 MPa), enabling it to grow taller. It would be disastrous for a plant as large as a papaya to wilt, they preferentially protect the turgor pressure in their stems and instead drop their oldest leaves when subjected to drought.\n\nBut even this isn’t the whole story, and a combination of all these factors is needed to grow so tall. The xylem cells of papaya plants are full of water and it is here their high turgor pressure is most important. The xylem tubes are arranged in a hexagonal array in the middle of the stem, and the cells that make them up bulge out. This puts a constant stretching force on the phloem tubes that form the outer layer of the stem. In this way, the complementary properties of the xylem and phloem and the high turgor pressure of the cells inside the stem all work together, enabling papayas to achieve great heights."}, {"Source": "hedgehog's hibernation", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "slow metabolism", "Function2": "decrease organ function", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/hibernation-induces-dramatic-physiological-changes/", "Strategy": "Hibernation Induces Dramatic\nPhysiological Changes\n\nHibernating hedgehogs slow their metabolism and organ function to a near standstill.\n\nIntroduction\n\nWhen the going gets tough, hedgehogs (Erinaceidae) stop going. These unassuming garden dwellers enter an astoundingly deep state of torpor in which all their bodily functions slow nearly to a standstill.\n\nIn cold winters, they would need to expend lots of energy just to keep their body temperatures warm enough to survive. And food to refuel is scarce. So they conserve the fat supplies that they have diligently accumulated in months when they gorge on vegetation—by means of extreme hibernation.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nIn extreme hibernation hedgehogs’ heart rates decrease from between 190 and 280 beats per minute to just under 14 beats per minute. Their breathing diminishes from 50 breaths per minute when active and 25 when resting all the way down to 13 or fewer. Their body temperature, normally about 95°F (35°C), drops to around 45-50°F (7-10°C).\n\nAll the biochemical reactions in their body slow down, and their organs, from heart to liver to brain, all but cease operating. Their metabolism plummets by 95%, and they expend about 216 times less energy per day. Fat reserves that active hedgehogs would use up in 16 hours last for about 120 days.\n\nMany people mistakenly consider hibernation to be a really deep sleep. But it is distinctly different. Sleep is actually a time of active restoration for the body. During sleep, organs and metabolism don’t shut down as they do in hibernation. They continue to work, though at a resting pace. The process is so distinct and important that every few days or so, hedgehogs briefly come out of hibernation—to sleep.\n\nAll hibernating animals have these short bursts of “arousals” when they burn some fat to raise their body temperatures and turn on their organs for a few hours, before returning to a state of torpor. Scientists speculate that these brief arousals allow hibernating animals to do some minimal maintenance on their vital organs. They catch up on sleep to restore brain function. They may clear gradually accumulating metabolic wastes, rebalance electrolyte levels, prevent muscles from atrophying, or wake up the immune system to combat bacteria that can slip in.\n\nThe Potential\n\nScientists are keenly investigating the physiological mechanisms that allow hibernating animals to shut down vital systems for such long periods without causing damage. Insights could lead to new medical therapies. Among these are ways to prevent tissue damage after strokes, or muscle and bone degeneration in people who haven’t been able to move for long periods because of surgery, injury, or disease.\n\nDoctors could also find better techniques to cool down bodies during cardiac surgeries to reduce the risk of heart and blood vessel damage, and to preserve transplant organs for longer periods to transport them to far-flung patients before the organs deteriorate.\n\nScientists are also exploring how hibernating animals seem to readily remove “tau proteins” that build up in their brains—the same proteins found to accumulate in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease. And they are investigating whether humans can be coaxed into hibernation, enabling years-long space journeys to seem to pass in the very long blink of an eye.\n\nThe Potential Even though insects have a different stress response than humans and other animals, studying it is important because of the role insects play in ecosystems around the world. We depend on the contributions they make, and multiple lines of evidence point to insect populations and diversity plummeting all over. \n\nIn areas where species are threatened, perhaps we can develop methods that adjust their metabolisms to help them thrive in the face of global warming and other human-caused environmental stressors. We may even abandon the use of toxic pesticides, and instead develop land treatments that influence hormones and behavior in more life-friendly ways."}, {"Source": "insect's stress response", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "alter metabolic function", "Function2": "regulate behavior", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/hormones-regulate-stress-insects/", "Strategy": "Hormones Regulate Behavior\nin Response to Stress\n\nA distinct set of hormones alter insect behavior by changing metabolic function during times of stress.\n\nIntroduction\n\nPerhaps because we don’t always notice them, it can be easy to forget the value bugs bring. Many birds, mammals, fish, and reptiles depend on insects for food, making them an integral part of a vast food chain. Insects pollinate flowering plants and crops, providing food indirectly to humans and other large animals. Many insects also help clean our environment, feeding on waste like dung and dead plants and animals.\n\nAlthough the sight of certain insects may cause stress in certain people, insects themselves experience stress from many causes as well. Extreme weather, famine, pesticides, and even crowding can cause stress in insects. Similar to humans and other animals, hormones regulate how insects respond to stress.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nHumans have a “fight or flight” mechanism driven primarily by adrenaline, a hormone classified as a biogenic amine. Insects also produce biogenic amine hormones as their first line of defense to an immediate threat. In humans, the fight or flight response diverts oxygen and blood from less urgent functions to muscles, priming them for action. In insects, these hormones alter metabolism to supply muscles with immediate energy, also mobilizing them to battle or escape from a predator.\n\nHumans and other vertebrates use glucocorticoid hormones to weather longer-lasting stressors. Insects use a related class of hormones, called ecdysiotropins, but other hormones also help them survive extreme conditions. In most cases, these hormones work together to shift metabolism and sustain energy demands. Adipokinetic hormone, for example, provides added energy to wing muscles during stress flight.\n\nHowever, ecdysiotropins and other hormones that influence stress also affect normal insect growth. Adding to the complexity, growing insects undergo metamorphosis—molting or transforming from larva to pupa or from nymph to adult, depending on the type of insect. It’s not yet well understood how stress affects insects in different life stages, and scientists have observed a range of responses. For example, the same injury caused premature molting in younger caterpillars but delayed molting in older ones. Also, some stressors slow growth, while others accelerate it.\n\nThe Potential\n\nEven though insects have a different stress response than humans and other animals, studying it is important because of the role insects play in ecosystems around the world. We depend on the contributions they make, and multiple lines of evidence point to insect populations and diversity plummeting all over. In areas where species are threatened, perhaps we can develop methods that adjust their metabolisms to help them thrive in the face of global warming and other human-caused environmental stressors. We may even abandon the use of toxic pesticides, and instead develop land treatments that influence hormones and behavior in more life-friendly ways.\n\n"}, {"Source": "eider duck's down", "Application": "insulating material", "Function1": "provide warmth", "Function2": "trap heat", "Function3": "block cold wind", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/down-feathers-supply-super-insulation/", "Strategy": "Down Feathers Supply Super Insulation\n\nThe bigger barbules and higher number of microscopic prongs on the down of eider ducks trap more heat than other feathers.\n\nIntroduction\n\nIf you’ve ever braved winter weather in a down jacket or snuggled under a down-filled duvet, you may have wondered: What’s up with down? How can a material that’s literally as light as a feather provide such warmth? The secret is in the structure. And a close look at a down feather reveals how it works.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nTypical outer feathers, like the ones quill pens were made of, don’t have this insulating effect. They have a firm central trunk called a rachis. Stiff shafts called barbs jut diagonally off the rachis to the left and right like branches. The barbs have smaller structures branching off of them called barbules. The barbules have tiny hooks called prongs that grab adjacent barbules, keeping them closely interlocked and aligned. The whole feather structure is basically straight and flat. That makes them great for flying or keeping out water, but not much good for retaining heat.\n\nDown feathers, in contrast, have a short rachis that looks more like a stem than a trunk. Long barbs extend out of the top. But unlike outer-feather barbs, down barbs aren’t stiff. They are soft and flexible, as are their barbules. They billow out in all directions and overlap to form fluffy spheres. Each barbule is more than 10 times thinner than a strand of human hair, but a single feather may contain miles of them.\n\nThe wispy spheres are ideally shaped to splay out and clump together. They fill up empty spaces where air could pass through. They create a cohesive barrier that traps in an insulating layer of air. The down also blocks cold winds from sweeping away the bird’s heat. Because the feathers are flexible, they don’t break when they are compressed, and they quickly fluff out again.\n\nThe feathers of other types of ducks and geese have similar features. But zoom into the down of eider ducks, and you’ll see what puts it in a class of its own.\n\nEider ducks live and nest along the most northern coastlines on Earth. They need to keep warm as they forage for food in icy waters. Beneath their waterproof outer feathers, a layer of down traps heat just the way a down vest does for us. Back on land, they need to protect their eggs from frigid temperatures and fierce winds. This, too, they do with down. Adults pluck down feathers from their breasts to cushion and insulate their nests.\n\nFor these high-performance needs, eiders have developed barbules on their down that are bigger than those of other ducks or geese, so they fill more gaps. Their barbules have more prongs near their tips, and the prongs are shaped like tridents, rather than the two-tine prongs of other birds, so they stick together better. Like tent poles, they keep the ends of the barbules from flying outward, maintaining a heat-trapping tent-like shape. These extra features make eider down feathers even more cohesive and warm—a necessity for living and breeding in the harsh arctic conditions.\n\nThe Potential\n\nBecause down is insulating, light, and compressible, it is an ideal material to make warm jackets, vests, gloves, sleeping bags, and quilts. Revealing the microscopic structures and mechanisms that give eider down its remarkable properties can show people ways to develop synthetic insulating materials that mimic what feathers do naturally.\n"}, {"Source": "dehesa", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "maintain a diversity of products", "Function2": "long-term ecological sustainability", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/ecosystem-has-long-term-sustainability/", "Strategy": "Ecosystem Has Long‑term Sustainability\n\nDehesas maintain a diversity of products and long-term ecological sustainability by sub-optimization of resources.\n\n“The dehesas of the southwestern Iberian Peninsula are ‘man-made’ ecosystems characterised by a savannah-like physiognomy. The trees are viewed as an integrated part of the system, and as a result are planted, managed, and regularly pruned. Palynological and historical evidence of the manipulation of initial ecosystems by man to obtain a savannah-like ecosystem is presented. The ecological functions of the tree are detailed using results obtained at two complementary scales. At the local scale, strong soil structural differences and functional differences in water budget and patterns of water use are observed under and outside the tree canopy. Using the concept of ecosystem mimicry, the two coexistent components of dehesas can be compared to two distant stages of a secondary succession characterised by very different behaviours. At the regional scale, evidence of relationships between tree density and mean annual precipitation over more than 5000 km2 suggests that the structure of these man-made agroecosystems have adjusted over the long-term and correspond to an optimal functional equilibrium based on the hydrological equilibrium hypothesis.” "}, {"Source": "borrelia burgdorferi", "Application": "detection tests", "Function1": "substitute manganese for iron", "Function2": "evade immune defense", "Function3": "avoid detection", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/lyme-disease-bacteria-hide-from-immune-defenses/", "Strategy": "Lyme Disease Bacteria Hide From Immune Defenses\n\nThe Lyme disease pathogen Borrelia burgdorferi has an unusual ability to substitute manganese for iron to build enzymes, which helps it elude immune defenses as well as tests to detect it. \n\nIntroduction \n\nThere’s something about the pathogen that causes Lyme disease that makes it hard to diagnose and treat. Borrelia burgdorferi  is a species of spiral bacteria that somehow eludes the body’s immune defenses. Standard tests don’t detect its presence.\nThis bacteria is transmitted to humans via tick bites. Over the past two decades, the number of infected ticks has skyrocketed. Hundreds of thousands of people suffer from Lyme disease every year. Symptoms include rashes, fever, chills, headaches, fatigue, sweating, dizziness, tremors, and muscle and joint pain. Untreated, these disabling symptoms can persist or resurface for years.\n\nA key way to prevent long-term problems is to start treatment in the critical early stages of infections. But many different medical conditions can cause similar symptoms. Without a valid way to home in on B. burgdoferi, doctors can overlook Lyme disease. Or worse, they can misdiagnose and futilely treat the wrong ailment.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nSo what makes B. burgdorferi different from other bacteria? The answer, as Sherlock Holmes might put it, is elemental. Bacteria typically use iron to make enzymes that they need to grow and function. But scientists have found that Lyme disease-causing bacteria has evolved to substitute iron’s next-door neighbor on the periodic table: manganese.\n\nUnlike most bacteria, B. burgdorferi doesn’t need iron to grow. In standard detection tests, blood, urine, or other samples are cultured in labs to grow bacteria and reveal their presence. But iron-free B. burgdorferi doesn’t grow well in these tests and evades detection.\n\nInstead, Lyme disease tests rely on detecting the presence of antibodies that the body makes to fight bacteria. But it can take a while to produce antibodies. They can also linger from older or different illnesses. So results from Lyme disease antibody tests aren’t very timely, accurate, or easy to interpret.\n\nThe Lyme disease-causing bacteria’s manganese substitution also helps it dodge immune system defense mechanisms. One such mechanism is that the body makes chemicals that inhibit the gut from absorbing iron and sending it into the bloodstream. That makes us anemic, which is why we feel tired and weak when we’re sick. But it also effectively starves most pathogens of the iron they need to build enzymes.\n\nBut not B. burgdorferi. It can continue to make enzymes with manganese instead of iron. Some of these enzymes protect them against another immune defense. The body bombards bacteria with superoxide radicals. These highly reactive molecules damage most bacteria. But B. burgdorferi makes manganese enzymes that neutralize superoxides.\n\nThe Potential \n\nThe discovery opens new avenues to look for novel ways to detect and fight Lyme disease. Humans do not have manganese-containing enzymes. So any therapies that target those enzymes would be effective on B. burgdorferi and safe for people. Additionally, it shows an example of the advantage gained by an organism when it can swap out a resource that other organisms depend on and that  is commonly targeted by both defensive and offensive processes."}, {"Source": "tree trunk", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "reduce wind stress", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/branching-design-lessens-breakage/", "Strategy": "Branching Design Lessens Breakage\n\nBranching design lessens chances of trees breaking by structurally reducing wind stress.\n\n“The graceful taper of a tree trunk into branches, boughs, and twigs is so familiar that few people notice what Leonardo da Vinci observed: a tree almost always grows so that the total thickness of the branches at a particular height is equal to the thickness of the trunk…Eloy [primary investigator], a specialist in fluid mechanics, agreed that the equation had something to do with a tree’s leaves, not in how they took up water, and the force of the wind caught by the leaves as it blew…’Trees are very diverse organisms, and Christophe [Eloy] seems to have arrived at a simple and elegant physical principle that explains how branches taper in size as you go from the trunk, through the boughs, up to the twigs,’ says Marcus Roper, a mathematician at UC Berkeley. ‘It’s surprising and wonderful that no one thought of [the wind explanation] sooner.'” "}, {"Source": "riparian system", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "recover from floods", "Function2": "adapt to floods", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/communities-recover-from-floods/", "Strategy": "Communities Recover From Floods\n\nRiparian systems recover from floods by having plant communities that are adapted to the disturbances.\n\n“Floods also represent major disturbances that influence riparian plant communities. After alluvium is deposited following a flood in a lowland river, here too, succession can occur, with pioneer communities developing initially, to be replaced by young soft-wood communities and then mature hard-wood communities (Decamps and Tabacchi 1994). At any stage though, a new flood may destroy the vegetation and reset the sequence. When large floods are a normal seasonal event, as in many systems with a pronounced snowmelt hydrograph, riparian plant communities are adapted to the situation. In fact, the neat zonation of plant species characteristic of rivers in northern Scandinavia disappears in regulated rivers when the regulation dampens seasonal variations in flow.” "}, {"Source": "caribbean stony coral's branch", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "programmed breakage", "Function2": "prevent total destruction", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/branches-protect-by-breaking/", "Strategy": "Branches Protect by Breaking\n\nBranches of Caribbean stony coral protect the core colony by programmed breakage.\n\n“The Caribbean stony coral Acropora cervicornis forms long, slim branches (a stress increasing shape) supported by brittle skeletal material. We can predict that these corals would break in rapid water flow, yet we find that they thrive on wave-swept forereefs. A. cervicornis do often break, but the broken-off pieces survive and grow. Such ‘programmed breakage’ and growth appears to be the main mechanism of asexual reproduction and dispersal of A. cervicornis colonies…Furthermore, when bits of an organism or colony break off, the flow forces on the whole structure can be reduced, hence partial breakage can prevent total destruction.” "}, {"Source": "tropical rain forest", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "recovery of tropical rain forests", "Function2": "dispersal of seeds", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/seed-dispersal-aids-recovery-from-disturbance/", "Strategy": "Seed Dispersal Aids Recovery From Disturbance\n\nRecovery of tropical rain forests after disturbance depends upon the dispersal of seeds by fruit-eating vertebrates.\n\n“We term this network of species, their dynamic interactions between each other and the environment, and the combination of structures that make reorganization after disturbance possible; the ‘ecological memory’ of the system (21, 22)…The ecological memory is a key component of ecological resilience, i.e. the capacity of the system to absorb disturbances, reorganize, and maintain adaptive capacity (25)…The ecosystem renewal cycle in forests gives rise to a coarse mosaic of patches in different stages of a forest cycle (67), initiated by disturbance and comprising a series of structural phases; commonly recognized are the i) gap (in our terms reorganization), ii) building (exploitation), iii) mature (conservation), and eventually iv) degenerative (release) phases (68, 69)…The gap/reorganization phase is of crucial importance in determining the floristic composition of the entire forest cycle (67). The pattern of reorganization among plants is often dependent on modes of dispersal and the presence or absence of dispersers. In tropical rain forests, vertebrate frugivores are often the main seed vectors (78). In a lowland rain forest in Samoa disturbed by cyclones and fires, seedlings of species dispersed by birds or flying foxes were most abundant in the most severely disturbed area, but this was not the case in less disturbed areas (79). Remnant trees may attract seed-dispersers such as fruit-eating birds and bats (37, 80–82). Vertebrate frugivores can be viewed as keystones in the reorganization phase. In their absence, succession would follow a different trajectory dominated by wind- and passively dispersed plants, and the risk of invasion of wind-dispersed exotic species may increase. In both natural and managed forest landscapes it is essential that ecological memory is maintained.” "}, {"Source": "golden-fronted woodpecker's hyoid bone", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "secure brain", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/hyoid-bone-secures-skull-during-impact/", "Strategy": "Hyoid Bone Secures Skull During Impact\n\nThe hyoid bone of the golden-fronted woodpecker protects the brain from injury by acting as a securing mechanism for the brain.\n\nThe high-speed drumming motion of the golden-fronted woodpecker causes a tremendous amount of stressed force on the animal, termed “incident mechanical excitations.” The hyoid bone, located in the bird’s cranium, secures and diverts vibrational forces away from the brain.\n\nThe hyoid bone is a strong, flexible bone covered in muscle that allows the woodpecker to extend its tongue out of its beak to grab food. It also serves as an attachment site for muscles around the throat, tongue, and head.\n\nThe hyoid bone begins in the nostril of the upper beak, where it divides into two parts between the eyes, and then travels over the top of the skull and around the back. At the base of the skull, the separate pieces rejoin and attach to the muscle of the tongue (see illustration below). The woodpecker not only uses the hyoid bone to gather food for meals, but to protect its brain from neurological trauma. This happens in two ways.\n\nFirst, when the woodpecker pecks, the muscles surrounding the relaxed hyoid bone contract, propelling the tongue forward inside the beak, and even further when collecting food. This tension stabilizes the cranium and spine, acting as a seat belt to prevent excessive movement of the brain.\n\nSecond, the hyoid bone design diverts vibrations (and any forceful impact) away from the cranium. Because of its longer length, the upper beak absorbs more of the shock than the lower beak when striking a surface. The forces then travel up the beak, where they encounter the hyoid bone in the nostril before they hit the spongy bone in the skull. The stress forces then travel along the path of the hyoid bone, rather than continuing to the skull, diffusing into the muscles covering the bone, or traveling to the tongue.\n\nThis strategy was contributed by Allison Miller.\n"}, {"Source": "sacred datura plant's small leaves", "Application": "air conditioning", "Function1": "protect eggs", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/small-leaves-buffer-insect-eggs-from-heat/", "Strategy": "Small Leaves Buffer Insect Eggs From Heat\n\nSmall leaves are more effective at keeping cool and protecting insect eggs from fatally high temperatures.\n\nIntroduction\n\nWhen people overheat, we perspire. The sweat absorbs heat energy from our bodies, converts from a liquid to a gas, and transfers that energy into the air as it rises, cooling us off.\n\nPlants don’t perspire, they transpire—releasing water as vapor through pores on leaf surfaces called stomata. Although plants transpire for more reasons than just cooling off, reducing leaf temperatures is one benefit. And it’s beneficial not just to plants, but to insects like the sphinx moth who lay their eggs upon those leaves.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nA recent study at the University of Arizona showed that transpiration in the sacred datura plant cools smaller leaves more than larger leaves. This makes them better at protecting the eggs which, unlike plants and humans, have no way to regulate their own temperatures.\n\nHeat stimulates transpiration, so it has the largest effect during the hottest part of the day. This is also the time when insect eggs are most at risk of scorching in the sun. During peak afternoon temperatures, the study found that leaves of all sizes were generally cooler than the ambient air. However, the small leaves, with lengths of about two inches, were on average 5.4 °F cooler than large leaves having lengths of about four inches.\n\nThe reason smaller leaves are cooler is that they transpire faster. Why? Because of something called a boundary layer.\n\nIn this diagram, the gold bar represents a cross section of a leaf. The length of a rayrepresents the velocity of the wind at that point. The blue boundary layer is the layer ofslower‑moving air just above the leaf's surface. The farther the wind travels over the leaf, thethicker the boundary layer becomes. Bigger leaves have longer and thicker boundary layers.\n\nThe Potential\n\nBoundary layers are important when designing planes for the pressure differential that gives a wing lift. But what could be done if we engaged their thermal properties? Could we learn to keep buildings inherently cooler or to lower the energy that electronics use to stay cool in hot environments?"}, {"Source": "rainbow mantis shrimp's club", "Application": "stronger human-made materials", "Function1": "resist cracks", "Function2": "absorb impact", "Function3": "prevent crack from forming", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/high-impact-appendage-resists-cracking/", "Strategy": "High‑impact Appendage Resists Cracking\n\nShrimp’s attack club distributes impact among spiraled layers of fibers\n\nIntroduction \n\nIt’s important that things don’t break, whether it’s things like airplanes, bridges, or coffee cups. What if it were your body itself on the line? For some creatures that’s the case, which is why material scientists look to creatures like the rainbow mantis shrimp for ideas about how to make materials stronger.\nThe peacock mantis shrimp, a multi-colored 5-inch crustacean that lives in coral reefs from Guam to East Africa, hunts shellfish by smashing through their hard shells using its club-shaped appendage. Its club travels faster than 50 mph (80 kph), exceeding the speed of a bullet from a .22 caliber gun, traveling so fast that the seawater literally boils in the club’s wake. Their formidable club makes members of this species dicey to keep in an aquarium, because they’ve been known to punch through the glass.\n\nThe 3D model at left illustrates the structure revealed in found in electronscanning microscope image at right of the mantis shrimp’s dactyl club and telson.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nThe mantis shrimp’s club is made of intricately designed material to make it especially crack-resistant. A strong calcium-based mineral surrounds the outside of the club. Below this layer, the club’s design is dominated by the orientation of mineralized fibers.\n\nThe shrimp uses long chains of carbohydrates to attract, orient, and solidify inorganic minerals out of the surrounding seawater. The resulting fibers of calcium carbonate and calcium phosphate are biomineralized into circular layers, which resist sideways expansion during impact, keeping the club together.\n\nBetween these circular layers, sheets of blended (composite) materials made of chitin and protein are stacked one upon the other, each set of fibers rotated slightly from the fiber alignment below. This creates a spiraled structure in cross-section, like a twisted stack of printer paper. This spiraled region of the shrimp’s club helps absorb the impact from each blow, much like a spring, and channels any cracks that do form in the club around within the club’s material, weakening their force and preventing straight cracks from forming and splitting the club apart.\n\nThe Potential\n\nNew human-made materials using insights from the way the rainbow mantis shrimp’s club is designed are much tougher. By one measure, materials inspired by the shrimp’s club were up to 20% stronger than materials made of the same substance but without the shrimp club’s internal architecture. Human-made materials inspired by nature can be used to create stronger and safer things humans use and rely upon daily, such as bridges, buildings, and even the keyboard you’re tapping on."}, {"Source": "araneid spider's web", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "superior performance", "Function2": "nonlinear response to stress", "Function3": "alignment within the geometry of the web", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/web-absorbs-impacts/", "Strategy": "Web Absorbs Impacts\n\nWebs of araneid spiders absorb impacts via microscopic engineering.\n\n“…spider webs owe their superior performance not just to the ultimate strength of the silk thread, but also from its nonlinear response to stress and its alignment within the geometry of the web. The silk nanocrystals are a stacked arrangement with each layer dialed in a different direction. They are held together by weak hydrogen bonds that act together in the stack to resist external force.”"}, {"Source": "vibrio fisheri bacterial colony", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "synchronize bioluminescent light production", "Function2": "cell-to-cell signaling", "Function3": "coordinate light production", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/signalling-synchronizes-bioluminescence/", "Strategy": "Signalling Synchronizes Bioluminescence\n\nMembers of Vibrio fisheri bacterial colonies synchronize bioluminescent light production via a cell-to-cell signalling mechanism known as quorum sensing.\n\n“Although this species can be found in open seawater, it also occupies an unusual ecological niche; V. fischeri is a symbiont, which colonizes the light-producing organ of certain marine fish and squid…Although the potential benefits to the host of having a mobile biological ‘light bulb’ are superficially obvious (attracting prey, repelling predators etc.), the question of precisely how V. fischeri produces light, and why this only occurs at high cell densities, occupied researchers for several years. The problem was all-the-more intriguing since the bacteria within the light organ apparently coordinate their efforts to produce light; the transition to light production is sharp, and involves a concerted effort on behalf of the whole population. A key breakthrough came when Hastings and colleagues discovered that cell–cell signalling lies at the heart of this remarkable biological switch.12,13” "}, {"Source": "wet prairies grasses", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "stimulate flowering", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/environmental-disturbance-promotes-diversity/", "Strategy": "Environmental Disturbance Promotes Diversity\n\nGrasses of wet prairies in South Florida thrive by being adapted to fire during the growing season.\n\n“We measured the effects of prescribed fire during January (dormant season) and May (growing season) on flowering of three perennial grasses, muhly (Muhlenbergia capillaris), gulfdune paspalum (Paspalum monostachyum), and south Florida bluestem (Schizachyrium rhizomatum), which are dominant grasses in wet prairies of south Florida, USA. Flowering was promoted by growing season fire but not by dormant season fire. Flowering was significantly greater for all species following prescribed fire conducted during May compared with areas burned during January of the same calendar year. The strong positive effect of growing season fire on flowering of all three species decreased after the first growing season. We rejected the hypothesis that season of fire did not influence flowering. Our results indicated that flowering by these dominant, wet prairie grasses is promoted by early growing season fire, which corresponds to historical patterns of lightning-ignited fire in south Florida.\""}, {"Source": "golden-fronted woodpecker's brain", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "absorb impact", "Function2": "prevent brain injury", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/spongey-cranium-absorbs-impact/", "Strategy": "Spongey Cranium Absorbs Impact\n\nThe skull of the golden-fronted woodpecker protects it from brain injury by absorbing shock via a plate-like spongey bone in the frontal cranium.\n\nSpecies of woodpeckers, such as the golden-fronted woodpecker, drum with their beak to establish their territories and attract mates. The high-speed pecking motion of the golden-fronted woodpecker causes a tremendous amount of stressed force on the animal. To prevent physical and neurological trauma, the frontal portion of the woodpecker’s skull is comprised of plate-like spongy bone called cancellous bone.\n\nWhen the woodpecker’s beak strikes an object, the high impact force at its tip is relieved by the anatomy of its beak and the spongy hyoid bone. As a result, the stress force from the impact is reduced two to eight times from the beak tip to the point where the beak meets its skull.\n\nOf the forces that do reach the woodpecker’s skull, the unique structure of its cranial bone prevents forces from reaching its brain and cranial cavity. This cranial bone is a mixture of tightly packed, dense compact bone surrounding a deeper bone that is layered in staggered, plate-like structures that create a dense shock absorption system. When forces intersect with this deeper bone, its porous and layered structure scatters frequencies in divergent directions away from the central point of impact. This bone, while flexible, can be fragile on its own. But by being encased in compact bone, the overall system maintains flexibility within, allowing for movement that absorbs shock.\n\nThis diagram represents (A) the point of impact and (B) the point opposite impact that receives residual forces experienced at the point of impact. Illustration by Allison Miller.\n\n The left image above represents a view of the golden-fronted woodpecker’s skull and beak from above. The area highlighted in red is the point of impact that receives residual forces from the bird’s pecking activity.\nIllustration by Allison Miller. \n\nThe photo and illustration at right reflect how the structure of this area is comprised of compact and spongy bone.\nPhoto and illustration taken from Wang et al. under creative commons licensing.\n\nThis strategy was contributed by Allison Miller.\n\nCheck out these related strategies that collectively protect the woodpecker’s brain from impact:\n\nSubarachnoid cavity and brain surface protect brain: Golden-fronted woodpecker\nBone protects brain from injury: Golden-fronted woodpecker\nBeak shape and material composition protect brain: Golden-fronted woodpecker"}, {"Source": "sloth's spine", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "support body weight under tension", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/curved-spine-deals-with-tension/", "Strategy": "Curved Spine Deals With Tension\n\nThe spine of a sloth supports its body weight under tension via curved shape.\n\n“The sloth spends most of its life hanging upside-down from branches. Its skeleton therefore has to cope with tension rather than compression. When it leaves its tree, its belly drags on the ground, because its curved spine is designed to support its body weight from below, not from above, and its legs are too weak to support it.” "}, {"Source": "morpho butterfly's wing", "Application": "self-cleaning surfaces", "Function1": "clean wing surface", "Function2": "reduce adhesive force on water droplets", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/wing-surface-self-cleans/", "Strategy": "Wing Surface Self‑Cleans\n\nHigh surface-area wing texture of Morpho butterfly sheds water and dirt via hydrophobic microstructure.\n\nLike some plants, the wings of many large-winged insects remain dirt-free (e.g., butterflies, moths, dragonflies, lace wings), an obvious advantage for effective flight, and they do so without using chemical detergents or expending energy. This is accomplished by the interaction between the high surface-area multi-scale micro- and nano- topography on their wing surfaces and the physical properties of water molecules.\n\nWhile a variety of specific structures appear in this wing surface topography, all share a similar mathematical set of proportions in the size and distance of protrusions that are associated with superhydrophobicity (extreme non-wettability). For example, butterfly wings show two key repeating structures: the individual scales or squama (roughly 40×80 microns each)  and the micro-relief of raised ridges covering each scale, each between 1000-1500 nm wide.\n\nBecause water and air adhere less well than water and solids, rough, high surface-area folded textures can reduce adhesive force on water droplets, as trapped air in the interstitial spaces of the roughened surface result in a reduced liquid-to-solid contact area. This allows the self-attraction of the polar molecule of water to express more fully, causing it to form spheres. Dirt particles on the wing’s surface stick to these droplets, both due to natural adhesion between water and solids and because contact with the wing surface is reduced by the wing’s micro-topography. The slightest angle in the surface of the wing then cause the balls of water to roll off due to gravity, taking the attached dirt particles with them, cleaning the wing without using detergent or expending energy. Micro- and nano- surface finishes inspired by self-cleaning biological surfaces have now been applied to paints, glass, textiles, and more, reducing the need for toxic chemistries and costly labor.\n\nMulti-scale texturing is also providing a model for dramatically increasing the surface area of many materials."}, {"Source": "amoeba's cell coat", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "withstand high temperature", "Function2": "create homogenous environment", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/cell-coat-provides-impermeability/", "Strategy": "Cell Coat Provides Impermeability\n\nThe cell coat of the amoeba provides an impermeable layer of protection via a series of tightly packed helical proteins protruding from the cell membrane.\n\n“The Pompeii worm is capable of withstanding temperatures as high as 105 °C , and is known as being the most eurythermal metazoan. Experiments carried out by Brisa et al. (2005) demonstrated that A. pompejana influences mineralization processes at the interface between the smoker wall and the ambient oceanic water. The study also indicated that A. pompejana exerts a primary control on its environment by structuring the thermal and chemical gradients, creating a mosaic of micro-environments by the construction of protective tubes. The supply of water through the tube prevents exposure to the extreme temperature spikes and high sulphide concentrations. Circumventing the large erratic changes generally associated with hydrothermal venting, A. pompejana tubes create more homogeneous chemical and thermal microniches and likely play a role in microbial diversity."}, {"Source": "rind of pollen grain", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protect pollen grains", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/rind-resists-rotting/", "Strategy": "Rind Resists Rotting\n\nPollen grains of flowering plants are protected because of a stable, rot-resistant outer rind."}, {"Source": "honeybee", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "cooling of hive", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/water-collection-cools-hive/", "Strategy": "Water Collection Cools Hive\n\nHoneybees cool the hive by collecting water, spreading it, and fanning to increase evaporation.\n\n“Collagens are among the most ubiquitous proteins found in the animal kingdom and can be found in sponges as well as in vertebrates. Collagens are extracellular proteins with triple-helical domains. Among collagens, the most homogeneous subfamily is that of fibrillar collagens. Fibrillar collagens possess a long central triplehelical domain of 330 to 340 GNN triplets, flanked by an amino-propeptide (N-pro) and a carboxyl-propeptide (C-pro). Collagens are of great importance, not only in performing cohesion between cells, but also in cell differentiation and migration. Whereas the interstitial collagen of coastal polychaete worms (e.g. Arenicola marina) is denatured at 28 °C, the collagen of A. pompejana remains stable at 45 °C and is thus the most thermostable fibrillar collagen known. Its collagen is adapted to the hydrothermal vent environment by its stability at higher temperatures and high pressures , and by its associated enzymatic processes, which appear to be optimized under anoxic conditions.\n\n“Honeybee colonies collect water for two reasons, related to different types of weather: for cooling of the brood area by evaporation on hot days, and for feeding the larval brood when foraging is limited on cool days (Lindauer, 1955; Seeley, 1995). The classic studies of Lindauer showed how bees regulate the hive temperature in hot conditions (Lindauer, 1955). Water is collected by water foragers, then distributed around the hive and in cells containing eggs and larvae; fanning accelerates its evaporation, as does regurgitation and evaporation on the tongue (Lindauer, 1955). Visscher and colleagues measured mean water loads of 44 mg in honeybees collecting water under desert conditions (Visscher et al., 1996). Paper wasps and hornets also use water for cooling their nests, but the highly social stingless bees do not (Jones and Oldroyd, 2007; Roubik, 2006).” "}, {"Source": "yew tree's seed", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protect seed", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/poison-protects-seeds/", "Strategy": "Poison Protects Seeds\n\nThe seeds of yew trees are protected from being eaten by large animals because they contain poisonous compounds called taxanes.\n\n“The yew attaches a bright red fleshy covering to its seeds which many birds relish and accordingly transport. Their beaks are not strong enough to damage the seed and that is just as well for it contains a savage poison which can kill bigger animals if they are incautious enough to crush a seed in their mouths.”"}, {"Source": "glass cable", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "increase proline content", "Function2": "increase stabilizing triplets", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/concentric-layers-strengthen-cables/", "Strategy": "Concentric Layers Strengthen Cables\n\nGlass cables that anchor sponges strengthened by concentric layering\n\n“The molecular basis of this thermal behaviour includes the increase in proline content and in the number of stabilizing triplets, which correlate with the outstanding thermostability of the interstitial collagen of A. pompejana. Proline residues are of primary importance in performing cohesion between the chains of the triple helix of collagens i. Biochemical analysis has so far been unable to explain Alvinella‘s collagen thermostability. A molecular genetic approach has been used by Sicot et al. , who have cloned and sequenced a large cDNA molecule coding the fibrillar collagen of Alvinella, including one-half of the helical domain and the entire C-propeptide domain. For comparison, the group also cloned part of the homologous cDNA from Riftia . Comparison of the corresponding helical domains of these two species, together with that of the sequenced domain of the coastal lugworm Arenicola marina , showed that the increase in proline content and in the number of stabilizing triplets correlates with the outstanding thermostability of the interstitial collagen of A. pompejana. Phylogenetic analysis showed that the triple helical and the C-propeptide parts of the same collagen molecule evolve at different rates, in favour of an adaptive mechanism at the molecular level.”"}, {"Source": "soil bacteria", "Application": "antibiotics", "Function1": "stop bacterial growth", "Function2": "break down cell wall", "Function3": "disrupt cell division", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/corbomycin-stops-bacteria-from-breaking-down-its-cell-wall/", "Strategy": "Corbomycin Stops Bacteria From\nBreaking Down Their Cell Walls\n\nCorbomycin from soil bacteria binds to cell walls to prevent bacteria from dividing.\n\nBacteria are tiny cells that can enter the human body and cause infections that make humans sick. In order to get better, the body needs to kill or stop the growth of these bacteria. Doctors give medicines called antibiotics to help the body get rid of an infection. Penicillin is a common antibiotic often used to stop bacteria from growing. It does this by preventing the bacteria from building a cell wall, which makes it difficult for it to grow and reproduce. However, bacteria can build resistance, or develop a defense against antibiotics. This makes the antibiotic less effective at killing the bacteria.\n\nHumans are currently overusing antibiotics, and as a result there are more antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Penicillin, and other antibiotics in the same family, are becoming less effective at killing bacteria. Therefore, scientists have to find a new kind of antibiotic that will stop the growth of bacteria in other ways. One current approach is to disrupt cell division, which prevents bacteria from being able to divide.\n\nFor bacteria to grow, it first needs to reproduce. It does this by dividing into two daughter cells that have the same DNA. For the cell to divide, a special enzyme called  autolysin has to bind to the cell wall and break it down. Once the cell wall is broken, the cells can then divide. If autolysin is disrupted or is not functioning properly, cells cannot divide.\n\nCorbomycin is a compound found in soil bacteria. It works by attaching to the bacterial cell wall and preventing autolysin from binding. As a result, bacterial cells cannot divide and are essentially “trapped” within their own cell walls. Eventually the bacteria die, stopping the infection. Scientists have used corbomycin as an antibiotic for bacteria that are resistant to other antibiotics, and have found that it can effectively kill those bacteria. This gives us a new weapon in our fight against bacterial infections."}, {"Source": "skin of terrestrial frog", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "reduce water loss", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/waterproof-lipid-layer-prevents-desiccation/", "Strategy": "Waterproof Lipid‑layer Prevents Desiccation\n\nThe skin of terrestrial frogs protects from water loss via a waterproof, lipid-containing layer.\n\n“The lipid contents of these organelles appear to consist of stacks of flattened lipid vesicles comprising primarily glycosphingolipids, free sterols and phospholipids, which are precursors of the stratum corneum lipids. Eventually, the lipid contents of the organelles are secreted into the extracellular domain, where they are further processed into compact lipid bilayers that occlude the extracellular spaces among adjacent and overlapping corneocytes, a condition that has been likened to a ‘bricks-and-mortar’ organization. It has been proposed that acylglucosylceramides serve as molecular ‘rivets’ to promote flattening and stacking of lipid vesicles that subsequently fuse edge-to-edge to produce lamellae comprising paired bilayers that are stacked parallel to the skin surface. These form multiple lamellar sheets with smooth surfaces shown in freeze-fracture studies. In this manner, the extracellular lipids form a continuous domain throughout the stratum corneum and function as the principal barrier to water diffusion.”"}, {"Source": "guard cells", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "open and close stomata", "Function2": "maintain cellular water and solutes", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/guard-cells-regulate-gas-and-moisture-exchange/", "Strategy": "How Guard Cells Function\n\nGuard cells use osmotic pressure to open and close stomata, allowing plants to regulate the amount of water and solutes within them. \n\nIn order for plants to produce energy and maintain cellular function, their cells undergo the highly intricate process of photosynthesis. Critical in this process is the stoma. Stomata (multiple stoma) are located on the outermost cellular layer of leaves, stems, and other plant parts. An open stoma facilitates the process of photosynthesis in three ways. First, it allows light to enter the intercellular matter and trigger the process. Second, it allows for the uptake of carbon dioxide, a key chemical in producing plant energy. Third, it allows for oxygen to be expelled into the outside environment, a byproduct of photosynthesis that is no longer needed by the cell.\n\nWhile an open stoma is necessary for the plant to undergo photosynthesis, it comes with a negative side effect: water loss. Over 95% of a plant’s water loss occurs through the stoma via water vapor. Therefore, a delicate balance must be maintained that allows light and gases to pass between cells, and does not put the plant at risk for dehydration.\n\nThis problem is mitigated with guard cells. Guard cells are a pair of two cells that surround each stoma opening. To open, the cells are triggered by one of many possible environmental or chemical signals. These can include strong sunlight or higher than average levels of carbon dioxide inside the cell. In response to these signals, the guard cells take in sugars, potassium, and chloride ions (i.e., solutes) through their membranes. An increase in solutes induces an influx of water across the guard cell membrane. As the volume of the guard cells increase, they “inflate” into two kidney-bean-like shapes. As they expand, they reveal the stoma opening in the center of the two guard cells (similar to a hole in the center of a doughnut). Once fully expanded, the stoma is open and gases can move between the cell and external environment.\n\nThe stoma’s pore closes in the opposite manner. Excess loss of water through the stoma, such as during a drought, triggers chemical reactions that signal water and ions to leave the guard cells. As solutes exit the guard cells, the pair “deflates,” subsequently closing the stoma like two flat balloons.\n\nThis summary was contributed by Allison Miller."}, {"Source": "plant tissue", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protect from tension", "Function2": "resist tension", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/two-phase-composite-tissues-handle-tension/", "Strategy": "Two‑phase Composite Tissues Handle Tension\n\nTissues of plants protect from tension by having a biphasic layer of cellulose microfibers against a matrix of hemicelluloses and lignin.\n\n“The first portion of the biphasic stress-strain curve, exhibiting a high modulus of elasticity and little viscoelasticity, is due to elastic extension. The second portion is explained by yielding of the matrix and slippage of the microfibrils past each other. This leads to a decreased modulus of elasticity and a much higher viscoelasticity. The extension during the first phase causes the microfibrillar angle to decrease…In our case, the cellulose microfibrils may have the ability to align more in the direction of the applied strain and in turn take up increasingly more load.” (Kohler and Spatz 2002:38,40)"}, {"Source": "catnip's nepetalactone", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "repel insects", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/chemical-repels-insects/", "Strategy": "Chemical Repels Insects\n\nThe chemical defense system of catnip may repel insects with the chemical nepetalactone.\n\n“Anisomorphal [a chemical named for insect, Anisomorpha, a walking-stick that uses it as a defensive spray] bore a chemical resemblance to, of all things, catnip. Formally known as nepetalactone, and produced by a plant of the mint family (Nepeta cataria), catnip derived its reputation from its peculiar ability to excite cats. That property, surely, had nothing to do with whatever the compound did for the plant that produced it. It occurred to me that I was now in a position to propose a natural function for nepetalactone. Could the compound not be defensive like anisomorphal, and serve to protect the plant itself? I got some pure nepetalactone from Jerry–by coincidence it was he who had determined the structure of the compound–and did some simple tests, in which I showed the chemical to be a potent insect repellent. I found that insects would quickly fly off or walk away if I pointed at them a capillary tube filled with nepetalactone, and that ants would shy away from insect baits that I had laced with the compound. It was clear that plant and insect had hit upon a common defensive strategy here, in the sense that they had both evolved the capacity to produce similar substances for a similar purpose…Interestingly, anisomorphal is now known also to be produced by a plant. Not surprisingly, that plant, cat thyme (Teucrium marum), is also a member of the mint family (Labiatae). And nepetalactone itself has been shown to be produced by a species of walking-stick.” "}, {"Source": "animal's arterial wall", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "resist stretch disproportionately", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/arterial-walls-resist-stretch-disproportionately/", "Strategy": "Arterial Walls Resist Stretch Disproportionately\n\nThe arterial walls of many animals resist stretch disproportionately by incorporating non-stretchy collagen fibers in a particular arrangement.\n\n“In effect, Laplace’s law rules out the use of ordinary elastic materials for arterial walls, requiring that an appropriate material fight back against stretch, not in direct proportion to how much it’s stretched, but disproportionately as stretch increases. Which, again in obedience to the dictates of the real world, our arterial walls do–aneurysms, fortunately, remain rare and pathological. We accomplish the trick first, by incorporating fibers of a non-stretchy material, collagen, in those walls, and second, by arranging those fibers in a particular way. Thus, as the wall expands outward, more and more of these inextensible fibers are stretched out to their full lengths and add their resistance to stretch to that of the wall as a whole…Arterial walls that resist stretch disproportionately as they extend characterize circulatory systems that have evolved within lineages quite distinct from our own–in cephalopods and arthropods, for instance. Recruitable collagen fibers don’t represent the only possible solution to the basic problem, and they’re not nature’s inevitable choice.” (Vogel 2003:7-8)\n\n“The most important mechanical property of the artery wall is its non-linear elasticity. Over the last century, this has been well-documented in vessels in many animals, from humans to lobsters. Arteries must be distensible to provide capacitance and pulse-smoothing in the circulation, but they must also be stable to inflation over a range of pressure. These mechanical requirements are met by strain-dependent increases in the elastic modulus of the vascular wall, manifest by a J-shaped stress–strain curve, as typically exhibited by other soft biological tissues. All vertebrates and invertebrates with closed circulatory systems have arteries with this non-linear behaviour, but specific tissue properties vary to give correct function for the physiological pressure range of each species. In all cases, the non-linear elasticity is a product of the parallel arrangement of rubbery and stiff connective tissue elements in the artery wall, and differences in composition and tissue architecture can account for the observed variations in mechanical properties. This phenomenon is most pronounced in large whales, in which very high compliance in the aortic arch and exceptionally low compliance in the descending aorta occur, and is correlated with specific modifications in the arterial structure.” "}, {"Source": "watercress plant cell", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "resist compression", "Function2": "absorb impact", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/tetradecahedral-shaped-cells-resist-compression-2/", "Strategy": "Shape of Cells Resists Compression\n\nTetradecahedral-shaped cells allow for maximal packing space while also resisting compression.\n\nWatercress is a species of aquatic plant native to Asia and Europe. It grows in rivers where it is subject to constant pressure from the flow of water, high flow rates after rain, and impact by any debris caught in the current.\n\nOptimally filling a designated space is one of the major challenges of efficient packing. A space is considered to be optimally packed when a maximum number of objects of a designated shape is able to fill a container, with a minimal amount of space between each object. Different shapes offer varied packing efficiencies, depending on the size of the container being filled. Certain packing problems have optimal solutions for different shapes within a given container. For example, there is an optimal packing solution for same-sized circles in a square container.\n\nOne shape that is excellent for packing is a tetradecahedron, which has fourteen faces, eight hexagonal and six square, where all the sides of all the hexagons and all the squares are equal. If soft spheres—like plant cells—are squeezed together in a confined space, they will naturally take on a tetradecahedral shape, because this is the optimal packing configuration. Because the cells in this configuration are packed so tightly together, this packing design is also very compression-resistant.\n\nThe cells that are packed into the stems of watercress plants are tetradecahedral-shaped, which allows the stem to absorb damage from impact more effectively, making the stem less prone to breaking in fast flowing water."}, {"Source": "amazon water lily's ribbed underside", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "provides structural support", "Function2": "support small loads", "Function3": "sustain weight up to 70 pounds", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/ribbed-structure-provides-support/", "Strategy": "Ribbed Structure Provides Support\n\nThe ribbed underside of the Amazon water lily provides structural support to keep the leaf afloat and sustain small loads.\n\nMany plants that grow near the banks of rivers will float their leaves on the surface, to allow their seeds to be carried downstream and pollinate other areas. In order to ensure a long trip, leaves that are able to float on the surface can ensure maximum sun absorption for photosynthesis. The larger a leaf is, the more surface area it can expose for photosynthesis, and the more aggressively it can compete with other leaves for space on the surface of the water. One of the most extreme examples of this is the leaves of the Amazon water lily, which float on the water of the Amazon river basin and grow up to several meters across. Its massive surface area allows it to maximize sun exposure, but also makes it more difficult to keep afloat and makes it susceptible to damage from animals that use the leaves as a means to get across the river. To cope with this, the Amazon water lily has a significant support system on the underside of its leaves, which allow it to sustain weights up to 70 pounds, while still remaining afloat.\nUnderneath each leaf is a ribbed, girder-like support structure that helps the leaf support small loads and hold a rigid shape, in order to maximize surface area exposure for photosynthesis. The structure consists of a main rib that runs along the center of the leaf, with additional ribs that radiate from the center and incrementally fork along the leaf. The ribs themselves are flat, wall-shaped structures, and the thickness of the ribs decreases towards the edge of the leaf. All of the ribs are filled with air, which helps to reduce the total weight of the structure and also helps keep the leaf afloat. Neighboring ribs are connected to each other by a pattern of radial webbing forming loose concentric circles that emanate from the center of the leaf. This webbing provides additional structural support without adding excess weight."}, {"Source": "bacteria's biofilm", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "form a protective layer", "Function2": "form complex, starburst-like patterns", "Function3": "form wrinkles", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/bacterial-biofilms-form-wrinkles-as-they-grow/", "Strategy": "Bacterial Biofilms Form Wrinkles as They Grow\n\nThe shape and structure of bacterial biofilms is dependent on food availability and the surface it grows on\n\nAs bacteria multiply, they often form a protective layer to keep themselves safe. This layer is called a biofilm. It is a slimy, sticky protective layer that covers the bacteria and protects it from environmental stressors, such as high heat or toxic chemicals. It is made up of a gel the bacteria produce (called “extra-polymeric substance”, EPS), and other captured particles. Common examples of biofilms include dental plaque, the slippery gel found on rocks in streams, and the orangey-coating that appears in your toilet bowl if it isn’t regularly cleaned!\n\nAs a bacterial colony grows, their biofilms will often form complex, starburst-like patterns. The growth of the biofilm depends on many factors, but one of the most important is the availability of food. If a biofilm forms on a surface that has food on it, the bacteria will finish the food and will then grow in all directions to find more food, creating a circular shape. This circular growth maximizes food consumption and increases the chances of finding food because the colony is growing in all directions at once.\n\nAs the colony grows, sometimes an individual bacterium will eat faster than the others. This causes a part of the biofilm to stretch out in a certain direction. When the food runs out in that area, the bacteria stop growing in that direction and need to find another direction to grow in. To picture this, imagine a highway full of people trying to get off at a certain exit. One day, the exit closes and everyone needs to use a different exit. Suddenly there is a really long line of traffic because everyone is trying to find another route.  When the bacteria hit this kind of ‘traffic jam’ and need to move in a different direction, they start to grow on top of one another. This causes ‘wrinkles’ to occur in the biofilm. A biofilm can have several wrinkles that form different patterns of peaks and valleys (see video here).\n\nIn addition to food, scientists have also found that biofilm growth patterns are also affected by the type of surface they grow on. On soft surfaces, such as styrofoam or skin, biofilms start growing as a flat layer but later become wrinkled. This is because it is easy for a biofilm to grow smoothly in all directions and it takes longer for wrinkles to form. On hard surfaces, such as a rock or plastic, it is harder for the bacteria to grow in all directions at once. Because of this, wrinkles form very quickly in the biofilm, and these wrinkles are closer to the center ."}, {"Source": "seahorse's square tail", "Application": "search and rescue robots", "Function1": "help grip", "Function2": "hold on securely", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/the-seahorse-has-a-square-tail-to-help-it-grip-objects/", "Strategy": "Square Tail Helps Grip\n\nThe square tail of the seahorse helps give it extra grip when hunting for prey.\n\nIntroduction\n\nWhile most fish use their tails for swimming, seahorses, a type of fish found in shallow, tropical waters, use their tails in another way. Their long tail is excellent for grabbing and holding onto things. Seahorses will grab an object, like seaweed or a piece of coral, and hold on with their tail when they want to hide from predators or hunt for food. They easily blend in with the coral or seaweed and when food such as plankton or a small fish floats by, they can easily grab it.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nThe seahorse tail is designed to help the seahorse grip onto these objects, allowing the seahorse to stay in one place without tiring itself out. Even though a seahorse’s tail looks curly and round from the side, when viewed up close, its bone structure is square shaped, which helps create extra grip.\n\nThe seahorse tail is made up of four small “L” shaped plates that are arranged to form a square. These squares are stacked on top of each other, creating the long tail. Because the square shape has flat, long sides the seahorse can use more of its tail to grip around an object and hold it more firmly. One way to imagine this is a car tire.  A car tire is a circular shape from the side, but is flat where it contacts the road, so that more of it can touch the road and help control the car, as shown in the sketch below.  If a car tire was more rounded where it touched the road, only a small point of the tire would touch the ground, and the tires would not help control the car as well. This is also true of the seahorse: if its tail was made up of circular bones, there would be less contact area for it to grip onto objects with.\n\nWhen the seahorse grips onto an object, the four plates contract and slide past each other. This flexibility also makes it easier for the seahorse to adjust or tighten its grip. As it releases its grip, the bones slide back into their original position. The ability to have a tighter grip allows the seahorse to hold on more securely when the ocean currents are strong, allowing it to hunt for prey more effectively.\n\nThe Potential\n\nWhen designing robots to perform tasks, it might seem like mimicking human hands would be the best choice to achieve a wide range of finite and precise movements. But nature has evolved many techniques for gripping objects, each suited for particular tasks. For example, the seahorse’s tail-gripping mechanism might be ideal for machines doing work underwater or in applications where material may be slippery. Because seahorse tails are flexible, they can bend and resist damage. Similar flexibility may help search and rescue robots navigate precarious environments to save humans."}, {"Source": "mulberry plant's rough leaves", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "prevent infection", "Function2": "confuse fungal spores", "Function3": "mask the regular features", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/rough-leaves-prevent-infection/", "Strategy": "Rough Leaves Prevent Infection\n\nRough leaves on mulberry plants prevent infection by confusing fungal spores after they germinate.\n\nPlants need to keep their air passages clear and healthy, just as animals do. Plants “breathe” by taking in air through holes (called stomata) on the surface of their leaves. These pores are often surrounded by raised ridges. Stomata are necessary for a plant to survive, but they are also a point of entry for potential pathogens—microorganisms that can cause disease. Fungi like powdery mildew and rusts use these holes to enter and infect leaves.\n\nAfter landing on a leaf, fungal spores germinate and put out thin thread-like tubes (called hyphae). These tubes explore the leaf’s surface looking for stomata. When the hyphae find a pore, they enter and fill it. From there they grow into the plant tissue, digesting and consuming it.\n\nHow do fungi find these pores? It turns out they respond to the texture of the leaf surface. Rusts recognize ridges on the plant surface and grow at right angles to them, increasing their chance of locating stomata, while powdery mildew recognizes the shape of special cells around the stomata and uses them as a cue.\n\nMulberry trees live in wet climates that can put plants at greater risk of infection by fungi. Some species of mulberry, however, have evolved unique texturing on their leaves. These surface patterns confuse fungal hyphae, masking the regular features that otherwise signal the presence of stomata.\n\nFungal hyphae cannot penetrate directly through the leaf surface that they land on and must enter through stomata. And hyphae can’t revert to spore form once they germinate. By masking their stomata, mulberry leaves cause fungal spores to exhaust their energy and die before they can find a way into the leaf for food.\n\nThe mulberry’s approach to protecting its stomata could inspire new ways of controlling fungal growth on other surfaces."}, {"Source": "macadamia tree's nut shell", "Application": "hard shell", "Function1": "resistance to cracking", "Function2": "fullerene-like surface structure", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/shell-provides-resistance-against-cracking/", "Strategy": "Shell Provides Resistance Against Cracking\n\nThe outer shells of the nuts of macadamia trees are extremely resistance to cracking due to its fullerene-like surface structure\n\n“The stones of the macadamia fruits are generally called ‘macadamia nuts’. They are very hard to crack with fracture toughness comparable with that of glass and many ceramics, and their work of fracture is about an order of magnitude higher than that of high quality structural ceramics .”\n\n“The macadamia hardshell owes its extreme resistance against external cracking to its advanced fullerene-like* surface construction with additional elastic stiffeners. The polygons are about 50 μm wide and appear to consist of flat lying fibres according to the structure of the fractured hardshell in Figure 8 with overwhelming ends of bundles there. The round stiffeners are likely candidates for the bundles of fibres that end normal to the spheroid surface of the hardshell. This architecture is the reason for the extreme cracking toughness of the 160 μm thick shell.”"}, {"Source": "sea turtle's shell", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protect inner organs from impact", "Function2": "provide flexibility", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/bone-sutures-protect-and-flex/", "Strategy": "Bone Sutures Protect and Flex\n\nSutures between bony plates protect from impact and provide flexibility\n\nPlate shaped bones are found in the crania (skulls) of vertebrates as well as in the shells of turtles and tortoises. In skulls as well as in shells, these bones protect the inner organs from impact, but they must also be able to accommodate movement and growth.\n\nAt birth, there are gaps between the plates of a baby’s skull. As the baby develops, the plates grow and fuse so that by around 18 months of age, the gaps have disappeared. However, the bones do not completely fuse and the joins between them, called cranial sutures, are packed with soft connective tissue and function as very stiff joints. These joints provide a mixture of protection and flexibility that enable the cranium to accommodate the growing brain. Cranial sutures do finally ossify (become solid bone), but not until we are around 30 years of age, when the brain has finally ceased to grow. In turtles, the shell is formed when bony plates that grow between the ribs fuse. Fusion occurs after the turtle has hatched and remains a stiff but slightly flexible suture joint for its entire life.\n\nSutures have a unique structure: they form wavy interdigitations, with bone from each adjoining plate inserting finger-like projections into the plate next to it. This forms the very wiggly line that gives the feature its name.\n\nLike vertebrate skulls, turtle shell sutures are also highly wavy. In their case, however, the interdigitations form in three dimensions, meaning the sutures are wavy through the shell as well as along it. In a turtle shell, impact protection is the primary function, and so resistance is critical. However, various internal organs required for movement and respiration are attached to the inside of the shell and these can be more efficiently carried out if the structure has some flexibility. When impacted, the finger-like projections of sutures “jam,” increasing toughness. The higher the degree of interdigitation, the better the impact resistance of the bone.\n\nBone sutures are less tolerant to bending than non-sutured flat bone; however, the sutures have greater impact resistance. In this way, turtle shells and our skulls combine the flexibility needed to grow and move with protection from hard knocks."}, {"Source": "springtail's skin", "Application": "water and oil repellent fabric", "Function1": "repel liquids", "Function2": "trap air bubble", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/overhang-structures-repel-various-liquids/", "Strategy": "Overhang Structures Repel Various Liquids\n\nSkin of springtails repels liquids with undercut structures that stabilize air bubbles.\n\nDesign application: water and oil repellent option for fabric surfaces.\n\nSpringtails are tiny arthropods less than 6mm long. They get their name from their furcula, a tail-like appendage that they can use to launch themselves large distances and out of danger. Springtails live in moist leaf litter and other decaying organic matter where they primarily eat dead plant material and fungi. Springtail habitats are wet and, as these animals respire through their skin, repelling moisture is critically important for their survival. They are evolutionarily ancient and are very well adapted to this challenging environment that is full of oily substances released from decaying matter, as well as potentially harmful microorganisms.\n\nSurface roughness is important for repellency as textured surfaces trap an air bubble (or plastron) at the surface, preventing water and other substances from contacting it directly. Water’s surface tension makes it relatively easy to repel, and many organisms have rough surfaces that function in this way. Springtail skin is remarkable in that it resists a far wider range of substances, including oils and other low surface tension liquids, even when subjected to high pressure.\n\nSpringtail skin is rough across multiple length scales. It has relatively large bumps that are themselves coated in smaller “primary granules”. Primary granules are unique and convoluted structures approximately 250 nm across. Made from even folds in the skin, they are arranged in a regular lattice, forming nano-scale cavities that trap air. The granules have undercut overhangs that orient surface-tension forces in a way that makes the structures exceptionally effective at stabilizing the plastron. This gives springtail skin its incredible repellency."}, {"Source": "pomelo skin", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "absorb impact", "Function2": "protects against impact", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/pressurized-struts-dissipate-impact/", "Strategy": "Pressurized Struts Dissipate Impact\n\nSkin of pomelos absorb impact by rupturing fluid-filled struts\n\nThe pomelo, or Citrus maxima, is the largest citrus fruit in the world. The fruits usually weigh around 2 kg and occasionally as much as 6 kg, while the trees reach 15 meters in height. Such large fruit falling from such a height are at risk of being damaged by the impact, but to maximize their chances of reproducing, the trees need the fallen fruit to stay good for as long as possible. This gives time to the animals that eat pomelos to find them, carry them away, and spread the eaten seeds. The trees are native to hot and humid regions and any splits in the skin caused by the fall will give access to microorganisms that cause fruit to spoil. To protect from impact, pomelos have a compressible skin 2-3 cms thick. Most citrus fruit have been altered by selective breeding, but the pomelo is one of the three “true” citrus and so its thick skin is due to the need to protect the fruit and not due to human intervention.\n\nThe skin of the pomelo has multiple layers. The outermost layer, called the exocarp, is densely packed with cells. The next layer, which forms the bulk of the peel, is called the mesocarp. Inside the mesocarp is the endocarp, which contains all the seeds and pulp segments of the fruit. The mesocarp, or pith, is the layer primarily responsible for protecting the fruit from impact, and it is an open porous foam. That is, the mesocarp is made of many air cells that are interconnected with each other. When the fruit falls, these air pockets collapse like a cushion, absorbing the energy of impact, protecting the endocarp and exocarp from damage. Unlike a simple foam cushion, the struts that make up the physical structure of the foam mesocarp are fluid-filled and under pressure. Rupturing these struts absorbs even more energy and ensures the pomelo is exceptionally good at surviving a fall.\n\nLayered materials can separate under stress, or become delaminated. When this occurs they lose their physical properties. The layers of the pomelo are not clearly defined. Instead, the exocarp gradually transitions into mesocarp that at first has small air-filled gaps that become gradually larger closer to the center of the fruit. By gradually transitioning from a dense, tough, material to a soft foamy one, the fruit cannot delaminate and its protective nature is preserved."}, {"Source": "siberian hamsters' macrophages", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "respond differently to pathogens", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/photoperiod-affects-immune-response/", "Strategy": "Photoperiod Affects Immune Response\n\nMacrophages in Siberian hamsters respond differently to pathogens depending on the photoperiod.\n"}, {"Source": "tiger moth", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "interfere with bat sonar signal", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/clicking-noises-interfere-with-predators-sonar/", "Strategy": "Clicking Noises Interfere With Predators’ Sonar\n\nClicking noises released by the tiger moth interfere with predatory bat sonar signals by distorting the echo signature.\n\nTiger moths are common prey for bats, which use sonar (echolocation) vibrations to locate them; the bats rely on sonar echoes bouncing off of a prey’s body to determine its position. In addition to flight, tiger moths have developed another mechanism to avoid being eaten: sonar jamming. When a tiger moth detects a sonar signal, it releases a series of ultrasonic clicks that mix with the echoing signals the bat requires to locate it.\n\nMoths are able to effectively distinguish between false and actual predatory threats based on the pulse interval and intensity of the bat’s sonar."}, {"Source": "crab-eating frog's plasma", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "top up the ionic concentration with urea", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/plasma-maintains-salt-balance/", "Strategy": "Plasma Maintains Salt Balance\n\nThe plasma of crab-eating frogs allows them to survive in salt water by topping up the ionic concentration with non-ionic solute urea.\n\n“Adult frogs have a different, and rather more unusual, method of osmotic regulation. Instead of being osmoregulators and maintaining an imbalance between the osmotic concentration of their internal fluids and that of the exterior, they are partial osmoconformers. Internal osmotic concentration is matched with that of the exterior, at least in a hyperosmotic medium. This is brought about not by manipulating ion levels, but by ‘topping up’ the ionic concentration of the plasma with the non-ionic solute urea CO(NH2)2 (Fig. 3.4). Other amphibia show slightly raised urea levels in conditions of water shortage, but employing high urea levels to maintain osmotic balance with the environment is a habit shared only with elasmobranch fish (sharks, skates and rays) (Gordon et al. 1961). Urea is the standard nitrogenous excretory product of ordinary adult amphibia, and is normally voided at the earliest convenient opportunity. Indeed, given the solubility of urea, it is not an easy substance for a largely aquatic animal to retain, and it is not understood how Rana cancrivora [Fejervarya raja] achieves this. Not only is it soluble and difficult to retain, urea is toxic: the concentrations of urea that occur in the frog’s plasma at exterior salinities of 80 per cent sea water, should denature enzymes and affect the binding of oxygen by haemoglobin. Somehow Rana cancrivora copes with these hazards.” "}, {"Source": "blue tit female", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "prevent infection", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/plant-fragments-prevent-infections/", "Strategy": "Plant Fragments Prevent Infections\n\nBlue tit females protect their chicks from pathogenic bacteria by selectively placing fragments of certain aromatic plants in their nests.\n\nBlue tits make nests in holes and hollows that can become quite warm and damp as the chicks mature. This creates an optimal environment for the growth of pathogenic bacteria and parasites like blow fly larvae that can create severe health problems for the chicks. To promote healthy growth in the chicks, female blue tits actively seek out fresh fragments of aromatic plants like lavender, yarrow, daisy, and apple mint to place in the nest cup. The complex bouquet of aromatic biochemicals produced by these plants have long been known for their antimicrobial characterstics (though the biochemistry is still poorly characterized). In any case, these plant fragments conferred greater health and survivability upon the chicks by reducing the density of bacterial colonies. Interestingly, they were found to exert a significant effect on bacterial richness in chicks infested with blood sucking blow fly larvae. Sparsely placed bacteria are not able to form biofilms and other communities that increase their pathogenicity. Chicks benefit by being able to devote their nutrient resources for growth rather than for their immune systems. Adult blue tits did not experience any significant decrease in bacterial infection from these plants."}, {"Source": "marine teleost's intestine", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "bicarbonate secretion", "Function2": "water, na+ and cl- absorption", "Function3": "ca2+ absorption", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/intestine-osmoregulates/", "Strategy": "Intestine Osmoregulates\n\nThe intestine of marine teleosts osmoregulates in part due to Cl-/HCO3- exchange.\n\n“Despite early reports of high HCO3 and CO3 concentrations in the gut fluid of marine teleosts, intestinal anion exchange was largely overlooked until recently. HCO3 − secretion occurs in the intestine of marine teleosts via Cl−/HCO3 − exchange across the apical membrane and contributes up to 50–70% to Cl−/fluid absorption. It is well documented that marine fish must drink seawater to combat diffusive water loss to a hyperosmotic environment. As imbibed seawater passes through the gut, Na+ and Cl− absorption occurs via Na+:Cl− and Na+:K+:2Cl− cotransporters, in addition to apical Cl−/HCO3− exchange. Water follows this salt absorption, leaving behind Mg2+ and SO4 − at concentrations often more than three times those of seawater. In contrast, HCO3 − is present in the gut of marine teleosts at values up to 50 times seawater levels as a result of apical Cl−/HCO3 – exchange within the intestine. Bicarbonate secretion may also play a role in calcium homeostasis, inhibiting intestinal Ca2+ absorption by precipitating CaCO3 which is subsequently excreted. Carbonate precipitation concomitantly promotes water absorption, lowering osmolality by removing Ca2+and CO3 2− from solution.” "}, {"Source": "coralline macroalgae's fronds", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "provide flexibility", "Function2": "minimize tension", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/genicular-joints-allow-for-flexibility/", "Strategy": "Genicular Joints Allow for Flexibility\n\nGenicular joints in the fronds of coralline macroalgae provide flexibility and minimize tension due to segmentation.\n\n“Previous studies have demonstrated that fleshy seaweeds resist wave-induced drag forces in part by being flexible. Flexibility allows fronds to ‘go with the flow’, reconfiguring into streamlined shapes and reducing frond area projected into flow. This paradigm extends even to articulated coralline algae, which produce calcified fronds that are flexible only because they have distinct joints (genicula). The evolution of flexibility through genicula was a major event that allowed articulated coralline algae to grow elaborate erect fronds in wave-exposed habitats. Here we describe the mechanics of genicula in the articulated coralline Calliarthron and demonstrate how segmentation affects bending performance and amplifies bending stresses within genicula. A numerical model successfully predicted deflections of articulated fronds by assuming genicula to be assemblages of cables connecting adjacent calcified segments (intergenicula). By varying the dimensions of genicula in the model, we predicted the optimal genicular morphology that maximizes flexibility while minimizing stress amplification. Morphological dimensions of genicula most prone to bending stresses (i.e. genicula near the base of fronds) match model predictions.”"}, {"Source": "ice worm's physiological process", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "increase in adenylate nucleotides", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/biological-processes-continue-at-glacial-temperatures/", "Strategy": "Biological Processes Continue\nat Glacial Temperatures\n\nPhysiological processes in ice worms allow them to survive and function in glacial ice thanks to an increase in adenylate nucleotides and other metabolic adaptations.\n\n“The ice worm, Mesenchytraeus solifugus, is among a few metazoan species that survive exclusively in glacier ice/snow. In this study, we demonstrate that ice worm adenylate levels [i.e. adenosine 5′-triphosphate (ATP), ADP and AMP] are maintained at levels well above their mesophilic counterparts, and that their response to temperature change is distinctly opposite, namely, ice worms increase energy levels as temperatures fall. Initially, this response is characterized by a sharp spike in [ATP] and the adenylate energy charge (even at sub-zero temperatures), which is followed by corresponding increases in [ADP] and [AMP] within a few days. These results suggest that ice worms have evolved a compensatory mechanism by which gains in adenylate nucleotides off-set, at least in part, the inherent lethargy and death usually associated with cold temperature.\n“…Ice worms are distinguished from freeze-tolerant and freeze-avoiding invertebrates—including several annelid species inhabiting arctic regions (e.g. [Somme and Birkemoe, 1997 and Pedersen and Holmstrup, 2003])—by their ability to maintain all biological processes at 0 °C. Freeze-tolerant/avoiding invertebrates are capable of surviving temperatures well below the lower viable limit of ice worms (i.e. ice worms have been supercooled to ≈−6.8 °C but are killed by freezing; [Edwards, 1986]), but the former requires several months of temperate climate each year to complete their life cycle. Cold-hardiness in these organisms is achieved by a variety of mechanisms including dehydration and sugar accumulation ( Holmstrup and Sjursen, 2001 and Holmstrup et al., 2002]). While the overwintering behavior of ice worms remains unknown, it has been proposed that they burrow beneath the insulating snowfall of temperate glaciers where temperatures remain near 0 °C .”"}, {"Source": "venus’ flower basket sea sponge's silica skeleton", "Application": "light-weight implants", "Function1": "tough", "Function2": "stable", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/glass-skeleton-is-tough-yet-flexible/", "Strategy": "Glass Skeleton Is Tough Yet Flexible\n\nThe silica skeleton of the Venus’ flower basket sea sponge is tough and stable because multiple levels of organization each help to manage forces.\n\nIntroduction \n\nVenus’ flower basket (Euplectella aspergillum) is a marine animal that lives anchored to the deep ocean floor near the Philippines. Looking more like delicate sculptures than animals, these tube-shaped sea sponges typically stand 10 to 30 cm tall and filter tiny food particles from the seawater as it flows through their bodies. Also known as glass sponges, their cylindrical skeletons are made out of silica, the main component of glass. While glass is normally a brittle and fragile material, the Venus’ flower basket’s skeleton is tough and stable owing to its composition and how it’s organized. There are at least six levels of organization in the skeleton that span from nanometers to centimeters in size.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nThe sponge’s glass skeleton is made up of spicules, tubule structures of concentric layers of amorphous hydrated silica separated by thin organic layers, like a Parisian pastry with just a tease of sweet cream between flaky crusts. But these thin organic layers go a long way to impart the spicules with considerable toughness. Even the pair of symbiotic shrimp that live their lives trapped within each Venus’s woven glass basket can’t break out. Unlike biomineralization in other organisms such as the abalone, the mineral portion does not appear to have a regular crystalline pattern. Experiments suggests that the silica layers are made up of colloidal spheres of silica about 50 to 200 nm in diameter, which are in turn made up of smaller spheres about 2.8 nanometers in diameter. By comparison, the smallest sand grains on a beach (also usually silica) are about 60 nm in diameter.\n\nEach spicule consists of alternating layers of inorganic silica and organic compounds, all around a central protein filament. The inorganic layers are made from hydrated silica nanoparticles and are relatively stiff. The organic layers, however, appear to be weaker and able to absorb energy. This laminated organization of alternating stiff and weak layers can prevent cracks at the surface of a spicule from spreading deep into the core.\n\nThe Potential \n\nWhen we think of engineered supports, we often think of giant columns that bolster skyscrapers or huge cables that suspend bridges. By looking at the glass sponge, we can imagine materials manufactured with layered internal structures that make them inherently robust but flexible. Such materials could become light-weight implants to replace joints or bones. If applied to transportation, similar materials could provide safety and strength while minimizing weight and therefore fuel consumption."}, {"Source": "cellulose", "Application": "biofoam", "Function1": "strong", "Function2": "flexible", "Function3": "lightweight", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/nanocrystals-isolated-from-cellulose-have-unique-properties/", "Strategy": "Nanocrystals Isolated From\nCellulose Have Unique Properties\n\nNanocrystals isolated from cellulose are strong, flexible, and lightweight\n\nThe use of fossil fuels, such as the gasoline we put in our cars, emits large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Styrofoam, which is commonly used in packing and shipping, is made from fossil fuels. This means that the more we use styrofoam, the more carbon dioxide is being emitted into the atmosphere.\n\nHowever, plants can take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and store it in the soil or in the plant itself. Plant matter has been used by humans in many ways, such as wood for a house or to make paper. Therefore, plant matter can be a good replacement for styrofoam and to take carbon out of the air. Plant matter is mainly made up of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin. Cellulose makes up 30-50% of a plant and it’s what gives a plant its structure. It is lightweight but has a high strength to weight ratio, making it strong and durable. It also has high tensile strength, meaning under tension or stretching, it will not break. These properties make cellulose a good structural material. Also, unlike styrofoam, cellulose is biodegradable and can be broken down by bacteria, fungi, and other decomposers.\n\nScientists have been researching more ways to use cellulose. They have found that cellulose can be broken down into very small components, called nanocrystals. Nanocrystals are separated from cellulose to isolate the strongest and most useful part of the cellulose. This means that nanocrystals have other properties that are not found in cellulose. For example, nanocrystals are strong and have low thermal conductivity. Nanocrystals could be used to make biofoam, which could replace materials such as styrofoam made from fossil fuels."}, {"Source": "grasses' leaves", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "resist crosswise tearing", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/leaves-resist-crosswise-tearing/", "Strategy": "Leaves Resist Crosswise Tearing\n\nThe leaves of grasses resist crosswise tearing due to their composite character.\n\n“Equally impressive is the composite character and consequent resistance to crack propagation of the leaves of grasses, also investigated by Vincent (1982). If a grass leaf is slit or notched it does tear more easily, but only (and fairly precisely) in proportion to its reduced cross section–there’s just no sign of any significant stress concentration. Do your worst to a grass leaf–it just doesn’t go along with attempts to tear it crosswise.” "}, {"Source": "bat's immune system", "Application": "therapies and drugs that could do the same in people", "Function1": "dampen inflammation response", "Function2": "tolerate viruses", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/immune-system-of-bats-helps-prevent-inflammation-response/", "Strategy": "Immune System of Bats Helps\nPrevent Inflammation Response\n\nBats’ immune systems evolved to slow down the response to disease-causing inflammation\n\nIntroduction \n\nBats can safely harbor many viruses that kill other animals without getting sick. Their superpower? An immune system that has evolved a way not to mount a defense against some infections.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nAn animal’s immune system recognizes potentially harmful foreign matter like viruses and bacteria when they enter the body. It also clears the remnants of cells that die and break down in the normal course of living. Proteins called inflammasomes that sense alien invaders are critical components of the immune system. These trigger the production of other immune cells that seek and destroy intruders.\n\nBut the immune response is not without risk to its owner. When immune cells flood in to fight infection, they naturally cause inflammation—swelling, heat, redness and pain. Normally, the cells get rid of the harmful matter quickly and the inflammation subsides. But sometimes, viruses can rev up an animal’s immune system too much. The inflammation becomes too intense or lasts too long. Then it can damage surrounding tissue and cause disease.\n\nBut scientists don’t see viruses triggering the same response in bats. Recent studies have shown that these mammals have a slight variation in their inflammasomes. As a result, they do not readily trigger floods of immune cells to fight viruses. And so bats can tolerate large amounts of many different kinds of viruses without suffering inflammatory diseases like rabies, Ebola, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and COVID-19. That’s important because they eat loads of virus-carrying insects like mosquitoes. But it also makes bats a reservoir for diseases that can be lethal to people.\n\nSome scientists think bats may have developed this trait because, unlike other mammals, they fly. It’s a behavior that takes a lot of energy and increases wear and tear on cells that release more broken-down cellular bits. The immune system must clean this mess up. If bats had not evolved the ability to dampen their immune response, flying would cause constant inflammation in their bodies.\n\nThe altered inflammasome may also contribute to bats living so long—up to 40 years. As animals age, cells in their bodies break down more often, triggering inflammation and diseases. Any process that reduces inflammation gives those that have it better chances of living longer.\n\nThe Potential \n\nBy understanding how bats tolerate viruses, scientists can find ways to prevent them from transmitting deadly diseases like COVID-19 to people. And by learning how bats’ immune systems dampen inflammation responses, they can explore therapies and drugs that could do the same in people to reduce the impacts of other diseases caused by inflammation and aging. These include heart and circulatory system diseases, arthritis, allergies and asthma."}, {"Source": "nudibranch's mouth", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "inhibit nematocyst discharge", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/mucus-inhibits-nematocyst-firing/", "Strategy": "Mucus Inhibits Nematocyst Firing\n\nThe mouth of the nudibranch prevents nematocyst firing in sea anemone prey via an adaptable, inhibitory mucus.\n\n“Nudibranchs that feed on cnidarians must defend themselves from the prey’s nematocysts or risk their own injury or death. While a nudibranch’s mucus has been thought to protect the animal from nematocyst discharge, an inhibition of discharge by nudibranch mucus has never been shown. The current study investigated whether mucus from the aeolid nudibranch Aeolidia papillosa would inhibit nematocyst discharge from four species of sea anemone prey…Mucus from A. papillosa inhibited the discharge of nematocysts from sea anemone tentacles. This inhibition was specifically limited to the anemone species on which the nudibranch had been feeding. When the prey species was changed, the mucus changed within 2 weeks to inhibit the nematocyst discharge of the new prey species. The nudibranchs apparently produce the inhibitory mucus rather than simply becoming coated in anemone mucus during feeding. Because of the intimate association between most aeolid nudibranchs and their prey, an adaptable mucus protection could have a significant impact on the behavior, distribution, and life history of the nudibranchs.” "}, {"Source": "sea urchin shell", "Application": "stronger, lightweight buildings", "Function1": "prevent breakage", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/sea-urchin-shell-effectively-prevents-cracking-and-breaking/", "Strategy": "Sea Urchin Shell Effectively\nPrevents Cracking and Breaking\n\nThe shell of a sea urchin prevents breakage via interlocking plates and an oblate shape.\n\nA sea urchin spends its life at approximately 1,600 feet underwater, at the bottom of the sea. At this depth, there is an enormous amount of pressure, approximately 700 pounds per square inch, from the water pushing down on the sea urchin in all directions. This is the same as being crushed by a stack of 20 elephants! Surprisingly, sea urchins can withstand this pressure and can grow without developing any cracks in its shell.  Although the sea urchin shell looks fragile, the shape and construction make it quite strong. The shell is constructed of many small plates made of a strong material called calcium carbonate. Calcium carbonate is formed when calcium oxide, water, and carbon dioxide are combined. Calcium carbonate is found in many places in nature, including coral, seashells, and limestone rocks. It is also the material that helps give concrete its strength. In addition to being made of a strong material, the small plates on the sea urchin shell also interlock together, creating an even stronger and more crack-resistant shell structure.\n\nWhen a predator tries to bite the urchin, the impact of the bite is transferred through all of the small plates rather than just one plate – this distributes the impact of the bite across the shell rather than to a single point. To picture this, imagine two types of hollow glass balls. One ball is made from a single piece and another is made up of many small pieces that fit together. If the ball made from a single piece is punctured, it will crack and the ball will likely shatter.  If the ball made up of many small pieces is punctured, a single piece may be cracked, but because of its structure, it will stay together. The shell is less likely to break because the impact is distributed throughout the different pieces of the shell.\n\nIn addition to the material and the arrangement of the plates, the sea urchin shell is also strong because of its shape. The shell is oblate, meaning it resembles a flattened sphere. The shell naturally develops into this shape as it grows because of the constant intense pressure of the surrounding water. This shape helps relieve the impact of the water pressure on a single point by distributing the force over a larger area, similar to the interlocking plates.\n\nThe sea urchin is able to protect itself in the harsh underwater environment due to the shape of its shell and its interlocking plates. The shell is stronger than expected due to its ability to spread out damaging forces throughout its shell. We can learn from the sea urchin’s structure to create stronger, lightweight buildings that are better able to withstand strong forces, like skyscrapers and wind turbines."}, {"Source": "locust's neuron lobula giant movement detector (lgmd)", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "filter out excess stimuli", "Function2": "only recognize objects moving directly toward it", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/collision-detection-in-a-swarm/", "Strategy": "Collision Detection in a Swarm\n\nThe neuron lobula giant movement detector (LGMD) of the locust protects the locust from collison by filtering out excess stimuli.\n\nLocusts migrate in swarms containing thousands of individuals. Despite swarm size, collision rates between locusts are generally low. The process of detecting movement is ubiquitous amongst most animals. Movements are converted into electrical signals by the eye, sent through a chain of neurons, and read by the brain. If a locust, however, detected each of the thousands of its cohorts, its brain would be over-stimulated. To remedy this, the locust has evolved to only recognize movements that will interfere with its flight path. Therefore, it only recognizes objects moving directly toward it, rather than things moving around it.\n\nHow do locusts do this? Locusts convert the movement of each object into a corresponding electrical voltage. An object coming straight toward a locust’s head has a higher voltage than an object moving parallel to it. As the locust flies, moving stimuli are converted into a voltage, and travel up the optic nerve until they hit a neuron called the lobula giant movement detector (LGMD).\n\nAt the end of the LGMD, stimuli must cross a neural synapse, connecting the LGMD to a neuron called the descending contralateral movement detector (DCMD). A synapse is like a river between two neurons, or “land-masses,” that the electrical signals need to jump across. Only certain signals are strong enough to jump across the river and make it to the brain. The LGMD-DCMD synapse is particularly wide (think Mississippi River) and stimuli must have exceptionally large voltages to jump across. In locusts, only stimuli caused by objects moving directly toward it have that voltage. All other stimuli are dismissed or sent to other areas of the brain.\n\nThis mechanism essentially eliminates visual “white noise,” allowing the locust to focus only on those objects that will interfere directly with its flight path.\n\n"}, {"Source": "rodent's tail", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "escape from predators", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/tail-shedding-allows-escape/", "Strategy": "Tail Shedding Allows Escape\n\nThe tails of many rodents assist escape from predators because they can be shed.\n\nCertain species of rodent can also shed their tails. “According to the authoritative mammalian encyclopedia Walker’s mammals of the World (1999), edited by Dr. Ronald M. Nowak, these include deer mice, rock rats, spiny mice, spiny rats, and dassie rats (not to be confused with true dassies, the hyrax subungulates). As with lizards, rodent tail-shedding involves the breaking off of all or part of the tail, allowing the rodent to escape. A partial replacement of the lost tail subsequently develops.” "}, {"Source": "arapaima fish scale", "Application": "lightweight materials for armor", "Function1": "armor-like scales", "Function2": "resilient barrier", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/amazonian-fish-has-tough-scales-to-protect-from-predators/", "Strategy": "Amazonian Fish Has Tough\nScales to Protect From Predators\n\nArapaima fish scales are extremely tough because they made of tissue arranged in the Bouligand structure \n\nIn order to survive in the piranha infested waters of the Amazon, the arapaima fish has evolved armor-like scales. The scales have two layers: A hard outer layer that protects from the teeth of hungry predators, and a soft underlayer that is flexible enough to “bounce back” and recover its shape if an attack occurs.\n\nThe Bouligand structure looks like a spiral staircase, with fibers arranged in a twisting, helical pattern. The arapaima fish scale has many of these spiral staircases arranged next to each other. This arrangement makes the scales strong, flexible, and resistant to cracking. If a piranha attacks a fish without scales like these, it’s teeth would easily crack its scales and allow the piranha to penetrate the soft body of the fish underneath. However when an arapaima fish is bitten by a piranha, the Bouligand structure helps distribute the attack from the teeth by allowing the force to travel through these “spiral staircases”. This spreads out the force of the attack over a larger area,  helping to relieve the impact. During an attack, there may be a small crack in the fish scale, but the Bouligand structure keeps the small crack from growing large enough that the piranha’s teeth can break through.\nThe arrangement of the collagen in this ‘spiral staircase’ is the reason the Amazonian fish scales are so tough to crack. Understanding this design could lead to the invention of lightweight materials for armor that protects against explosions, or stronger frames for cars.\nThe hard and soft layers in the scales work together to provide a resilient barrier that can endure a predator attack with almost no damage, making these scales some of the toughest on Earth. The secret to these scales is in how these two layers are attached. The layers are connected by collagen, a connective tissue found in all animals. In humans, collagen in the skin helps it stay firm and elastic. In the arapaima fish scales, collagen connects the hard, outer layer to the soft inner layer in an important pattern called the Bouligand structure. This structure has also been found in the shells of lobsters, beetles, and crabs and is the key to what makes these shells so strong."}, {"Source": "coral's fluorescent proteins", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "act as antioxidants", "Function2": "keep free radicals at bay", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/fluorescent-proteins-facilitate-healing/", "Strategy": "Fluorescent Proteins Facilitate Healing\n\nFluorescent proteins in some corals may play a role in the host stress response by acting as antioxidants.\n\n“When a coral is broken or wounded, it releases highly reactive atoms of oxygen known as free radicals to close up the gashes..But [free radicals] can also inadvertently kill off some of the coral’s healthy cells. Hydrogen peroxide, for instance … can damage every part of the cell, from DNA to proteins…[It was observed that] corals with a brighter glow are best able to keep free radicals from damaging healthy cells… The glow is a result of so-called fluorescent proteins, which in corals act as antioxidants to keep free radicals at bay.” "}, {"Source": "indian luna moth's antennae", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "detect sex pheromone", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/sensitive-antennae-detect-sex-pheromones/", "Strategy": "Sensitive Antennae Detect Sex Pheromones\n\nThe antennae of the Indian luna moth detects a single sex pheromone molecule from more than six miles away due to extremely sensitive olfactory receptors.\n\n“The moth with the most developed sense of smell, however, is that of…the Indian luna moth (Actias selene). The male of this species is so sensitive to the female’s sex pheromone that he can trace a female via her scent from as far away as 6 1/2 miles (11 km). In experiments in which male specimens were released this distance away from caged females, 26 percent successfully located the females, while 46 percent of the males located the females if released 2 1/2 miles (4.1 km) from them.” "}, {"Source": "common poorwill", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "conserve energy", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/torpor-conserves-energy/", "Strategy": "Torpor Conserves Energy\n\nThe common poorwill conserves energy when food is limited by entering a state of torpor for extended periods of time.\n\nAll animals need energy to survive, and they get this energy from the food they eat. When food is limited, animals need to conserve their energy until food is readily available again. One way to conserve energy is to exert less throughout the day and/or night. Because all major life functions (breathing, moving, pumping blood, maintaining body temperature, etc) require energy, reducing body temperature or slowing heart rate is one way to conserve energy. Many animals do this during hibernation, but other animals, such as birds, do this for shorter periods of time (anywhere from 24 hours to a few days), which is known as torpor.\nMany birds enter torpor when it is difficult to hunt for prey and find food, for example during moonless and/or cloudy nights, when ambient light levels are low. The birds that most commonly engage in torpor are small-bodied specialized foragers, such as hummingbirds. Although there is considerable variation in patterns of torpor among birds, one species, the common poorwill (Phalaenoptilus nuttallii), is the only bird known to remain torpid for extended periods of time. Poorwills feast mainly on insects, and experience substantial seasonal fluctuations in food availability, and thus are much less active in the winter. To cope with the decrease in energy availability, common poorwills reduce their body temperature during winter, entering a hibernation-like state. This ability to engage in prolonged periods of torpor allows the common poorwill to conserve energy during times of limited food availability so it can forage with an increased likelihood of success."}, {"Source": "desert plant's seed coat", "Application": "breathing building skin", "Function1": "adjust moisture level", "Function2": "prevent water absorption", "Function3": "prevent moisture from entering", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/valve-regulates-water-permeability/", "Strategy": "Valve Regulates Water Permeability\n\nThe seed coats of some desert plants adjust their permeability to moisture via a humidity-sensitive hilar valve.\n\n\nSeeds need the right conditions to germinate and for most, that means sufficient water. For desert plants, the right amount of water could take months or years to arrive, so some seeds become dormant. Their seed coats become impermeable to water, which appears to be contradictory if a seed needs to absorb water to germinate. However, imagine what disaster could befall a plant population if its seeds respond to any water event that comes along, or even just temporary high humidity.\n\nSeeds of several members of the Legume family have a valve that adjusts to changes in humidity while the rest of the seed coat remains impermeable. The hilar valve or hilum is the scar where the seed once attached to the parent plant. The valve allows water vapor to enter and exit to maintain a safe internal moisture level, but does not allow liquid water to pass. If humidity levels suddenly drop, stay low, then suddenly rise again, the valve doesn’t allow moisture back in. Essentially, the hilum then acts as a one-way valve, not allowing moisture in when humidity levels are high, but letting moisture out as humidity levels decrease. However, if humidity levels gradually rise to a high enough level, the hilar valve stays open and eventually allows liquid water to enter to the point when germination can occur if the seed is immersed in water.\n\nDifferent types of cells control the hilar valve. Columnar-shaped cells on either side of the opening and outside the impermeable layer, called counter palisade cells, are hygroscopic—they absorb water molecules from the atmosphere. When external humidity levels are high, they swell and close the valve, preventing water absorption into the seed. When humidity levels are low, they shrivel, causing the valve to open, allowing the seed to dry out more. Other cells, palisade epidermis cells, that control the hilar valve are found in a layer lining the inside of the seed coat’s impermeable layer. There is a certain amount of moisture tension between these cells and the counter palisade cells on the other side of the impermeable layer. For the hilum to close, this tension needs to exceed some minimum level. If while the hilar valve is open (i.e., at low relative humidity) there is a sudden increase in humidity, the tension reaches that minimum level and the hilum closes, preventing moisture from entering. If, however, there is a gradual rise in humidity, which signals the coming of suitable germination and growing conditions, the tension level never gets met, and the hilum stays open, allowing moisture to continue entering.\n\nWe can learn from clovers and lupines how to regulate moisture levels for buildings, packaging, bandages, and clothing. A building, for example, could have a breathing skin or envelope that self-adjusts to humidity levels, differences in temperature, atmospheric pressure, or liquids. A breathing building could result in healthier indoor air quality and moisture levels, creating a more comfortable and productive work space."}, {"Source": "rice plant's momilactone b", "Application": "plant compounds", "Function1": "suppress growth", "Function2": "protect against competitors", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/plant-compounds-protect-from-competitors/", "Strategy": "Plant Compounds Protect From Competitors\n\nCompounds in rice plants protect the plant from competitors by suppressing growth in competing plants\n\nMany plants naturally produce chemicals to defend against microbial and insect attack, and to compete with other plants that grow nearby. “Allelopathy” is the production and release of a chemical by one organism that is either detrimental or beneficial to another organism.\n\nAllelopathic varieties of rice (Oryza sativa) produce a compound known as momilactone B when growing near an agricultural weed called barnyard grass. Enzymes in allelopathic rice synthesize momilactones, which support the rice crop’s success by suppressing the growth of barnyard grass and other weeds. The exact mechanism by which momilactone B suppresses competing plants is still being uncovered. Current research indicates that the allelopathic compound negatively affects metabolic processes and reactions needed for the synthesis of cellular components in the competing plants.\n\nGrowing allelopathic varieties of rice and other crop plants could reduce the use of agricultural chemicals. Conventional pesticides frequently harm non-target organisms and lose effectiveness when resistant pest populations arise. Plant compounds, however, are less likely to promote resistance and can even feed soil microorganisms, thereby potentially enhancing populations of beneficial microbes in soil. This is analogous to the effects that taking probiotics or eating yogurt have on the human gut microbiome. Using plant compounds to mimic this natural process of stimulating soil microbial growth could make crop systems less vulnerable to weed competition and pathogens."}, {"Source": "acorn weevil's slender snout", "Application": "strong, flexible, unbreakable materials", "Function1": "strong", "Function2": "flexible", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/snout-is-strong-yet-flexible/", "Strategy": "Acorn Weevil Snouts Bend To\nThe Brink But Don’t Break\n\nA complex arrangement of materials in the weevils' slender snouts make them strong and flexible.\n\nIntroduction\n\nThe slender snout that protrudes from the acorn weevil’s head may be more fantastic than a unicorn horn. It’s almost as long as the weevil’s 0.4-inch (1-cm) body, and it extends straight outward, then gradually curves 90 degrees downward.\n\nAt the snout’s end are sharp mandibles that scissor into an acorn’s hard shell. The weevil raises its forelegs, tilts its head to apply downward pressure, and rotates around the hole, using the snout as a drill. While the weevil sucks up nutrients through the snout’s hollow center, it excavates a thin, straight chute into the acorn’s depths, into which the insect will later deposit eggs that hatch into larvae.\n\nDuring the excavation process, the curved part of the snout straightens, bending to the brink under the strain, but it does not break. When the weevil withdraws its snout, it instantly flexes back into its curved shape, no worse for wear.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nThe secret lies in the complex composite material that the snout is made of. It consists of tough fibers of chitin embedded in a matrix of proteins. This material is arranged in thin layers that align like steps in a spiral staircase. Each layer’s outer edge is rotated slightly forward from the one below it, so that they cumulatively form a helix.\n\nIn general, the long fibers best withstand breaking when pressure comes at them from the direction parallel to their length. Their strength diminishes, and the risk of breaking mounts, when force comes in from other angles. But scientists think that a confluence of factors work together to keep the material strong and flexible. The small angle differences between adjacent layers, their tightly packed spacing, and the broad spectrum of fiber directions encircling it combine to absorb and distribute incoming force through many layers, so that no one layer bears the brunt of an impact.\n\nIn addition, the multi-sided, multi-angled helical structure ensures that any cracks that do form between layers will hit a wall and have to change directions, unable to propagate far along a path of least resistance. In the same way, any multiple tiny cracks that form will be stymied from coalescing into long, wide ruptures.\n\nThe thickness of the chitin fibers also plays a role in changing the materials’ properties. The more brittle outer layer of the snout, called the exocuticle, has fibers measuring nanometers in diameter, while the inner layer, called the endocuticle, has fibers that are 1,000 times thicker, making it much stronger. The endocuticle gets progressively thicker down the length of the snout to fortify the areas where the snout must be able to bend under extreme pressure without breaking.\nIf the snout were to shatter under the repeated, extreme stress of drilling, it would mean death to the weevil and its future generations. How can this slim, seemingly fragile snout be so strong and yet so flexible?\n\nThe Potential\n\nIn general, the properties that make materials rigid and strong are the opposite of those that make materials flexible and fracture-resistant. Scientists are investigating the intricacies of weevil snout microstructure to design materials that optimally balance both properties in a variety of combinations that suit different uses.\n\nSuch materials would be a boon for a wide range of products, including ships, cars, airplanes, buildings, textiles, packaging, housewares, medical devices, and replacements for plastics—all of which must be strong, flexible, and unbreakable in the face of turbulence, pressure, earthquake shaking, and other forces that can bring them to a breaking point. They may also provide a less-polluting alternative for plastics."}, {"Source": "gila monster's venomous saliva", "Application": "synthetic peptides", "Function1": "reduce sugar overload", "Function2": "prolong insulin production", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/saliva-regulates-digestion/", "Strategy": "Lizard Saliva Reduces Sugar Overload\n\nA long-lasting molecule in the venomous saliva of gila monsters enables prolonged insulin production.\n\n\nIntroduction\n\nWith good meals few and far between in the scorching deserts striding the U.S.-Mexico border, gila monsters (Heloderma suspectum) need to be able to get as much out of each successful hunt as they can. Gorging themselves, young gilas can consume half their body weight in a single sitting. In order to extract maximum energy from the glucose such meals can yield, the hardy reptiles need to keep their pancreases producing insulin over extended periods of time. Such an ability could be a great help for diabetics.\n\nGilas might be best known for having a potentially deadly venomous bite, but their legacy may actually be for saving human lives, not endangering them.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nWhen you ingest carbohydrates from things like bread, fruits, vegetables, and dairy, your blood sugar (glucose) rises. In order for your body to turn it into energy, this sugar has to enter your cells from your blood stream. Insulin, a hormone produced by the pancreas, increases in your blood stream as soon as glucose appears. In type-I diabetics, the body prevents itself from producing enough insulin to do its job.\n\nInsulin tells your cells to open up and accept the glucose inside. Once in your cells, glucose can be converted into energy for immediate use or stored for use later. You’re using glucose right now, just to have the energy to read these words.\n\nWithin minutes of eating, your body produces another molecule, glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP1), which signals your pancreas to start producing insulin. Supplemental GLP1 would therefore be a good candidate for treating diabetes, except for the fact that it lasts only minutes before enzymes in our bodies break it back down. Ideally, a GLP1-like substance might be discovered which our enzymes didn’t break down so quickly, so that it could boost insulin production more effectively in diabetics.\n\nThe Potential\n\n Such a substance, exendin-4, was discovered in 1992 in the gila monster, after a researcher noticed the gila’s venom caused the pancreas of bitten victims to swell. In the human body, exendin-4 mimics the insulin-promoting action of GLP1, but it isn’t susceptible to our bodies’ GLP1-destroying enzymes. Synthetic peptides identical to exendin-4 are now used by diabetics around the world, helping them produce adequate levels of insulin and enjoy normal, healthy lives."}, {"Source": "mammal fur", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "dries fur", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/fur-dries-by-shaking/", "Strategy": "Fur Dries by Shaking\n\nFur of mammals is optimally dried by changing shaking frequency.\n\nGetting wet is a fact of life for furry mammals, but it can be very dangerous to stay that way. Wet fur conducts heat, increasing the risk of hypothermia and the problem exists for animals of all sizes. Mice are small and have a relatively high surface area to volume ratio, meaning they lose heat very quickly, while for larger animals like polar bears their hunting habits and regional climate make getting dry quickly very important. A medium-sized dog, like a labrador, would use 1/5th of its daily calorie intake to offset the energy lost through air drying. To get around this problem, furry mammals shake.\n\nShaking is a surprisingly finely tuned process. Because shaking costs energy, mammals shake at exactly the frequency that achieves the maximum return on their energy investment. Small water droplets stick to fur and are very difficult to dislodge, while large droplets fall off easily. Animals shake at a speed calibrated to remove the larger droplets, getting rid of more than 70% of the water on their fur in seconds. In this way, they do not waste energy attempting to dislodge tiny water droplets that will evaporate quickly anyway.\n\nShaking is a rotation around the central axis of the body that works like a centrifuge to fling water away from the fur. Because the fur travels in an arc, the distance travelled and the amount of force generated during one shake depends on the size of the animal. Larger animals move their fur further and generate more force than smaller animals. To compensate, small animals shake at a higher frequency.\n\nFurry mammals tend to have loose skin. At the end of one shake, when the animal stops and begins to twist in the opposite direction, the skin continues moving. Once it reaches its full extent, the skin is snapped back by the body that is already moving very quickly back the other way. This snap generates very high forces on the water droplets that make shaking as much as three times more energy efficient than with tight skin."}, {"Source": "milkweed's chemical signaling system", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protect from predator", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/compounds-protect-against-predators/", "Strategy": "Compounds Protect Against Predators\n\nThe chemical signaling system of milkweed defends against predators by use of terpene compounds\n\n“As the largest class of natural products, terpenes have a variety of roles in mediating antagonistic and beneficial interactions among organisms. They defend many species of plants, animals and microorganisms against predators, pathogens and competitors, and they are involved in conveying messages to conspecifics and mutualists regarding the presence of food, mates and enemies. Despite the diversity of terpenes known, it is striking how phylogenetically distant organisms have come to use similar structures for common purposes. New natural roles undoubtedly remain to be discovered for this large class of compounds, given that such a small percentage of terpenes has been investigated so far.” "}, {"Source": "wolbachia bacteria", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "induce feminization", "Function2": "induce egg development without fertilization", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/altering-hosts-reproductive-system-improves-viability/", "Strategy": "Altering Host’s Reproductive System Improves Viability\n\nWolbachia bacteria improve their chances of spreading to new hosts by inducing feminization, egg development without fertilization, and cytoplasmic incompatibility in their hosts.\n\n“Wolbachia are a common and widespread group of bacteria found in reproductive tissues of arthropods. These bacteria are transmitted through the cytoplasm of eggs and have evolved various mechanisms for manipulating reproduction of their hosts, including induction of reproductive incompatibility, pathenogenesis [sic], and feminization. Wolbachia are also transmitted horizontally between arthropod species. Significant recent advances have been made in the study of these interesting microorganisms. In this paper, Wolbachia biology is reviewed, including their phylogeny and distribution, mechanisms of action, population biology and evolution, and biological control implications. Potential directions for future research are also discussed.” "}, {"Source": "red algae", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "inhibit biofilms", "Function2": "prevent bacteria from forming groups", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/biofilm-inhibiting-chemical-protects-surfaces/", "Strategy": "Biofilm‑inhibiting Chemical Protects Surfaces\n\nRed algae protects itself from bacterial infection by exuding compounds that inhibit biofilms.\n\nThe red seaweed Delisea pulchra effectively avoids a broad spectrum of bacterial infections without breeding any bacterial resistance to its defensive chemistry. Molecules known as furanones produced by the seaweed bind readily to the specific protein-covered bacterial receptor sites that receive the bacterial signaling molecules (N-acyl homoserine lactone) that normally induce surface colonization. This method of blocking bacterial communication effectively prevents bacteria from forming groups and becoming virulent, but does not physically kill them."}, {"Source": "lactobacillus fermentum's compound", "Application": "compound prevnets bacterial attachment", "Function1": "prevent bacterial attachment", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/compound-prevents-bacterial-attachment/", "Strategy": "Compound Prevents Bacterial Attachment\n\nA compound released by Lactobacillus fermentum prevents binding by Staphylococcus aureus bacteria by outcompeting for the pathogen's tissue binding sites.\n\n“Applying a harmless bacterium or its products to surgical wounds may thwart infections by the dangerous pathogen Staphylococcus aureus, a major cause of hospital-acquired infections and one that grows more threatening as the incidence of antibiotic resistance rises…The bacterium, known as Lactobacillus fermentum, seems to exert at least part of its protective effects by secreting a protein that prevents S. aureus from binding to its target cells.”"}, {"Source": "killifish embryo", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "slow metabolic rate", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/embryos-survive-without-oxygen/", "Strategy": "Embryos Survive Without Oxygen\n\nThe embryos of killifish survive seasonal droughts buried in mud under anoxic conditions because they can slow their metabolic rate to an extreme degree.\n\n“Annual killifish, Austrofundulus limnaeus, live in temporary ponds in arid regions of Venezuela. Their embryos ride out seasonal droughts buried in mud, where microbial action often uses up all the oxygen. Jason Podrabsky, a comparative physiologist at Portland State University in Oregon, and his colleagues tested killifish embryos by sealing them in oxygen-free vials. After 62 days, half the embryos recovered when given oxygen (The Journal of Experimental Biology, vol 210, p 2253). The next best vertebrates – turtles and a species of goldfish – can survive for only a few days. Podrabsky found that longer-lived killifish embryos accumulated lactate – the end product of anaerobic metabolism – very slowly, suggesting that their anaerobic ability comes from being able to cut their metabolic rate to extremely low levels. Podrabsky is now studying which genes are responsible for the metabolic slowing. Learning how the fish do this may help explain how human tissues respond to anoxia during, say, a heart attack, Podrabsky says.” "}, {"Source": "lobelia's rosette", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "prevent evaporation", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/slime-inhibits-evaporation/", "Strategy": "Slime Inhibits Evaporation\n\nThe fluid secreted and held in the rosette of one lobelia plant avoids water loss via an evaporation-inhibiting slime component.\n\nIn one species of lobelia that grows on the upper slopes of Mount Kenya, “Its rosette forms a deep watertight cup that contains up to three quarters of a gallon of liquid. Each night, a plate of ice forms across the surface. This acts as a shield, preventing the frost from penetrating more deeply into the pond. The water beneath remains liquid and therefore above freezing point and the submerged bud survives undamaged. It is a minimal defence. Were the nights to last a few hours longer or the temperature to stay below zero during the day, then the contents of the ponds might freeze solid right to the bottom and the bud would be killed. As it is, however, the sun returns after a few hours and all is well…But now the lobelia faces a different hazard. If the sun shines so hotly during the day that the water in the pond evaporates, then the lobelia would be defenceless when night fell. However, this does not happen. The fluid in the pond is not rain water. Indeed it cannot be for very little rain falls on these slopes. The plant has secreted it from special glands and it contains a slime that inhibits evaporation. So even during the hottest afternoons, its defence does not vanish.” "}, {"Source": "half-mens plant's trunk", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "prevent damage", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/trunk-protected-from-predators/", "Strategy": "Trunk Protected From Predators\n\nThe trunk of the half-mens plant is protected from damage by thirsty animals thanks to a covering of long spines.\n\n“The half-mens [Pachypodium namaquanum], growing in the same [Namib] desert, has reduced its leaves to one small bunch sprouting from the top of a pillar-like trunk bristling all over with ranks of long spines that must deter many a thirsty animal from gnawing it in search of liquid.”"}, {"Source": "longleaf pine's roots", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "form anchoring taproots", "Function2": "form widespread lateral root system", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/roots-stabilize-trees-against-wind/", "Strategy": "Roots Stabilize Trees Against Wind\n\nRoots of longleaf pine protect from strong winds by forming both large anchoring taproots and a widespread lateral root system.\n\n“The damage resistance of longleaf pine could be related to firm anchorage provided by the large taproot and widespread lateral root system. Our excavations of longleaf pine root systems (Baruch Forest Science Institute, pers. comm.) indicated that longleaf pine taproots extended two meters vertically in the soil and the lateral root system extended up to six meters horizontally from the taproot… An alternative scheme capitalizes on little more than the ability of soil to withstand compressive force. If the trunk is continued downward beneath the soil as a stiff taproot, and if ramifying lateral roots near the soil’s surface fix the location of the tree, then pushing the trunk in one direction will push the taproot in the other. Soil, especially when beneath a layer of superficial roots, ought to resist this sideways push quite well; the scheme, which we might just call ‘taprooting’ is shown in figure 21.3c. Taprooting depends on good resistance of the taproot to bending as a cantilever–a high level of flexural stiffness–as is sufficient broadside area to push against so as not to slip sideways through soil. (Additional substantial vertical ‘striker’ roots, according to Perry [1982] and Crook and Ennos [1996], may supplement the mechanical role of taproots.)” "}, {"Source": "rhodoturula yeast", "Application": "sunscreen", "Function1": "protect from uv stress", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/compounds-cause-uv-tolerance/", "Strategy": "Compounds Cause UV Tolerance\n\nRhodoturula yeasts are protected from UV radiation via the UV-absorbing compound mycosporine-glutaminol-glucoside.\n\n“The UV sunscreen and antioxidant properties attributed to mycosporines suggest a photoprotective function of these compounds in nature. Indeed, the high concentrations of myc-glm-glu observed in the two Rhodotorula species (up to 0.5% dry weight) after induction with UVR, supports the idea that synthesis of this secondary metabolite is important to obtain protection from UV stress.” "}, {"Source": "mosquito's compound eye", "Application": "anti-fogging surfaces", "Function1": "anti-fogging properties", "Function2": "repel water", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/compound-eyes-are-anti-fogging-surfaces/", "Strategy": "Compound Eyes Are Anti‑Fogging Surfaces\n\nCompound eyes on the mosquito are anti-fogging surfaces due to small hierarchical structures that create an air barrier.\n\nIntroduction\n\nMosquitoes thrive in damp and humid conditions. With moisture in the air, water can condense on parts of the mosquito’s body. Mosquitoes use their eyes to detect light and movement as they navigate through their environment, finding food and mates and avoiding threats. If their eyes were to become clouded with condensation, mosquitoes would be in danger, but their eyes stay dry.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nMosquitoes and other arthropods have compound eyes, which are multi-faceted structures consisting of hundreds of individual units, called ommatidia, closely packed together. On the mosquito Culex pipiens, an array of regularly-spaced nanoscale bumps covers the domed surface of each microscale, hexagonally-shaped ommatidium. This hierarchical arrangement of smaller structures on top of larger structures is where researchers believe the eye gets its anti-fogging properties. Air fills the spaces between the nanoscale bumps, which are approximately 48 nm apart. At the small scale of the water droplets that make up fog, the surface tension of water is a dominant force. This means it is more energetically favorable for the water to remain as microscale droplets, which easily roll off the surface, than for it to penetrate the air layer and spread out.\n\nThis mechanism for repelling water is similar to that found on other biological textured surfaces (like lotus leaves); however, because the spaces between the nanoscale bumps on mosquito ommatidia are smaller, the mosquito eye can ward off the tiny droplets of water that make up fog."}, {"Source": "insect's adhesive feet", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "self-clean efficient", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/adhesive-foot-pads-self-clean/", "Strategy": "Adhesive Foot Pads Self‑Clean\n\nAdhesive hairy foot pads on insects self-clean more efficiently than smooth pads because hair tips reduce the area for particle attachment.\n\nAn insect’s adhesive feet are critical to its ability to move around, climbing on vertical surfaces and hanging upside down while finding food or evading predators. Unlike most man-made adhesives, however, insect feet can attach and detach from a surface many times and still remain functional, even while encountering contaminants like dirt, pollen, and flaky wax from leaf surfaces. How do their sticky feet stay clean?\n\nThere are two main kinds of foot pads among insects: smooth foot pads, like those found on grasshoppers, ants, and stick insects; and hairy foot pads, like those found on beetles and flies. Smooth foot pads have even and soft surfaces, while hairy foot pads are covered with bristles that range from microns to millimeters long. Both kinds of foot pads secrete fluids that aid in adhesion, which depends on the amount of contact between the foot surface and the substrate: the lower the contact area between the two—for instance because contaminating particles are covering the foot—the lower the adhesion. Both kinds of foot pads can also self-clean by walking. Stepping on a substrate removes contaminating particles from the feet when those particles are more attracted to the substrate than the feet. When it comes to self-cleaning, however, hairy foot pads appear to have a leg up on smooth ones.\n\nSmooth foot pads seem to require a shear force (parallel to the surface, as a brushing movement would be) to remove particles from the feet, but hairy foot pads can shed contaminating particles even when the foot just lifts up from the substrate (perpendicular to it). Based on models of hairy adhesive systems, it appears that hairs are easier to clean because their tips have inherently small surface areas; a contaminating particle attached to a narrow tip needs to move only slightly to the side for it to encounter empty space and disengage. While some particles could get stuck on the sides or between setae, on average, more particles are likely to be shed from hairy foot pads than from smooth foot pads. Furthermore, the hairs’ small surface area raises the likelihood that contaminating particles will be more attracted to the external substrate the insect is walking on, rather than its foot. Smooth and soft foot pads, on the other hand, can deform around a contaminating particle, increasing the contact between the two. As a result, hairy foot pads seem to recover from contamination much faster than smooth foot pads."}, {"Source": "thomson's gazelle's carotid rete", "Application": "human habitations", "Function1": "cool brain", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/carotid-rete-cools-brain/", "Strategy": "Carotid Rete Cools Brain\n\nThe carotid rete of the Thomson's gazelle cools its brain via counter-current heat exchange.\n\nThe Thomson’s gazelle lives in the East African savannah where is it exposed to high temperatures and predation by big cats, like the cheetah, lion, or leopard. These gazelles have been recorded to run at up to 43-50 miles per hour. Such a burst of speed may raise the metabolic rate, and thus heat production, by as much as 40 fold. Dissipating such heat loads is difficult, especially in arid environments where water is scarce and an animal needs to avoid losing too much through evaporative cooling.\n\nThe brain is a part of the body that is particularly sensitive to high temperature. Hence some ungulates, like the Thomson’s gazelle, use a counter-current heat exchanging structure known as the carotid rete to keep the brain cooler than the body. The rete is a configuration of arteries and veins in a sinus at the base of the brain. Warm blood flowing to the brain travels from the carotid artery into a network of small arteries within the sinus, where it transfers some of its heat to cooler venous blood flowing the opposite direction as it returns from the nasal passages. The cooled arterial blood then continues toward the brain.\n\nIn the running Thomson’s gazelle, body temperature rises more than brain temperature such that a difference between brain and body temperature has been measured at 2.7° C. A predator like the cheetah must stop running when its body and brain temperature reaches 40.5° C, but the gazelle can keep running as its body temperature rises above 43° without its brain temperature exceeding 40.5°. The ability to keep a cool head can thus give the gazelle a survival edge in these predatory pursuits as he can outlast the cheetah who cannot maintain a cooler brain.\n\nCounter-current heat exchangers can be found in many organisms in many configurations. While such mechanisms are well known to engineers, a close look at the design of those used by nature may be useful in designing thermal control systems of human habitations."}, {"Source": "turtle's soft skin", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "prevent penetration injury", "Function2": "disperse force", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/soft-shield-distributes-force/", "Strategy": "Soft Shield Distributes Force\n\nSoft skin of turtles prevents penetration injury by dispersing force\n\nIt’s intuitively obvious that a hard surface can shield a softer one, absorbing impact energy and preventing the transmission of that energy to the soft tissues underneath. This is a common natural defense strategy and one adopted by organisms as diverse as beetles and bivalves. Different organisms use different materials as their shields, but the underlying pattern of hard protecting soft is consistent. A small number of animals use the reverse of this strategy, however: turtles, alligators and armadillos all have a hard shield with a soft skin outer layer.\n\nTurtle shells are living parts of the animal. The hard bony part of the shell is made of modified ribs coated with a layer of collagen and then a layer of keratin, the same material used to make hair, hooves, nails and scales.\n\nIt might seem that this soft outer layer does not contribute much to the defense of the turtle, however it acts like a bumper, diffusing the load felt by the hard structure underneath. The soft skin is particularly useful for protecting against small scale indentation injuries, for example, like those from teeth when a predator attempts to bite the animal. A lot of force confined to a small surface area can cause cracks in the hard shield material, and these cracks can spread, weakening it. By dispersing these highly localized forces over a wider area, the soft layers of collagen and keratin on top reduce the puncture force the hard shield experiences underneath."}, {"Source": "mammals' eyelashes", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protect eye", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/eyelashes-protect-eyes/", "Strategy": "Eyelashes Protect Eyes\n\nEyelashes on mammals protect the eye from airborne particles by redirecting airflow.\n\nEyes have sensitive surfaces that need to be protected from potentially irritating airborne particles like pollen, dust, and pathogens. For mammals, wet tears are one strategy that helps to protect the eye from foreign particles, but they also have another strategy: eyelashes. Despite their filter-like bristled appearance, eyelashes don’t function like typical filters that trap debris. Instead, they project away from the eye’s sensitive surface and alter the flow of incoming air that may be carrying foreign particles.\n\nSimulations of airflows around eyes with no lashes, long lashes, and intermediate length lashes show that eye surfaces with lashes of an intermediate length should experience weaker flows. Without lashes, there is nothing to shield the eye from incoming airflows that can deposit foreign particles onto the eye. As lashes are added, they redirect the incoming airflow to create a region of stagnant air just above the eye’s surface. This layer of stagnant air has weaker flows, which leads to fewer airborne particles landing on the eye’s surface. Very long lashes, however, project so far into incoming airflow that they begin to direct high-speed flows toward the eye’s surface. The result of these opposing effects is that eyelashes with a length that is approximately one-third the eye width appear to produce the weakest airflows. This ratio of lash length to width seems to match with eyelash measurements in many different species of mammals.\n\nEyelashes redirecting airflows around eyes constitute a passive mechanism to help keep the eye surface clean. This mechanism may also function in insects, where ocular hairs that project from between eye facets appear to reduce airflow at the eye surface. In mammals, one other possible way that eyelashes protect eyes is to function as a trigger, causing the eye to blink when they’re touched."}, {"Source": "mussel shell", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "resist biofouling", "Function2": "disrupt attachment", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/ridged-surfaces-resist-biofouling/", "Strategy": "Ridged Surfaces Resist Biofouling\n\nRidged surfaces on mussel shells resist biofouling by disrupting attachment.\n\nMan-made surfaces that spend extended periods of time submerged in marine waters (like ship hulls) frequently become fouled with attached organisms looking for a place to settle. In contrast, the surfaces of many marine organisms stay relatively clean in the same waters. One such example are intertidal mussels (Mytilus edulis and M. galloprovincialis), and biologists think their anti-fouling ability comes in part from the structure of a special external layer on their shells.\n\nThe outer layer of the mussels’ shells, the periostracum, is a strong but pliable material mainly composed of protein, which protects them from predators that might bore into their shells. The periostracum also appears to protect the mussel from smaller settling organisms. The shell’s surface topography consists of a repeating pattern of ripples ~1-2 μm wide and ~1.5 μm tall. In experiments, the intact intertidal mussel shells had the lowest level of fouling compared to other species of bivalves with either smooth or more randomly structured shell surfaces, synthetic molds of mussel shells, and smooth and sanded synthetic surfaces. Furthermore, the mussel shell has a high level of fouling release (ease of removal) for organisms that do end up attaching to the shell. Researchers studying various shell surfaces and their microtopographies found that the “waviness” (overall texture) of the surface correlates with both fouling resistance and fouling release.\n\nThe exact mechanism by which the blue mussel’s surface structure deters attachment is being studied, but the leading hypothesis is that the space between surface ridges is small enough that most fouling organisms cannot attach properly. However, because synthetic replicas aren’t as resistant to fouling as natural, intact mussel shells, it is likely that multiple strategies including surface chemistry and self-replenishment act together to reduce fouling."}, {"Source": "seaweed's support stalk (stipe)", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "lower stress force", "Function2": "experience less stress under tension", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/pulled-support-stalks-experience-lower-stress-forces/", "Strategy": "Pulled Support Stalks\nExperience Lower Stress Forces\n\nLong and skinny support stalks (stipe) of seaweed experience lower stress forces when pulled rather than bent.\n\nStaying in place is not as easy as one might think, at least not among crashing waves! To remain attached to their substrate, marine macroalgae must manage strong hydrodynamic forces exerted by waves and tidal currents. Large seaweeds use different strategies to withstand these forces. For those species whose survival depends on staying put, their shape and material properties influence whether fluid forces will overcome the structural integrity of the algae’s stipe (stem-like structure) or holdfast (anchor-like structure).\nCochayuyo (Durvillea antarctica) is a seaweed that manages strong fluid forces by being flexible and stretchy. Its stipe has a flexible joint at its base that enables it to fold over and be pulled by flowing water, instead of bent. In general, if a structure is long and skinny, it will experience less stress under tension (pulling) than in bending, especially if the structure is solid. For example, the stiffer stipe on the grey weed (Lessonia nigrescens) bends in response to fluid forces, and as a result experiences roughly 800 times more stress (force per cross-sectional area) than the flexible stipe on cochayuyo algae. The amount of energy required to break either species of algae is roughly the same, however. The cochayuyo stipe absorbs energy by stretching, while the grey weed stipe resists deformation through its strength.\nTo explain why some algae have evolved to bend rather than be pulled by flowing water despite the increased stress, the influence of other life history factors beyond drag must be considered."}, {"Source": "toucan's beak", "Application": "lightweight strength", "Function1": "absorb high-energy impacts", "Function2": "resist compression", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/beak-design-absorbs-high-energy-impacts/", "Strategy": "Beak Design Absorbs High‑energy Impacts\n\nToucan beaks are built lightweight and strong thanks to a rigid foamy inside and layers of fibrous keratin tile outside.\n\nIntroduction\n\nThe structure of the toucan beak teaches us principles of composite material design for light-weight strength and stiffness. Despite its large size (a third of the length of the bird) and considerable strength, the toucan beak comprises only one twentieth the bird’s mass. While the large strong beak is useful in foraging, defense and attracting mates, its low density is essential for the toucan to retain its ability to fly.\n\nThe Strategy\n\n The beak’s solid outer shell sandwiches within it a closed-cell, foam-like structure made of struts which, together with thin protein membranes, enclose variably shaped air spaces. The solid shell layer is built of overlapping, hexagonally-shaped thin plates of keratin protein held together by an organic glue. The internal closed-cell structural support is comprised of keratin fibers with greater mineralization, by calcium and other salts, than in either the membranes or the solid shell layers to increase hardness. The closed cell structure offers a more complex energy absorption capacity and resistance to compression than the bending deformation typical of open celled structures. The rotational deformation of cell walls, stretching of membranes, and the internal gas pressure all contribute to those features. There is a synergistic effect of the shell layer and foam-like interior elements that together gives it greater strength than the sum of the strengths of those individual parts.\n\nThe Potential\n\nMaterial designs inspired by the structure of the toucan beak could offer the properties of low weight with high stiffness and strength, as well as good energy absorption capacity and insulation value, such as could be useful in developing crash resistance in vehicles without compromising fuel economy."}, {"Source": "human tooth", "Application": "peptide-based fluid", "Function1": "stimulate regeneration", "Function2": "regenerate tooth defect", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/peptide-regenerates-tooth-growth/", "Strategy": "Peptide Regenerates Tooth Growth\n\nTeeth of humans regenerate due to a peptide, P 11-4, that forms into fibers that attract calcium and causes generation of minerals from within.\n\n“Tooth decay begins when acid produced by bacteria in plaque dissolves the mineral in the teeth, causing microscopic holes or ‘pores’ to form. As the decay process progresses these micro-pores increase in size and\nnumber. Eventually the damaged tooth may have to be drilled and filled to prevent toothache, or even removed…It’s a vicious cycle, but one that can be broken, according to researchers at the University of Leeds who have developed a revolutionary new way to treat the first signs of tooth decay. Their solution is to arm dentists with a peptide-based fluid that is literally painted onto the tooth’s surface. The peptide technology is based on knowledge of how the tooth forms in the first place and stimulates regeneration of the tooth defect.’This may sound too good to be true, but we are essentially helping acid-damaged teeth to regenerate themselves…,’ said Professor Jennifer Kirkham” "}, {"Source": "red kangaroo's foreleg", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "facilitate evaporative heat loss", "Function2": "cool the skin", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/foreleg-licking-cools-skin-2/", "Strategy": "Foreleg Licking Cools Skin\n\nForelegs of red kangaroos facilitate evaporative heat loss by having a special anastomosing network of superficial vessels cooled by licking.\n\n“Red kangaroos have excellent thermoregulatory abilities: evaporative heat loss mechanisms such as panting, sweating, and licking  enable them to cope with high externally  and internally produced heat loads. While the evaporative heat loss mechanisms utilised by red kangaroos have been suggested to follow an efficient pattern, we do not know the relative contribution of these mechanisms at high environmental temperatures. In regard to the grey kangaroos, little has been reported except that they pant and lick. Licking has been suggested to be the grey kangaroo’s major route of evaporative heat loss (EHL) at high temperatures (Robertson and Morrison 1957).” (Dawson et al. 2000:374)\n“Cutaneous evaporation includes water loss through the skin (passive diffusion and sweating) and water spread onto the skin (licking)…Kangaroos and some wallabies have a special anastomosing network of superficial vessels in their forelegs to facilitate heat loss via licking, and this is most developed in M. [Macropus] rufus. Large increases in foreleg blood flow occur in M. rufus when Ta [air temperature] is raised above thermoneutral levels. While circumstantial, the data suggest that licking provides most of the nonrespiratory EHL [evaporative heat loss] of M. rufus at 45°C.”"}, {"Source": "adult leatherback sea turtle's trachea", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "maintain body temperature", "Function2": "counter-current exchange", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/vascular-lining-helps-maintain-body-temperature/", "Strategy": "Vascular Lining Helps Maintain Body Temperature\n\nThe vascular lining in the trachea of adult leatherback sea turtles helps them maintain body temperature while foraging in cold water via counter-current exchange.\n\n“Adult leatherbacks are large animals (300–500 kg), overlapping in size with marine pinniped and cetacean species. Unlike marine mammals, they start their aquatic life as 40–50 g hatchlings, so undergo a 10,000-fold increase in body mass during independent existence. Hatchlings are limited to the tropics and near-surface water. Adults, obligate predators on gelatinous plankton, encounter cold water at depth (<1280 m) or high latitude and are gigantotherms that maintain elevated core body temperatures in cold water. This study shows that there are great ontogenetic changes in tracheal structure related to diving and exposure to cold. Hatchling leatherbacks have a conventional reptilian tracheal structure with circular cartilaginous rings interspersed with extensive connective tissue. The adult trachea is an almost continuous ellipsoidal cartilaginous tube composed of interlocking plates, and will collapse easily in the upper part of the water column during dives, thus avoiding pressure-related structural and physiological problems. It is lined with an extensive, dense erectile vascular plexus that will warm and humidify cold inspired air and possibly retain heat on expiration. A sub-luminal lymphatic plexus is also present. Mammals and birds have independently evolved nasal turbinates to fulfil such a respiratory thermocontrol function; for them, turbinates are regarded as diagnostic of endothermy. This is the first demonstration of a turbinate equivalent in a living reptile.” \n\n“[T]he trachea is lined throughout by a continuous vascular plexus. This contains a high proportion of longitudinally arranged, large-diameter blood vessels lying mainly in the deeper two-thirds of the mucosa, with prominent cross-connections between them. The arrangement is consistent with their functioning as a counter-current arrangement, retaining heat and maintaining body temperature…We believe that the vascular lining of the long adult leatherback trachea functions in analogous fashion to nasal turbinates.” "}, {"Source": "white rock shell snail's egg", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "ward off microbial attack", "Function2": "ward off microbial attack", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/egg-shells-prevent-microbial-fouling/", "Strategy": "Egg Shells Prevent Microbial Fouling\n\nThe eggs of the white rock shell snail ward off microbial attack with a series of physical, mechanical, and potentially chemical defenses\n\nMulticellular marine organisms face a constant onslaught of microbes and other small organisms seeking structures upon which to adhere. Whether they are fungi, algae, biofilm-forming pathogens, or other lifeforms, they lead to biofouling on the surface of the larger organism that can cause serious complications. The white rock shell (Dicathais orbita), a type of sea snail, produces eggs with remarkable anti-fouling adaptations. In early stages of development, the exterior of the egg capsule is covered in uniform ridges separated by 1 – 5 microns. Unlike irregular nano-textures observed on the surfaces of eggs from other marine organisms, ridges that are regularly-spaced sufficiently close together are believed to minimize potential contact points for fouling organisms, making it harder for them to attach and settle. Over time, however, bacteria will attach and take root on the surface of the egg capsules. To combat this inevitable biofouling, later stage eggs shed their exterior crust completely to reveal a fresh layer underneath. After this shedding of the outer layer, lipophilic (lipid-loving) droplets are extruded from pores on the egg surface and seem to exert some kind of antiseptic effect. This series of anti-fouling steps keeps biofilms and parasitic microbes from harming the egg until it is developed enough to hatch."}, {"Source": "striped bass's scale", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "provide high resistance to penetration", "Function2": "prevent puncture", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/scales-provide-penetrative-protection/", "Strategy": "Scales Provide Penetrative Protection\n\nScales on striped bass provide high resistance to penetration due to their double-layer structure.\n\nMany bony fish, like the striped bass, receive significant protection from predators through their scales. Being only about 0.2 to 0.3 mm thick, these scales are surprisingly tough. They can stop about 3 Newtons (comparatively, a Newton is the weight of an apple falling from a tree) of force from penetrating them. This is achieved with a two-layered structure. Each scale is composed of two equally thick layers: an outer bony layer that’s highly mineralized for sturdy outer protection, and an inner collagen layer that’s softer and less mineralized.\n\nThese two layers work together to prevent the soft body tissues beneath the scales from being punctured. When a predator catches a striped bass in its mouth and starts to bite, the bony layer is the first layer of defense. Able to withstand about 2 Newtons of force, the bony layer withstands most of the biting power. With more bite strength from the predator, the scale cracks in half lengthwise and widthwise, creating four “flaps.” The distribution of forces along the cracks between the flaps helps minimize damage to the underlying soft collagen layer. As the bite continues through the scale, the flaps are pushed down and the lower collagen layer separates from the upper bony layer. While the flaps are being pushed down and continue to contact the collagen layer, they help redistribute the bite forces over their larger area. This results in less damage to the soft collagen layer than if the forces were concentrated at the puncture site. The flaps are so helpful that they increase the overall impact resistance of the scales by 1 Newton.\n\nThe collagen layer also helps resist the bite through the orientation of its fibers. Lying at right angles to each other, the fibers of the collagen layer stretch under pressure. This is similar to how a woven hammock can hold a person, but a bunch of ropes all lying in the same direction cannot. This stops the tooth of the predator from immediately puncturing through. The detachment of the collagen layer from the bony layer also helps, as the predator has to bite further into the organism to penetrate the scale and reach the body tissues underneath. The scales cover most of the striped bass’ body and partially overlap, providing additional protection through extra layers.\n\nCompared to human-made protective covers, this two-layer scale system is surprisingly tough. When compared to two commonly used human polymers, polystyrene and polycarbonate (used in CD cases and safety goggles), a single scale provides more protection. Layering of the scales makes them much stronger than currently used human polymers."}, {"Source": "bull kelp stipe", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "resist breaking", "Function2": "absorb energy", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/highly-stretchable-stipe-resists-breaking/", "Strategy": "Highly Stretchable Stipe Resists Breaking\n\nHighly stretchable stipe of bull kelp resists breaking because of restraining cellulose fibers\n\nBull kelp (Nereocystis luetkeana) is a marine macroalga that resembles a vine-like plant with a long, thin stipe (stem-like structure) up to 30 meters long, anchored to the sea floor by a holdfast (root-like structure). A gas-filled float at the stipe’s other end holds numerous photosynthetic blades close to the water’s surface. Although it helps expose the blades to sunlight, the buoyant float prevents the kelp from flattening against the seabed, thereby exposing the stipe to pulling forces from tidal currents, waves and surface chop. If the mechanical force exerted by fluid flow exceeds the breaking strength of a kelp stipe or holdfast, the kelp can break away and potentially die.\n\nWhen pulled, the kelp stipe breaks at stresses (force per cross-sectional area) lower than other biomaterials such as wood and insect cuticle; however, it compensates for this low breaking strength by being stretchy. A bull kelp stipe can be stretched 40% percent of its length before breaking, absorbing energy as it stretches. Thus, kelp requires about the same amount of energy to break as wood or insect cuticle does, although it resists breaking through being extensible rather than being strong and stiff. What enables the bull kelp stipe to be so stretchy?\n\nThe stipe has an inner cortex made of cylindrical cells that bear most of the pulling (tensile) force. Similar to other plants, these cells are wound with a strong and inextensible cellulose fiber. The fibers wrap around in both left- and right-handed helices, creating an array that prevents cells from becoming too long and thin when pulled or too short and wide when compressed. This protects the cells from rupturing. The amount of shape change permitted depends on the angle between the fiber and the cell’s long axis: the smaller the fiber angle, the greater the cell width can change for any change in the cell’s length. Vascular plants typically have an average fiber angle of 20˚, whereas bull kelp has an average fiber angle of 60˚. This means that the cells can stretch considerably along their length with relatively small changes in width. This large fiber angle plays an important role in the high extensibility of bull kelp."}, {"Source": "brown pelican's body", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protects against impact", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/body-protected-from-diving-impact/", "Strategy": "Body Protected From Diving Impact\n\nThe body of the brown pelican is protected from impact during plunge-diving thanks to subcutaneous air-sacs."}, {"Source": "waterbear", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "survive extreme environmental conditions", "Function2": "reversibly suspended metabolic state", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/cryptobiosis-protects-from-extremes/", "Strategy": "Cryptobiosis Protects From Extremes\n\nThe waterbear survives extreme environmental conditions by entering a reversibly suspended metabolic state known as cryptobiosis.\n\nThe tardigrade, also known as a waterbear, is a microscopic invertebrate found all over the world in ecosystems ranging from freshwater to terrestrial. Tardigrades often inhabit places that experience extreme conditions–such as deserts, high mountains, and polar regions–where many other life forms find it impossible to survive. Terrestrial waterbears are typically active only when surrounded by a small film of water. So how is it that this tiny creature can survive in extreme conditions, even in places that lack a steady supply of water?\n\nUnder stressed conditions such as extreme dryness or temperature, the waterbear practices several forms of cryptobiosis, a state in which metabolic activity is slowed or halted. The most studied of these is anhydrobiosis. The waterbear enters anhydrobiosis by contracting its body into something called a tun, whereby it loses more than 95% of its free and stored water; essentially, it dehydrates itself. In this state, the waterbear creates different proteins and sugars that help protect its cells. Once these cell protectants are synthesized, the waterbear reduces, and at times suspends, its metabolism. When conditions improve within the environment, the waterbear activates its metabolism once again, aided by hydration from water intake."}, {"Source": "gray whale's tongue", "Application": "heat exchanger", "Function1": "reduce heat loss", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/lingual-rete-precools-blood/", "Strategy": "Blood Vessel Network Prevents\nHeat Loss at Body Surface\n\nThe blood vessel network in the tongues of gray whales precools blood to avoid heat loss via counter-current heat exchange.\n\nIntroduction\n\nBaleen whales such as the gray whale move huge quantities of cold ocean water through their very large mouths and across the filtering surface of the baleen. The tongue of a whale can represent as much as 5% of its total body surface area. The whale’s body is well insulated with blubber but not the tongue. Thus, to avoid losing too much of its body heat to the cold water passing through its mouth, the gray whale’s tongue has the largest counter-current heat exchanger yet described.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nThis blood vessel network inside each side of the tongue is called the lingual rete. It’s comprised of more than 50 sets of very long and small-diameter arteries, each surrounded by many small veins. This structure ensures a slowed blood flow and a large surface area for exchange of heat between the cool blood in the veins leaving the tongue and the warm blood in the arteries coming into the tongue. This way blood is pre-cooled very effectively before approaching the surface of the tongue and thus does not lose much heat to the cold water in the mouth. The surface temperature of the tongue of a young gray whale has been measured to be only 0.5° C higher than the water.\n\nThe presence of very long, small-diameter arterial and venous vessels in close proximity with low flow is key to the efficient recapture of heat and maintenance of a cool tongue surface.\n\nThe Potential\n\nGray whale tongues are a great example of counter-current heat exhangers. This type of exchanger is commonly used in manufacturing and power plants to minimize energy consumption. Looking at the specific configuration of blood vessels in the gray whale’s tongue could reveal ways to further improve thermal efficiency in heat exchangers."}, {"Source": "reindeer's coat", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "repel water", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/guard-hairs-repel-water/", "Strategy": "Guard Hairs Repel Water\n\nThe coat of reindeer repels water via long guard hairs.\n\n“Naturally, animals that live in polar regions have the warmest coats of all. The reindeer’s coat combines long, water-repelling guard hairs with an extremely dense underfur, deep-piled like a shag carpet.” "}, {"Source": "wasp's cuticle", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "provide cooling mechanism", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/cuticle-acts-as-cooling-mechanism/", "Strategy": "Cuticle Acts As Cooling Mechanism\n\nThe cuticle of wasps provides a cooling mechanism by use of hairs, thin layers, and tracheal branches.\n\n“Hornets and wasps are unique in that, even in the absence of sweat glands, they are able to buzz around at temperatures of 40 degrees Celsius without overheating. A new theory presented by Jacob Ishay and colleagues at Tel Aviv University suggests that hornets may keep cool by using their cuticle as an electrical heat pump. The team believes that hornet cuticle is comprised of a stack of thermocouples, which transfer heat from one type of conductive material to another when voltage is applied. The voltage in this scenario would be the hornet’s own metabolism, or conversely, solar energy.” \n\n“In the social wasps Vespa orientalis and Paravespula germanica (Hymenoptera, Vespinae), a thermogenic center has been found in the dorsal part of the first thoracic segment. The temperature in this region of the prothorax is higher by 6-9°C than that at the tip of the abdomen, and this in actively flying hornets outside the nest (workers, males or queens) as well as in hornets inside the nest that attend to the brood in the combs. On viewing the region from the outside, one discerns a canal or rather a fissure in the cuticle, which commences at the center of the dorsal surface of the prothorax and extends till the mesothorax. Thus the length of this canal or fissure is ~5-7 mm and it is seen to contain numerous thin hairs whose shape varies from that of the hairs alongside the structure. Beneath the cuticle in this region there are dorsoventral as well as longitudinal muscles in abundance, much the same as the musculature in the remaining thoracic segments (i.e. the meso- and metathorax), which activate the two pairs of wings. The canal-bearing segment is of course devoid of wings, and its dorsoventral muscles are attached to the cuticle, which in this region resembles a bowl harboring several layers of epithelium that boasts numerous butterfly-shaped tracheal branches. Additionally there are layers that display lymph-filled spaces and also perforated layers and depressions, and beneath all these is a lace-like layer that also coats the cuticle’s hollows. Underneath the cuticle proper, there are numerous large mitochondria and tracheae, which occupy a considerable part of the cuticular epithelium surface. These abundant mitochondria are, most probably, the main element of heat production in the thermogenic center.”"}, {"Source": "shade tree", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "block sunlight", "Function2": "increase air moisture", "Function3": "provide cooling", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/leaf-color-and-shape-enhance-cooling-effect/", "Strategy": "Leaf Color and Shape Enhance Cooling Effect\n\nThe cooling effects of shade trees in subtropical regions are most influenced by foliage density and leaf thickness, leaf texture, and leaf color lightness.\n\nShade trees provide a cooling effect by blocking sunlight and increasing air moisture, but not all trees offer equal relief from the heat. Tree species with rough, dense foliage and light colored leaves provide the greatest cooling benefits to their surroundings.\n\nDuring the day, the sun warms the earth as waves of sunlight are absorbed by all that it touches. When sunlight falls on trees, the energy excites atoms in its leaves, triggering photosynthesis and creating heating. Too little heat results in very slow growth, but excess heat can be destructive to temperature sensitive molecules in the plant. Tree species are adapted to their local sunlight regime by producing leaves with varying degrees of reflectiveness; i.e., dark colored leaves absorb the most energy from sunlight, while light colored leaves reflect excess sunlight. For example, conifer forests cover high latitudes where sunlight is limited. By having dark needles, conifers are able to absorb the most energy from sunlight when it is available. In contrast, cacti receive plenty of sunlight in low latitude deserts. To prevent scorching, cacti are light colored to reflect some of the sunlight they receive.\n\nSunlight also heats the ground where it is exposed, causing it to collect the sun’s energy during the day and release the energy as heat at night. This results in an overall heat increase in exposed areas because nighttime cooling is minimized. Shade trees with dense foliage are able to block sunlight from reaching the ground during the day, preventing the ground from collecting energy. Because shaded areas do not release heat at night, ambient temperatures remain cooler on average than exposed areas receiving the same amount of sunlight.\n\nIn addition to general heating, the energy from sunlight also excites water molecules in leaves and transforms them from liquid to vapor, a process called evapotranspiration. Water molecules are unique because they are able to hold a great deal of energy without releasing it as heat. In the vapor state, water molecules have a pronounced cooling effect because they are able to absorb heat from objects they come in contact with, including trees, the ground, and the human body. To maximize this cooling effect, some trees are adapted to allow the greatest amount of evapotranspiration to occur by producing leaves with high surface area. Rough leaves have more surface area than smooth leaves, providing more space for evapotranspiration across the surface of the leaf to occur. This results in greater cooling benefits due to the high humidity surrounding trees with rough leaves."}, {"Source": "clownfish's mucus coat", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protect from sea anemone's sting", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/mucus-coat-protects-from-sea-anemone/", "Strategy": "Mucus Coat Protects From Sea Anemone\n\nThe mucus coat of clownfish protects the fish from sea anemone's sting via innate or acquired immunity.\n\nClownfish and sea anemones have a complex and mutually beneficial relationship. Clownfish live in and are protected by some species of sea anemone; without this protection, they cannot survive in the wild. Anemone tentacles sting and kill other species of fish, but the clownfish is protected from the anemone’s sting.\n\nIt is believed that the clownfish is protected due to a mucus coat on the outside of its skin. Studies have suggested that the clownfish’s protection can be innate, acquired, or both, depending upon the species. It is suggested that some species of clownfish are innately protected from an anemone’s sting before ever coming into contact with the anemone. This is because the mucus coat they produce is sufficient to protect them from the anemone’s sting. Others, however, must acclimate to the host anemone before they can move freely among its tentacles without being stung. They do this by rubbing themselves on the anemone’s tentacles over and over again. Initially, the clownfish are stung by the tentacles, but over time, they appear to be unharmed.\n\nInterestingly, even clownfish that are innately protected exhibit this “acclimation behavior.” After initial contact, they acquire antigens from the anemone they have encountered. It has been proposed that these antigens serve as a type of “chemical camouflage” for the fish. With the acquisition of these antigens, the anemone is no longer able to distinguish between itself and the clownfish. The result is that the anenome no longer reacts to the fish by stinging."}, {"Source": "cactus's corrugated shape", "Application": "cooling devices", "Function1": "shed body heat", "Function2": "reduce heat absorption", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/shape-shades-and-enhances-heat-radiation/", "Strategy": "Cactus Ribs Keep Them Cool\n\nCacti’s corrugated shapes create pockets of shaded, cooler air that help them shed body heat.\n\nIntroduction\n\nPrickly spines and soaring human-like arms have become instantly recognizable signs of cactus-ness, but they are not the only amazing adaptation of these desert dwellers.\n\nGrowing under the scorching sun, cacti have had to evolve ways to keep cool and save water. For many species, bulbous stems and alternating ridges are critical parts of this survival kit.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nThe peaks-and-troughs pattern that encircles the thick stems or branches of many cacti work in several ways to protect cacti from getting too hot and dry. For starters, the peaks provide shade for the troughs, reducing the amount of solar heat that gets into them.\n\nBut that doesn’t prevent cacti from still absorbing a lot of heat, so the ribs help in another way. Because the troughs are shaded, the air in them is cooler. It can then absorb more heat from the body of the cactus than warmer air could. As it warms, the air rises out of the troughs, upward to the peaks, where winds waft it away.\n\nAdditionally, the bumpy ribs disrupt airflow around cacti much more than if the cacti’s surfaces were smooth. That allows more airflow to whip away more heat. And a surface with many folds has much more surface area than a flat one of the same diameter, so the ribs also offer more surface area to dissipate heat.\n\nTo conserve scant water, cactus ribs have another secret at work. Plants in general have pores called stomata, usually located in leaves, through which water can evaporate, carrying heat with it, and cooling down the plants. Cacti cannot afford to lose much water, so the sun-drenched peaks of the ribs have fewer and smaller stomata than the shaded troughs.\n\nFinally, when the heat and sun of the desert give way to rainfall, cacti’s folded surfaces transform. As the plant takes in refreshment, the ribs and troughs can unfold, expanding sort of like an accordion to store the watery bounty.\n\nThe Potential\n\nArchitects have already been incorporating cactus-inspired designs into buildings—particularly in hot, dry regions—to reduce the amount of heat absorbed by building surfaces and/or maximize the heat they can radiate. But similar structural innovations could work on smaller scales and other materials—for cars, clothing, cooling devices, and food and beverage packaging, for example."}, {"Source": "quiver tree's leafy rosettes", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "prevent evaporation", "Function2": "hold water", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/elevated-leaves-reduce-evaporation/", "Strategy": "Elevated Leaves Reduce Evaporation\n\nThe leafy rosettes of the quiver tree have less evaporative water loss because they are hoisted high in the air away from the desert floor.\n\n“The quiver tree that grows in the Namib is a kind of aloe. Like the rest of its family, it has thick succulent leaves growing in a rosette, but these are hoisted twenty feet in the air, each at the end of a stumpy branch. That in itself is a way of escaping the worst of the devastating heat and reducing the amount of moisture inevitably lost by evaporation from the surface of their leaves. The branches themselves are thickly covered in a fine white powder. That too helps in keeping cool for it reflects the sun’s heat instead of absorbing it…The branches and trunk are filled with a soft fibre that can hold a great quantity of water.”"}, {"Source": "nightjar's gular sack", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "dissipate heat", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/gular-fluttering-dissipates-heat/", "Strategy": "Gular Fluttering Dissipates Heat\n\nThe gular sack of nightjars helps to dissipate heat efficiently by vibrating.\n\n“An important environmental adaptation for many caprimulgiformes is the ability to withstand high ambient temperature (Ta). Birds of this order are most common in warm climates, and frogmouths, potoos, and nightjars all roost and nest in the open where they can be subjected to long periods of direct sun exposure. In these circumstances, they avoid hyperthermia by using evaporative cooling strategies. Nightjars dissipate heat by gular fluttering, during which the mouth is opened, the rate of blood flow to the buccal area is increased, and the moist gular area is rapidly vibrated.” \n\n“When poorwills are exposed to high temperatures, they increase evaporation of water by initiation of gular flutter and by some increase in breathing rate. Gular flutter supplements evaporation due to respiration, and involves a rapid vibration of the moist membranes of the gular region, driven by the hyoid. The rate of gular flutter in the poorwill is relatively constant and independent of heat load, and evaporation due to flutter is modulated by varying the amount of time spent fluttering, as well as the amount of air moved per flutter.” "}, {"Source": "alaskan darkling beetle's sugar-based polymer", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "keep cell contents from freezing", "Function2": "prevent ice formation", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/unique-antifreeze-protects-from-extreme-cold/", "Strategy": "Unique Antifreeze Protects From Extreme Cold\n\nA sugar-based polymer produced by an Alaskan darkling beetle keeps cell contents from freezing in extreme cold temperatures by attaching to the cell membrane.\n\nIn midwinter, temperatures at the home of an Alaskan darkling beetle (Upis ceramboides) can drop to -76 degrees F (-60 degrees C), yet this beetle species is able to keep its internal, watery cell contents from catastrophically freezing. Unlike most other extreme cold-dwelling organisms, including plants, animals, fish, fungi, and bacteria that use proteins as antifreeze agents, this Alaskan beetle produces a sugar-based antifreeze called xylomannan (a polymer of alternating xylose and mannose sugars). With the help of certain oily compounds, xylomannan attaches to the outer cell membrane where it likely functions to prevent the entry of extracellular ice into the cell, keep ice from forming inside the cell, and promote membrane stability."}, {"Source": "tree bark", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "minimize absorption of solar light", "Function2": "maximize thermal emission", "Function3": "efficient thermal emission", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/bark-keeps-surface-cool-under-the-sun/", "Strategy": "Bark Keeps Surface Cool Under the Sun\n\nBark of trees keeps surface cool by minimizing absorption of solar light and maximizing thermal emission\n\n“It was found that tree barks have optimized their reflection of incoming sunlight between 0.7 and 2 [microns]. This is approximately the optical window in which solar light is transmitted and reflected by green vegetation. Simultaneously, the tree bark is highly absorbing and thus radiation emitting between 6 and 10 [microns]. These two properties, mainly provided by tannins, create optimal conditions for radiative temperature control. In addition, tannins seem to have adopted a function as mediators for excitation energy towards photo-antioxidative activity for control of radiation damage.” \n“Optimal reflection of incoming radiation is not the only condition for keeping surfaces cool. The second condition, optimal emission at a temperature that the object reaches (approximately 40 ºC) has also been demonstrated here. Barks, through tannin and cellulose, efficiently absorb radiation between 6 and 10 [microns] (Figs. 10, top and 12), which means that they emit radiation equally well in this wavelength region. It allows efficient thermal emission into the cool space via an optical atmospheric window between 7.5 and 13 [microns] (Fig. 6). Since leaves also have to cool down efficiently and therefore also have to emit radiation in this infrared optical window, it can be speculated that cellulose and tannins have been evolved, adopted, and applied because of their radiation properties. This could have been at least one of several evolutionary factors. As already mentioned the optical properties of tree barks are of course not the only factor that has been considered by evolution with respect to the heat balance of the tree bark. Many tree barks show a paper-like structure with sheets peeling off, generating highly heat-insulating, trapped air spaces between them (e.g. birch, paper-bark tree). Other tree barks have developed a very rough surface that produces a lot of shadowed areas amongst the illuminated ones [11]. Such a morphology is known to stimulate convection of air, which then transports away heat from the bark surface. An additional fact or that has been considered by evolution was, as already mentioned, the structure of tree stems and branches. They typically have a round profile, minimizing the surface with respect to the volume. For that reason, comparatively little solar heat can come in from the outside.” "}, {"Source": "siberian salamander", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "survive extreme cold temperature", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/amphibian-withstands-freezing/", "Strategy": "Amphibian Withstands Freezing\n\nThe body of the Siberian salamander survives extreme cold temperatures via 'antifreeze' chemicals.\n\n“Some urodeles can tolerate very low ambient temperatures: the most impressive example is probably the Siberian salamander, Salamandrella keyserlingii, which can survive for prolonged periods at -45° C.” \n“Sudden frost is a serious problem for the Siberian salamander. It needs time to adapt to the cold and produce the ‘antifreeze’ chemicals that replace water in blood and cells and protect tissues from damage by sharp ice crystals. Some animals use glucose, glycerol and related compounds to protect them from freezing in this way. The exact mechanism in the Siberian salamander is not known.” "}, {"Source": "pummelo peel", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "dissipate large amounts of energy", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/hierarchical-organization-of-peel-confers-impact-resistance/", "Strategy": "Hierarchical Organization of\nPeel Confers Impact Resistance\n\nThe pomelo fruit has excellent damping properties due to the hierarchical organization of its composite peel\n\n“Natural materials often exhibit excellent mechanical properties. An example of outstanding impact resistance is the pummelo fruit (Citrus maxima) which can drop from heights of 10 m and more without showing significant outer damage. Our data suggest that this impact resistance is due to the hierarchical organization of the fruit peel, called pericarp.” \n\n“Citrus maxima is the largest fruit among the genus Citrus with a fruit weight up to 6 kg and a maximal height of the fruit bearing trees of 15 m. In combination these two factors, fruit weight and the height of the fruit bearing branches, cause a high potential energy of the hanging fruit. After the fruit is shed its potential energy is converted into kinetic energy which reaches its maximum just before impact with the ground. If the high kinetic energy was to cause the pummelos to split open when impacting with the ground, the fruits would perish within a short time due to the tropical climate in Southeast Asia, the region of origin of the genus Citrus.” \n\n“Semi-quantitative analyses of thin sections of pummelo peel revealed a gradual transition in density between exocarp and mesocarp. Thus, structurally, the dense exocarp cannot be separated clearly from the spongy mesocarp. We hypothesize that due to this lack of an abrupt change in tissue composition and therefore in structural and mechanical properties the risk of delamination of the tissues during impact is reduced. The impact force acting on the pummelo depends on the velocity of the fruit before impact and its weight, but also on the consistency of the ground. Under natural conditions, part of the total energy is dissipated by the relatively pliable ground, as typically existing in the regions where pummelos grow naturally. In the tests presented mechanical loads acting on the fruits were increased by dropping the fruits onto a hard ground. Thus all kinetic energy must have been dissipated by the fruits themselves. The mesocarp with its air-filled intercellular spaces represents a compressible foam. As the Young’s modulus of this spongy part of the peel is rather low, we conclude that its ability to dissipate large amounts of energy must result from the structural composition of the peel.” "}, {"Source": "wood frog's blood", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protect from freezing temperature", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/compounds-protect-from-freezing/", "Strategy": "Compounds Protect From Freezing\n\nCompounds, such as sugar, in the blood of wood frogs protect them from freezing temperatures by affecting how water freezes in the body.\n\n“The North American wood frog (Rana sylvatica), for instance, can survive freezing temperatures for as long as seven months, relying on a natural antifreeze in its blood to protect its organs.”"}, {"Source": "acacia tree's leaves", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "produce cyanogenic poison", "Function2": "release ethylene gas", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/cyanogenic-poison-protects-from-herbivores/", "Strategy": "Cyanogenic Poison Protects From Herbivores\n\nThe leaves of acacia trees protect from being eaten by producing a cyanogenic poison.\n\n“The African acacias, well-protected though they may be by their thorns, use distasteful chemicals in their leaves as a second line of defence. Furthermore, and most remarkably, they warn one another that they are doing so. At the same time as they fill their leaves with poison, they release ethylene gas which drifts out of the pores of their leaves. Other acacias within fifty yards are able to detect this and as soon as they do so, they themselves begin to manufacture poison and distribute it to their leaves.” \n\n"}, {"Source": "parrotfish's gland", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protect from parasites", "Function2": "mask olfactory cues", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/mucous-cocoon-protects-from-predators-2/", "Strategy": "Mucous Cocoon Protects From Predators\n\nGlands of the parrotfish protect it from parasites and mask olfactory cues by secreting a mucous cocoon that surrounds the fish.\n\nGnathiids are a family of isopod crustaceans whose larvae feed on the blood of fish. During the day, infected parrotfish seek out cleaner fish to consume the parasites; however, at night they are relatively vulnerable to attack. Parrotfish overcome this vulnerability by secreting a mucus cocoon before sleeping which envelopes their bodies with a protective biopolymer that functions similar to a mosquito net. The mucus is secreted from large glands in the gill cavity and is composed of small glycoproteins which are extensively cross-linked through pyrosulfate bonds. This exopolymer net allows small molecules to permeate but prevents the parasitic gnathiids from entering. The process is thought to involve a combination of blocking odorants which the isopods use to target the fish and physically preventing them from approaching the fish. The nightly mucus secretion only consumes ~2.5% of the daily energy budget of the parrotfish which makes it a very efficient strategy.\n\nAlternative strategies used by other organisms to deter parasites include chemical ones like the secretion or production of toxins and behavioral ones like scraping along surfaces, avoiding infected individuals/habitats, and seeking cleaner fish; these alternatives are relatively energetically costly compared to the mucus cocoon."}, {"Source": "pea seedling's exudate", "Application": "quorum sensing blockers", "Function1": "inhibit bacteria", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/compounds-inhibit-bacteria/", "Strategy": "Compounds Inhibit Bacteria\n\nPea seedlings inhibit bacterial biofilm formation by exuding a unique chemical compound.\n\n“Recently, Bauer and colleagues showed that exudates from pea seedlings (Pisum sativum) and other plant sources (including the unicellular soil-freshwater alga, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii) were found to contain a range of compounds that mimicked N-acyl-HSL signals in several bacterial reporter strains (reviewed in ref. 41). In some cases, these extracts inhibited quorum sensing dependent phenotypes, suggesting that the active compounds may have potential as quorum sensing-blockers. Although the chemical nature of the active mimic compounds is not (yet) known, they are apparently not N-acyl-HSL.”"}, {"Source": "penguin's feather", "Application": "insulative materials", "Function1": "retain warmth", "Function2": "provide insulation", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/feathers-trap-air-to-provide-warmth/", "Strategy": "Feathers Trap Air to Provide Warmth\n\nFeathers of penguins trap air to retain warmth by being filamentous and forming a continuous layer around the body.\n\nPenguin feathers offer a model for dynamic insulation, providing excellent insulation in both air and water and regaining loft automatically after compression. Penguins are unusual in that their feathers are not arranged in tracts, as in other birds, but instead are evenly packed over their surface. The feathers are short and stiff relative to other birds, comprised of an outer ’pennaceous’ or vane region and a ‘downy’ inner ‘after-feather’. The shaft of the feathers have a muscle attached to them that can pull them down into a compressed water tight barrier when under water, and then erect them again when they come back onto land.  The upper parts of the vanes of the feathers overlap their neighboring feathers flatly like overlapping tiles, contributing to a wind or water barrier.\nThe deeper insulating layer is made up of after-feathers that are comprised of ever smaller components that create an ordered network of elements to create trapped air spaces.  In Gentoo penguins, for example, there are about 47 barbs per feather and each of the barbs may have 1250 barbules emerging at a 60-80 degree angle from the central ramus (or stalk) in a spiral arrangement.  Each barbule has its own tiny extensions, cilia, that are thought to provide a mechanism for attachment to neighboring barbules of other barbs, allowing them to only move in one direction relative to each other by a sort of ‘slip-stick’ mechanism. The overall effect of this structure is to create a uniform arrangement of barbules and thus a uniform division of and thickness of the trapped air space within the insulative layer.  This slip-stick mechanism is thought to interact with the stored elastic energy in the barbs during compression under water to re-establish the correct spacing between barbs and barbules when back on land, for optimal still air space and thus insulative value. Bioengineers are studying not only the structural arrangements of the feather elements of penguins but also their mechanical properties in order to develop more effective insulative materials that could capture this clever self-organizing characteristic and ability to regain ‘loft’ after being compressed."}, {"Source": "hippopotamus's secretion", "Application": "sunscreen", "Function1": "protect skin", "Function2": "act as sunscreen", "Function3": "inhibit microbial growth", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/secretion-protects-skin/", "Strategy": "Secretion Protects Skin\n\nA secretion of the hippopotamus protects its skin from the sun and bacteria thanks to two pigments that absorb UV light and have antibiotic properties.\n\n“The rust-colored perspiration of the hippopotamus does more than keep the animal cool. Hippo sweat contains pigments that act as both sunscreen and antibiotic. Researchers at Kyoto Pharmaceutical University in Japan identified two such pigments, the red hipposudoric acid, and the orange norhipposudoric acid. Both are conjugated three-ring structures. The two compounds absorb light in the UV-visible range (200-600 nm) and so are thought to protect the hippo’s dermis from the sun. Additionally, low concentrations of hipposudoric acid inhibit the growth of bacteria. Both compounds are highly reactive, and tend to polymerize when removed from the hippo and/or a water source. An unknown agent in hippo mucus keeps the compounds from polymerizing for several hours, even after the hippo sweat dries.” \n\n“The efficient sunscreen activity of NH and HP stems from their broad absorption in the UVA and UVB regions of the spectrum.” \n\n“Although the fluid secreted by the hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius) is not strictly sweat as it is produced by the subdermal glands, it acts like sweat in helping to control body temperature. It is also thought to be antiseptic…What is the function of these pigments as far as the hippopotamus is concerned? Their spectra in the ultraviolet/visible range (200–600 nm; see supplementary information) indicate that they may act as sunscreens. The red pigment 2 also has antibiotic activity: at concentrations lower than that found on the hippopotamus’s skin, it inhibits the growth of the pathogenic bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa A3 and Klebsiella pneumonia.”"}, {"Source": "skunk cabbage's internal thermostat", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "regulate tissue temperature", "Function2": "maintain a comfortable temperature", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/internal-thermostat-regulates-temperature/", "Strategy": "Internal Thermostat Regulates Temperature\n\nThe internal thermostat of skunk cabbage regulates temperature, following a mathematical algorithm, dubbed the \"Zazen attractor.\"\n\n“The smelly skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus) — a member of the arum family rather than a true cabbage — can tell us a thing or two about staying warm. It is one of the few complex plants that controls its tissue temperature, maintaining a comfortable 16 to 24 °C in all weathers. It can even melt snow as it warms itself to protect its delicate flowers. The plant generates heat by burning starch in special cells, but until now no one understood exactly how it controls its internal thermostat.\n\n“Now two researchers say its temperature follows a kind of mathematical pattern called a strange attractor. Takanori Ito and Kikukatsu Ito of Iwate University in Japan monitored several skunk cabbages in the wild, recording their temperatures every minute. At first, the temperature fluctuation appeared to be random. But using a statistical technique called non-linear forecasting, they found it varies in a way specified by a unique mathematical algorithm. They have called the algorithm a Zazen attractor after the plant’s Japanese name, Zazen-sou, meaning Zen meditation plant. \n\n“And the thermostat is surprisingly robust, despite its apparent jitteriness. ‘When a stable state is catastrophically damaged by drastic changes of environment, it is hard to regulate the system,’ says Takanori Ito. But the skunk cabbage’s thermostat can cope even under extreme conditions. ‘It can be regulated even when the ambient temperature drops below freezing.'”"}, {"Source": "vascular plant", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "prevent tissue collapse", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/sclereid-cells-prevent-soft-tissue-collapse/", "Strategy": "Sclereid Cells Prevent Soft Tissue Collapse\n\nSclereid cells in vascular plants help prevent the collapse of soft tissues during water stress via thick, lignified walls.\n\n“Sclereids are also cells with thick, lignified walls. They are grouped with fibres under the general term sclerenchyma. They differ from fibres in generally being shorter in relation to their length, but there is some overlap in the range of cells. They may be branched, sinuous or short — often more or less isodiametric. The longer ones commonly feature in the sheaths to veins, particularly near the ends of the finer branches. They can be pit-prop-like when they extend between the upper and lower surfaces of leaves, and appear to help prevent collapse of softer tissues at times of water stress, as in olive leaves and the leaves of many mangrove plants. These plants, and many of the hard-leaved plants found in arid habitats, often have abundant elongated or branched sclereids.”"}, {"Source": "bacillus bacteria's spore", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "provide dormancy at high temperature", "Function2": "resistant to high temperature", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/spores-provide-dormancy-at-high-temperature/", "Strategy": "Spores Provide Dormancy at High Temperature\n\nSpores that form in Bacillus type bacteria provide dormancy at high temperature because enzyme proteins change shape as the spore dehydrates.\n\nCan relaxation make you tougher? Yes, research shows, if you are a bacterial endospore (also simply referred to as a “spore”). Endospores are tough dormant structures that form inside the cell wall of certain types of bacteria, such as Bacillus bacteria. These tough capsules form in response to adverse conditions such as drought or high temperatures. They are also resistant to ultraviolet radiation, desiccation, extreme freezing, and chemical disinfectants. Analysis of enzyme structures within endospores suggests that reversible relaxation of their three-dimensional structure is the strategy Bacillus bacteria use to survive at temperatures deadly to non-spore forming cells.\n\nWhen exposed to higher temperatures, such as that of boiling water, the internal bonds of the bacteria’s folded enzyme relax to form long chains of protein molecules. These chains move about freely in the low water content of an endospore’s core region. Since the functional enzyme shape has relaxed, the cell machinery stops and the dormant state associated with the endospore is the result. When cell temperature becomes more hospitable, the protein chains refold back into the the normal enzyme structure. At this point, the cell returns to normal functioning.\n\nBertil Halle, the lead scientist for this study, sums up the connection between partial dehydration, increased temperatures, and dormancy in Bacillus bacterial endospores by stating, “‘What we have discovered is that the water in the spore is nearly as fluid as in regular bacteria, while the enzymes are largely immobile. We therefore think that spores’ heat resistance and ability to shut down their cell machinery can be ascribed to the fact that certain critical enzymes do not function in the low water content in the spore core. But much more work is needed to figure out the details of the mechanism.’” "}, {"Source": "pleasing fungus beetle's cuticle", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "resist desiccation", "Function2": "achieve effective water balance", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/cuticle-prevents-water-movement/", "Strategy": "Cuticle Prevents Water Movement\n\nThe tough cuticle of the pleasing fungus beetle achieves effective water balance using a waxy chitin-protein matrix\n\n“The pleasing fungus beetle is found locally in stands of ponderosa pine and aspen, especially near bracket fungi that grow on rotting logs. Here, adult beetles lay their eggs and once hatched, the larvae feast on the bracket fungi. Adult beetles are shiny black with blue or purple elytra (hardened wing covers) with black dots. This shiny cuticle or exoskeleton is waterproof thanks to the components of this natural composite. In beetles, chitin is a tough, flexible component of a complex matrix of materials that create a passive physical surface barrier to water. As such, insects rely on their chitinous cuticle to resist desiccation. Chitin is composed primarily of polysaccharide fibers (bonded sugar molecules much like cellulose in wood) in a protein matrix. These fibers are stacked, with each layer slightly rotated relative to the orientation of the underlying layer, much like plywood (see illustration below). This fiber-protein complex holds a very thin waterproofing waxy lipid layer, less than 0.2 microns thick, that is secreted onto and integrated with the complex to ensure a water balance is achieved.” \nRotated fiber layers (rod shapes) in a protein matrix, and a thin waxy lipid layer (dark layer on top) help manage the insect’s water balance. "}, {"Source": "dung beetle's body", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "reduce soil adhesion", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/body-resists-soil-adhesion/", "Strategy": "Body Resists Soil Adhesion\n\nBody of the dung beetle reduces soil ahesion via non-smooth surface morphology.\n\n“The adhesion forces of soil, which exist when soil is in contact with a solid interface, often make troubles for soil engaging components of vehicles and machines, such as earthmovers, excavator-buckets and bulldozers, and result in the fall of power output. However, the phenomena of soil adhesion disappear when soil-burrowing animals move in soil. Soil animals’ such excellent ability of anti-adhesion is partly resulted from their non-smoothness surface morphologies [5], for example, the morphological body surface of dung beetle is of non-smoothness or roughness in micro scales, as shown in Figure 1.”"}, {"Source": "elephant's skin", "Application": "bio-inspired windows", "Function1": "dissipate heat", "Function2": "cool down", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/skin-fine-tunes-internal-temperature/", "Strategy": "Hot Spots on Skin Keep Elephants Cool\n\nElephants direct blood flow to their skin surface in areas scattered over their bodies to dissipate excess body heat. \n\nIntroduction\n\nA quick look at the photo above tells you why elephants are called pachyderms—it’s Greek for “thick skin.” But those tough, bulky hides present a challenge: Massive elephants build up massive amounts of body heat roaming in hot African and Asian climes—and unlike most mammals, elephants don’t sweat.\n\nSo how do they keep cool? A newly discovered strategy shows that elephants aren’t always so thick-skinned after all.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nOne way that elephants lower their body temperatures is by bathing in water. That provides an immediate cool-down, but there’s more to it. The intricate pattern of wrinkles and crevices in their skin traps water, which evaporates and transfers heat into the air—much the way sweating cools us down.\n\nAnother major strategy to cool down is called vasodilation. When we get too hot, our blood vessels widen and bring more warm blood from our cores to our skin surface. That’s why our faces sometimes flush pink when we exercise. Vasodilation cools us down in two ways: First, it enables heat to radiate out of the body and into the air. That heat also speeds up evaporation of water in the form of sweat escaping through skin pores, which cools us down.\n\nBarrel-bodied elephants need a lot of water and can’t afford to lose any via sweating. But they can still use vasodilation to dissipate heat through their skin.  Elephant ears (the real ones, not the pastries) are ideal for this. They provide wide platforms of relatively thin skin filled with blood vessels. When elephants get too hot, they flood their ears with blood to dissipate body heat. They also can fan their ears to increase airflow over their skin to lose heat faster.\n\nRecently, however, scientists have discovered that elephants also use vasodilation in several other areas around  their bodies. “Thermal windows” are networks of tiny blood vessels that rise right near the surface of the elephants’ 1-inch- (2.5-cm-) thick skin. Theys can’t be seen with the naked eye, but cameras that visualize heat have revealed them to scientists. These hot spots may also help indirectly, by bringing more heat to the skin to enhance evaporation of the water trapped in their wrinkles.\n\nThe opposite of all this is also true. When elephants get too cold, their vasodilation adjusts accordingly, and the thermal windows in their skin can be “closed” to help retain heat and finely regulate overall body temperature.\n\nThe Potential \n\nEngineers are already designing real windows for buildings with bio-inspired, fluid-filled circulatory systems that can regulate how much heat the windows radiate or absorb. Similar systems could be designed for other construction materials for buildings or cars, for example, or textiles for clothing, bedding, and outdoor gear such as tents. There is also potential for medical devices to help people with difficulties regulating body temperature, such as those facing thyroid problems or menopause.\n"}, {"Source": "elephant's large ears", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "aid cooling", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/large-ears-aid-cooling/", "Strategy": "Large Ears Aid Cooling\n\nThe large ears of elephants aid cooling by radiating heat from blood vessels, and flapping to generate cooling air currents.\n\n"}, {"Source": "mollusks' byssus thread", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "resist forces", "Function2": "resist hydrodynamic force", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/byssus-threads-resist-forces/", "Strategy": "Byssus Threads Resist Forces\n\nThe byssus threads of mollusks are strong anchors that can resist hydrodynamic forces because of mechanically distinct regions within each thread.\n\n“One particular use of a collagenous rope gives a sense of the range of performance nature can get from this material–and of some of the peculiarities of applying data from standard analyses. As familiar to anyone who has poked around rocky, wave-swept shores, mussels don’t dislodge easily. Each is attached to rocks by twenty to sixty stringy byssus threads of sufficient tenacity to resist extreme hydrodynamic forces. (Denny [1988] provides an especially good view of the origin of these forces.) At first glance, a collagenous material looks inappropriate for the mission. After all, low extensibility means that unless particularly well matched and faced with forces of invariant strength and direction, only some subset of threads will bear the load. Imagine hanging from a group of inextensible ropes each of slightly different length–having more than one will gain you nothing, since they’ll break one by one instead of sharing the load.\nA byssus thread contains two mechanically distinct regions, called, for their distance from the shell, proximal and distal. The material of both regions proves to be unusually extensible for collagens, which sounds right and proper. But then, according to Bell and Gosline (1996) things get more complex. The proximal region can be strained to a greater fraction of unloaded length, but it never achieves the breaking strength of the distal region, as you can see from figure 16.14a. So it looks as if their proximal regions take care of distributing the load among the threads. Not so. The distal region of threads happens to be two to four times longer and only half as wide. So a given force will stretch it quite far. Replotting the data as force against extension for a whole thread as a structure, as in figure 16.14b, shows a nice match. Even better, it shows how the distal thread yields (the horizontal portion of its curve) just short of the breaking force–an extension that will permit threads to reorient closer to the direction of the applied force and to share increasing loads among an increasing number of threads.”"}, {"Source": "african elephant's foot", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "distribute mechanical forces", "Function2": "store or absorb mechanical forces", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/foot-cushions-support-large-weight/", "Strategy": "Foot Cushions Support Large Weight\n\nThe foot of the African elephant absorbs and distributes mechanical forces by consisting of sheets or strands of fibrous connective tissue forming larger metacarpal/metatarsal and digital compartments and smaller chambers filled with adipose tissue.\n\n“The uniquely designed limbs of the African elephant, Loxodonta africana, support the weight of the largest terrestrial animal. Besides other morphological peculiarities, the feet are equipped with large subcutaneous cushions which play an important role in distributing forces during weight bearing and in storing or absorbing mechanical forces…In both the forelimb and the hindlimb a 6th ray, the prepollex or prehallux, is present. These cartilaginous rods support the metacarpal or metatarsal compartment of the cushions. None of the rays touches the ground directly. The cushions consist of sheets or strands of fibrous connective tissue forming larger metacarpal/metatarsal and digital compartments and smaller chambers which were filled with adipose tissue. The compartments are situated between tarsal, metatarsal, metacarpal bones, proximal phalanges or other structures of the locomotor apparatus covering the bones palmarly/plantarly and the thick sole skin. Within the cushions, collagen, reticulin and elastic fibres are found…Besides their important mechanical properties, foot cushions in elephants seem to be very sensitive structures.” "}, {"Source": "insect's exoskeleton", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "adjust to strain and load", "Function2": "change thickness, stiffness, fiber orientation", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/exoskeleton-adjusts-to-structural-forces/", "Strategy": "Exoskeleton Adjusts to Structural Forces\n\nExoskeleton of insects adjusts to strain and load by changing thickness, stiffness, and fiber orientation.\n\n“In their rigid state exoskeletons are stiff laminated composite structures made of chitin fibres embedded in a highly crossed matrix. The exoskeleton acts as a detector of displacement, strain or load via special organs called sensilla, which are partly integrated into local sections of exoskeleton. These organs amplify the information for the main detector organ, which is connected to the nerve stem. The local information obtained is used to modify the exoskeleton by changing thickness, stiffness and fibre orientation depending on the situation.” "}, {"Source": "golden-fronted woodpecker's brain", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protect the brain", "Function2": "reduce impact", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/head-cavity-protects-brain/", "Strategy": "Head Cavity Protects Brain\n\nThe subarachnoid cavity of the golden-fronted woodpecker protects its brain from injury through decreased volume of cerebrospinal fluid.\n\nSpecies of woodpeckers, such as the golden-fronted woodpecker, peck with their beak to establish their territories and attract mates. The high-speed pecking motion of the golden-fronted woodpecker causes a tremendous amount of stressed force on the animal. One mechanism that prevents physical and neurological trauma is the combination of the small volume of the woodpecker’s cranial space and the smooth surface area of the brain.Similar to mammals, bird skulls contain a space between the brain’s gray matter and the skull’s vascular tissue, called a subarachnoid cavity. The cavity houses cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) that provides cushioning from minor bumps and jostling, as well as protection from diseases. However, CSF will not protect the brain from strong vibrations or blows, like those experienced by woodpeckers or football players. In these instances, CSF will allow excessive movement of the brain, potentially resulting in bruising and concussions.The woodpecker has proportionally less CSF than other birds, an adaptation to protect its brain during drumming. Less CSF combats the risk of brain injury in two ways. First, the decreased volume makes it more difficult for the brain to be disrupted if the head is struck. Second, with a decreased CSF volume, there is less medium for stress forces to transmit through, therefore reducing the impact on neural tissue.In addition to cavity volume, the surface area of the woodpecker brain is smooth with fewer pronounced peaks and valleys. Therefore, if the skull were to be struck, the impact would be more evenly transmitted around the brain, rather than hitting one point with a greater amount of force.\n\nThis illustration represents a species with a complex brain. The brain has a good number of peaks and valleys. When struck, the site of impact receives a greater amount of force due to its raised ridges. Illustration by Allison Miller.\n\nIn a smooth brained species, such as the golden-fronted woodpecker, the force is distributed more evenly, resulting in a decreased residual impact. Illustration by Allison Miller.\n\n"}, {"Source": "lotus seed", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "prevent water and air from entering", "Function2": "repair enzymes resist attacks by fungi and help the seed survive harsh temperatures", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/seed-coat-and-enzymes-protect-seed/", "Strategy": "Seed Coat and Enzymes Protect Seed\n\nSeeds of lotus remain viable for thousands of years via hard seed coat and repair enzymes.\n\n“In the West, lotus (Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn.) is relatively little known. However, for more than 3000 years, lotus plants have been cultivated as a crop in Far-East Asia, where they are used for food, medicine and play a significant role in religious and cultural activities. Holder of the world’s record for long-term seed viability (1300 years) is a lotus fruit (China Antique) from Xipaozi, Liaoning Province, China. Five offspring of this variety, from 200-500-year-old fruits (14C dates) collected at Xipaozi, have recently been germinated, and are the first such seedlings to be raised from directly dated fruits. The fruits at Xipaozi, preserved in a dry ancient lakebed, have been exposed to low-dose γ-radiation for hundreds of years (having an accumulated soil irradiation of 0.1-1.0 Gy). Offspring from these old fruits show abnormalities that resemble those in various modern seedlings irradiated at much higher doses. Although these lotus offspring are phenotypically abnormal, the viability of old seeds was evidently not affected by accumulated doses of up to 3 Gy. Growth characteristics of first- and second-year lotus offspring of these fruits, products of the longest-term radiobiological experiment on record, are summarized here (rapid early growth, phenotypic abnormalities, lack of vigour, poor rhizome development and low photosynthetic activity during second-year growth). Aspects of their chromosomal organization, phenotype and physiology (rapid recovery from stress, heat-stable proteins, protein-repair enzyme) are discussed. Important unsolved problems are suggested to elicit interest among members of the seed science community to the study of old fruits recently collected at Xipaozi, with particular emphasis on aspects of ageing and repair.” \n“‘The secret of the sacred lotus may be its seed coat,’ says Shen-Miller. ‘The coat is very hard, built to prevent water and air from entering and degrading the seed.’ The sacred lotus is also blessed with a hardy collection of repair enzymes, such as L-isoaspartyl methyltransferase and other proteins that minimize seed damage, resist attacks by fungi, and help the seed survive harsh temperatures. ‘The lotus is a scientific treasure,’ remarks Shen-Miller, adding that the flower could reveal biochemical traits that boost quality of life by repairing the molecular damage of aging.”"}, {"Source": "lichen", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "tolerate extreme heat and desiccation", "Function2": "protect against photooxidation", "Function3": "avoid photo-damage", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/changes-in-protein-pigment-complex-protect-from-heat-and-desiccation/", "Strategy": "Changes in Protein‑Pigment Complex\nProtect From Heat and Desiccation\n\nLichens can tolerate extreme heat and desiccation in part due to conformational modifications in a protein-pigment complex.\n\n“Lichens can also tolerate heat which would desiccate and kill most plants. They shrivel but remain alive and, when the opportunity comes, they take up moisture at extraordinary speed and in great quantities, absorbing as much as half their dried body weight in a mere ten minutes.” \n\n“In order to survive sunlight in the absence of water, desiccation-tolerant green plants need to be protected against photooxidation. During drying of the chlorolichen Cladonia rangiformis and the cyanolichen Peltigera neckeri, chlorophyll fluorescence decreased and stable light-dependent charge separation in reaction centers of the photosynthetic apparatus was lost. The presence of light during desiccation increased loss of fluorescence in the chlorolichen more than that in the cyanolichen. Heating of desiccated Cladonia thalli, but not of Peltigera thalli, increased fluorescence emission more after the lichen had been dried in the light than after drying in darkness. Activation of zeaxanthin-dependent energy dissipation by protonation of the PsbS protein of thylakoid membranes was not responsible for the increased loss of chlorophyll fluorescence by the chlorolichen during drying in the light. Glutaraldehyde inhibited loss of chlorophyll fluorescence during drying. Desiccation-induced loss of chlorophyll fluorescence and of light-dependent charge separation are interpreted to indicate activation of a highly effective mechanism of photoprotection in the lichens. Activation is based on desiccation-induced conformational changes of a pigment-protein complex. Absorbed light energy is converted into heat within a picosecond or femtosecond time domain. When present during desiccation, light interacts with the structural changes of the protein providing increased photoprotection. Energy dissipation is inactivated and structural changes are reversed when water becomes available again. Reversibility of ultra-fast thermal dissipation of light energy avoids photo-damage in the absence of water and facilitates the use of light for photosynthesis almost as soon as water becomes available.” "}, {"Source": "resurrection fern's cell", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "survive extreme water loss", "Function2": "attract, sequester, and localize water", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/cells-survive-extreme-water-loss/", "Strategy": "Cells Survive Extreme Water Loss\n\nThe cells of resurrection ferns may survive extreme water loss thanks to dehydrin proteins.\n\n“[S]ome plants, like the aptly named ‘resurrection fern’ (Polypodium polypodioides), can survive extreme measures of water loss, even as much as 95% of their water content. How do the cells in these desiccation-tolerant plants remain viable?\n\n“…Ronald Balsamo, Associate Professor of Biology at Villanova University and Bradley Layton, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics at Drexel University…found that not only is a particular class of proteins, called dehydrins, more prevalent during dry conditions, but, for the first time, they found that it was also prevalent near the cell walls. Dehydrins earned their name for their ability to attract, sequester, and localize water. They behave this way because of their negative charge.\n\n“The finding led the researchers to the conclusion that these water-surrounded dehydrins may actually allow water to act as a lubricant between either the plant cell membrane and the plant cell wall or even between individual cell wall layers.”\n"}, {"Source": "cartilage", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "dissipate forces", "Function2": "cushion joint", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/cartilage-proteins-dissipate-forces-and-cushion-joints/", "Strategy": "Cartilage Proteins Dissipate Forces and Cushion Joints\n\nCartilage in the joints of cows protect from compressive forces due to repulsion between negative charges of cartilage molecules, as well as attractive forces between these same molecules near the peak of the compressive force.\n\nThe molecules that make up cartilage were long believed to be characterized by repulsive intermolecular forces in order to grant the material its springy nature. In fact, the highly negatively charged compounds that make up much of the structure of cartilage are extremely repulsive to each other. However, recent research has demonstrated that some adhesive forces in one of those compounds (aggrecans) may be significant factors in dissipating compressive force. In particular, the tendency of the aggrecans to stick together under compressive force, then come apart moments after represents a major compression-dissipation system."}, {"Source": "vascular plant", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "provide strength", "Function2": "provide flexibility", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/collenchyma-cells-provide-strength-flexibility/", "Strategy": "Collenchyma Cells Provide Strength, Flexibility\n\nCollenchyma cells in vascular plants support growing parts due to flexible cellulosic walls, which lignify once growth has ceased.\n\n“In addition to the ‘mechanical’ cells – fibres and lignified parenchyma – a third cell type has mechanical functions. This is collenchyma. Collenchyma cells have walls which during their development and extension are mainly cellulosic. They grow with the surrounding tissue as it expands or lengthens. They are more flexible than fibres, and if they remain unlignified, as they might in association with leaf veins or midribs, or in leaf stalks (petioles), they allow for a high degree of flexibility in the organ itself. Often, after growth in length of stems has occurred, and more mechanical rigidity is an advantage, we find that the collenchyma cells become lignified, and function more as fibres.” "}, {"Source": "virginia opossum's serum", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "block the key enzyme", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/metalloproteinase-inhibitors-block-snake-venom-enzymes/", "Strategy": "Metalloproteinase Inhibitors Block Snake Venom Enzymes\n\nThe sera of Virginia opossum avoid toxic reactions to snake venom by containing compounds that block the key enzymes in the venom.\n\nPit viper venom is a complex mixture of various enzymes called metalloproteinases. These enzymes wreak havoc inside the bodies of venomous snake-bite victims by causing widespread breakdown of important proteins (proteolyisis) in the tissue surroundings blood vessels and within cells themselves. This damage results in hemorrhaging and the release of secondary toxins from injured tissue. Rapid death is often the outcome. The Virginia opossum is able to block the activity of metalloproteinase enzymes thereby neutralizing their toxic effects."}, {"Source": "migratory locust's wing", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "improve fracture toughness", "Function2": "reduce crack propagation", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/wing-veins-improve-fracture-toughness/", "Strategy": "Wing Veins Improve Fracture Toughness\n\nVeins on wings of migratory locusts improve fracture toughness by acting as barriers to crack propagation.\n\nFlying insects’ wings must hold up to millions of cycles of mechanical forces, deformations, and minor impacts, while also being extremely lightweight in order to optimize flight performance. The hind wing of the migratory locust S. [Schistocerca] gregaria is composed of thin and fragile membrane cells supported by a lattice structure of veins which increase the wing’s toughness by 50% and act to distribute stresses during flight and prevent crack propagation. The morphological spacing of most wing veins matches the “‘critical crack length’ of the membrane, which is determined by the material’s fracture toughness and the stress applied. At a given stress, any crack smaller than the critical length would have no structural effect. As a consequence, the largest possible cell size that prevents cracks from self propagating corresponds to this critical crack length. If a crack is contained within this cell, it cannot reach a critical length to self propagate through the rest of the wing. Any cell bigger than this critical crack length would allow the initial crack to start growing. However, any cell smaller than this critical crack length would be a ‘waste’ of vein material.”"}, {"Source": "locust's leg cuticle", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "withstand damage", "Function2": "avoid desiccation", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/cuticle-protects-against-cracks-damage/", "Strategy": "Cuticle Protects Against Cracks, Damage\n\nCuticle on legs of locust withstands damage without loss of strength through fracture toughness and low stiffness.\n\nInsect exoskeletons are made from cuticle, which is among the most common biomaterials. They are extremely lightweight and yet immensely strong and durable. Cuticles such as those found on the legs of locust must be able to withstand many high and repetitive forces (e.g., jumping). One might imagine that such lightweight material would break down quickly after repetitive exposure to such forces, but to the contrary, these cuticles are able to avoid desiccation and damage by implying their own mechanical forces. A recent study done by researchers Dirks and Taylor has quantified the mechanical forces used by these small insects. Their results show that only those of metal materials surmount the high value of their fracture toughness (the quantified value of the external force applied to it). What is unique about this cuticle is that unlike most strong materials, there is no mineral reinforcement (such as that found in bone). The lack of reinforcement allows the cuticle to remain fairly flexible and yet remarkably strong."}, {"Source": "jackrabbit's ear", "Application": "dynamic heat exchanger designs", "Function1": "radiate heat", "Function2": "shed excess heat", "Function3": "prevent overheating", "Function4": "maintain body temperature", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/how-blood-flow-keeps-jackrabbits-cool/", "Strategy": "How Blood Flow Keeps Jackrabbits Cool\n\nThe large ears of the jackrabbit are used in cooling, radiating heat via an extensive network of blood vessels.\n\nIntroduction\n\nJackrabbits live in the desert where they’re exposed to extremely hot daytime temperatures, but these animals are able to stay cool by releasing excess heat from their oversized ears.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nThe jackrabbit’s large ears provide an expansive surface area of exposed skin loaded with blood vessels. When the surrounding air temperature is slightly below body temperature, as when it retreats from hot desert sun into shade, the blood vessels in the outer part of its ears widen in a process called vasodilation. This results in greater circulation of warm blood from the body’s core to the jackrabbit’s ears, where heat is lost to the cooler surrounding air.\n\nThis cooling mechanism based on blood circulation helps to prevent overheating and maintain the jackrabbit’s body temperature within set boundaries. It’s also an important water conservation technique given the jackrabbit’s arid habitat, as it reduces the need for evaporative cooling mechanisms, such as panting or sweating, which involve the loss of water. At air temperatures around 86° Fahrenheit (30° Celsius), convection from the jackrabbit’s ears can shed all of the animal’s excess heat.\n\nJackrabbits spend most of their time slowly munching grassesand other plants in very open environments. Their cooling earsprovide a break from the heat in these areas without much shade.\n\nThe Potential\n\nJackrabbit ears, like all heat exchangers, depend on surface area. However, most industrial equipment is built from rigid metals that can’t “vasodilate.” By increasing the diameter of its blood vessels, the jackrabbit effectively increases the surface area over which heat exchange can occur. This could result in more dynamic heat exchanger designs that adapt to improve overall efficiency. In a way, jackrabbits are using their ears as temperature sinks. Imagine homes or other buildings with surfaces that absorbed heat during the day and then retracted inside the home to help warm it during cooler nighttime temperatures.\n\n"}, {"Source": "plant cuticle", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protect from cracking", "Function2": "modifies the chemical and mechanical nature of cell walls", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/cutin-protects-edges-from-cracking/", "Strategy": "Cutin Protects Edges From Cracking\n\nViscoelastic matrix (cutin) of plant cuticle protects fruit from cracking by fibrillar components capable of passive realignment when placed in tension.\n\nPlant cuticles play a key role in a plant’s interaction with the environment and in controlling organ expansion because “the lipid cuticle layer is deposited on the surface of outer epidermal cell walls and modifies the chemical and mechanical nature of these cell walls” . The cuticle is made up of polysaccharides and flavenoids that contribute to the nature of its stiffness. Compared to the rest of the epidermal cells, the cuticle is much less flexible. Harder cuticles help protect against fungal pathogens more efficiently than softer ones. Stiffness can be modulated by a plant’s ability to realign its fibrils in the direction of an applied force. In other words, plants better at opposing the force through their fibril alignment are able to maintain their stiffness under stress. The properties of cuticles (that is their stiffness and strength) can be altered by temperature and humidity. For example, fruit tends to go bad more often when kept out in the heat because the cuticle becomes degraded thus allowing external factors to penetrate its surface. Understanding the mechanical properties of the cuticle could lead to fruits that last longer on the shelves and better withstand attack from animal and fungal pests."}, {"Source": "desert scorpion's surface", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "resist erosion", "Function2": "decrease flow", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/bumps-and-grooves-protect-surface/", "Strategy": "Bumps and Grooves Protect Surface\n\nThe surface of the desert scorpion resists erosion by sand due to bumps and grooves that decrease flow.\n\nDesert scorpion (Androctonus australis) is a typical animal living in sandy deserts, and may face erosive action of blowing sand at a high speed. Based on the idea of bionics and biologic experimental techniques, the mechanisms of the sand erosion resistance of desert scorpion were investigated. Results showed that the desert scorpions used special microtextures such as bumps and grooves to construct the functional surfaces to achieve the erosion resistance…[studies showed that] the microtextured surfaces exhibited better erosion resistance than the smooth surfaces.”\n\n“Using gas flow analysis, the researchers showed that “the flow velocities are higher around the surface of the smooth sample than those of the convex surface and the grooved surface. Especially in the groove channel, the flow velocity was significantly lower than that of the smooth surface. It is shown that the flow path lines on the smooth surface were smooth. On the convex surface they were changed to a certain degree; it is indicated that the air flow was disturbed by the convex hull. But in the groove channel, the grooved surface has a great influence on the airflow. The air was rotating in the groove channel, forming a stable low-speed reverse flow zone.\n\n“The special flow pattern in the groove has significant influence on the erosion resistance of the grooved sample. The rotating flow in the groove has an ‘air cushion’ effect. On one hand, the grooves can enhance fluid turbulence, which lead to change of the flow field around the groove surface, and the particle motion pattern was subsequently changed. Some of the particles will leave the surface along with air flow without impact, and these particles would impact the surface if the surface was smooth. Therefore, the number of particles impacting the surface was decreased. On the other hand, as a result of the decrease the [sic] flow velocity, the velocities of the particles in the two-phase flow were decreased as well. The rotating flow in the groove can absorb particle energy which was used for impacting, and the energy used in impact was correspondingly reduced. These features all help to reduce the particle impact damage on the sample surface and reduce erosion wear.” "}, {"Source": "desert snail's shell", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "survive extreme heat", "Function2": "insulating layer", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/shell-protects-from-heat/", "Strategy": "Shell Protects From Heat\n\nThe shell of some desert snails helps them survive extreme heat using light reflectance and architecturally-derived, insulating layers of air.\n\n“Thermobiosis is not limited to hydrothermal vent faunas, but also occurs in terrestrial species. For example, the desert snail Sphincterochila boissieri can survive in the desert at temperatures of up to 50 °C…” "}, {"Source": "plasterer bee's dufour's gland", "Application": "waterproofs nest", "Function1": "protect nest", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/secretion-waterproofs-nest/", "Strategy": "Secretion Waterproofs Nest\n\nThe Dufour's gland of plasterer bees protects their nests from water by secreting a natural polyester.\n\n“The plasterer bees (Colletes) and yellow-faced bees (Hylaeus) are among the most primitive bees; they build their breeding chambers in hollow twigs or holes in the ground, lining the walls of their nest cavity with wallpaper made of an oral secretion. This fluid hardens into a waterproof film resembling cellophane; the lining both prevents their collected nectar from leaking into the surrounding material and keeps away dampness and mold.”"}, {"Source": "turtle's dermal bone", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "buffer co2-induced acidosis", "Function2": "release calcium and magnesium carbonates", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/dermal-bone-buffers-co2-induced-acidosis/", "Strategy": "Dermal Bone Buffers CO2‑induced Acidosis\n\nDermal bone in turtles reduces acidity resulting from carbon dioxide build up by releasing calcium and magnesium carbonates into the bloodstream.\n\n“Drawing from physiological studies of extant tetrapods, where dermal bone or other calcified tissues aid in regulating acid–base balance relating to hypercapnia (excess blood carbon dioxide) and/or lactate acidosis, we propose a similar function for these sculptured dermal bones in early tetrapods. Unlike the condition in modern reptiles, which experience hypercapnia when submerged in water, these animals would have experienced hypercapnia on land, owing to likely inefficient means of eliminating carbon dioxide. The different patterns of dermal bone sculpture in these tetrapods largely correlates with levels of terrestriality: sculpture is reduced or lost in stem amniotes that likely had the more efficient lung ventilation mode of costal aspiration, and in small-sized stem amphibians that would have been able to use the skin for gas exchange.” \n\n“Dermal bone may have solved this problem. For instance, when turtles spend a long time underwater holding their breath, there’s no intake of oxygen to displace the carbon dioxide that slowly builds in their blood. To compensate, the dermal bone in their shell leaches calcium and magnesium ions into their bloodstream, replacing the acidic hydrogen ions that have built up there” ."}, {"Source": "nacre", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "prevent crack spreading", "Function2": "absorb energy", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/weak-interfaces-make-material-tough/", "Strategy": "Weak Interfaces Make Material Tough\n\nLayers of weak and stretchy organic material between brittle mineral layers in nacre make the whole composite tough by managing cracks.\n\nNacre (also known as mother of pearl) is the shiny biological material that lines the inner surface of many mollusc shells. It consists of approximately 95% inorganic minerals (calcium carbonate) and 5% organic material (a mix of proteins and polysaccharides, including chitin). Inorganic minerals make materials hard and stiff, which is important for supportive or protective structures like shells; however, they also typically make materials brittle and relatively easy to fracture (man-made glass is an example of a brittle material).\n\nNacre’s specific composition and construction make it tough and resistant to catastrophic failure that can result from spreading cracks. Here, higher toughness means that a greater amount of energy is needed to fracture or break the material. Hard microscale mineral layers in nacre are “glued” together by relatively soft nanoscale organic layers. The arrangement is much like staggered layers of bricks that are held together by mortar in a brick wall. When a crack starts in the nacre (say from a predatory attack), it quickly encounters the organic layers that are easy to stretch compared to the mineral layers. The cause behind the organic material’s stretchiness can vary among nacres from different species; one mechanism involves wavy or folded fibers that straighten out before experiencing any significant tension.\n\nThe overall effect is that the stretchy organic layers provide avenues for deflecting cracks and absorbing and dissipating energy. Cracks can be controlled and stopped before spreading through the whole shell and causing serious damage. Counterintuitively, built-in areas of weakness on the microscale make the whole material tougher on the macroscale."}, {"Source": "reindeer's tongue", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "cool blood", "Function2": "high vascularized", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/panting-cools-blood/", "Strategy": "Panting Cools Blood\n\nThe tongue of the reindeer or caribou cools blood heading to the brain under duress by being high vascularized.\n\n“The reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) is an Arctic animal that has adapted to annual changes of 80°C in ambient temperature by growing a fur of excellent insulation value in the autumn to be shed in the following spring. That together with a reduction of surface temperature caused by vascular changes (Johnsen et al., 1985b) and an efficient nasal heat exchange mechanism (Blix and Johnsen, 1983) result in a 30°C reduction in lower critical temperature from summer to winter (Nilssen et al., 1984a). The animal, so equipped to withstand cold, consequently has few avenues of heat loss in winter and runs the risk of hyperthermia during exercise when metabolic heat production rises rapidly with running speed (Nilssen et al., 1984b)…We have observed that moderately heat-stressed reindeer pant, first with the mouth closed, but, under severe heat stress, they resort to open-mouth panting (OMP) to dissipate heat from their big and richly vascularized tongue…We propose that reindeer regulate body and, particularly, brain temperature under heavy heat loads by a combination of panting, at first through the nose, but later, when the heat load and the minute volume requirements increase due to exercise, primarily through the mouth and that they eventually resort to selective brain cooling.” "}, {"Source": "desert scorpion's exoskeleton", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "resist wear and tear", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/back-resists-wear-and-tear/", "Strategy": "Back Resists Wear and Tear\n\nThe exoskeleton of the desert scorpion resists wear due to multiple coupling effects of surface morphology, material, and flexibility.\n\n“The desert scorpion (Leiurus quinquestriatus), which is a typical animal dwelling in sandy deserts, is taken as the research object. Generally, most deserts have strong windy conditions, but scorpions, which are subjected to such blustery conditions, only suffer minor scratches, proving that they have developed high wear resistance ability. The adaptability of desert scorpion is attributed to the natural selection, which happened over millions of years of evolution. Previous studies on the desert scorpion showed that the dorsal surface of mesosoma was the major area subjected to sand erosion. The mechanism of its sand erosion resistance was investigated. The anti-erosion trend characteristics and mechanism of desert scorpion’s surface under the dynamic effects of gas/solid mixed media were studied, especially the comprehensive influence of surface morphology, microstructure, creature flexibility and many other factors were studied also. The results showed that erosion resistance of desert scorpion back is a result of multiple coupling effects. Surface morphology, material, and flexibility are biological coupling elements which play an important role in resisting erosion for the back of desert scorpion.” "}, {"Source": "tree's leaf", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "reduce exposure", "Function2": "limit flutter", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/weak-leaves-deal-with-strong-winds/", "Strategy": "Weak Leaves Deal With Strong Winds\n\nThe leaves of trees deal with strong winds by adjusting their configurations in order to reduce exposure and limit flutter.\n\n“Leaves–trees, really–have a problem, the same one as our solar panels. Their function, trapping solar energy photosynthetically, demands exposure of lots of area skyward…[Nature] arranges leaves and their attachments so they adjust their configurations and thus reduce their exposure and flutter as the wind increases. Motive force presents no problem, even for these nonmuscular structures, because the wind itself provides more than enough. Photosynthesis? Intermittently strong winds come mostly with reduced sunlight, so temporary reduction in exposure to sky can’t entail a great long-term cost…Figure 1.5a shows what one kind of leaf, that of a tulip poplar, does at a series of increasing wind speeds. This curling into a tightening cone characterizes quite a few kinds of leaves–including maples, sweet gums, sycamores (plane trees), and redbuds…All are characterized by relatively long petioles (leaf stems) and lobes on their blades that protrude back toward their parent branches from the point of attachment of their petioles. What appears to happen (based on observation and crude models) is that the lobes, upwind because leaves always extend downwind like kites on strings, bend upward (abaxially, technically) and get the curling started…This curling into cones dramatically reduces drag–at least if we pick the right item for a comparative baseline…Another wind-dependent reconfiguration, one in which the leaflets of a pinnately compound leaf such as black walnut or black locust roll up around their axial rachis, does a bit better…The very stiff leaves on a branch of a holly (Ilex americana) swing inward toward the branch and lie, one against another, in a common sandwichlike pile. Pine needles cluster instead of being splayed outward…The solution…involves two aspects as common in nature’s technology as they are rare in our own. First, shape isn’t held constant, but rather shape and the forces of flow interact complexly, each dependent on the other. The local wind forces on a leaf depend (in part) on its shape; its shape, in turn, depends (in part) on the local wind forces. Second, variable circumstances are dealt with by altering functional priorities. Photosynthesis, overall, matters far more than drag minimization; in storms, though, such priorities must reverse.”"}, {"Source": "spikemoss's tissues", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "assist desiccation tolerance", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/sugars-assist-desiccation-tolerance/", "Strategy": "Sugars Assist Desiccation Tolerance\n\nThe tissues of spikemoss survive extremely dry conditions due in part to production of trehalose or sucrose, which behave as water-replacement molecules.\n\n“Desiccation tolerance has been observed in several biological settings other than plant seed maturation. So called ‘resurrection plants’ (Selaginella and Myrothamnus), Tardigrade (Echiniscoides sigimunde), and brine shrimps (Anemia) are all capable of withstanding extended periods of anhydrobiosis. Although in these cases it has been suggested that the sugar trehalose, behaving as a water replacement molecule, is responsible for desiccation tolerance , it is sucrose which forms the most abundant sugar in higher order plant seeds and which has been postulated to perform the same function in this setting.” "}, {"Source": "plant stem", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "resistance to buckling", "Function2": "prevent ovalization", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/thin-walled-tubular-stems-resist-buckling/", "Strategy": "Thin‑walled Tubular Stems Resist Buckling\n\nThe stems of many plants may resist buckling by including transverse bulkheads that prevent ovalization.\n\n“The condition of having one fixed end is of particular biological interest–it’s the situation of long, slender plant stems such as those of dandelions, grass, bamboo, and others…As emphasized by Schulgasser and Witztum (1992), their anisotropy greatly increases the risk of buckling for plants that use thin-walled tubular construction. Mainly, the tubes, normally circular in cross section, go somewhat oval just prior to buckling, and that reduces the critical force. Preventing that ovalization may be one of the roles of the periodic transverse bulkheads so conspicuous in, for instance, bamboo.” "}, {"Source": "sponge's spicules", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "rigid structural material", "Function2": "mineralized composition", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/spicules-are-rigid-structural-materials/", "Strategy": "Spicules Are Rigid Structural Materials\n\nThe spicules of sponges are rigid structural materials due to their mineralized composition.\n\n“The condition of having one fixed end is of particular biological interest–it’s the situation of long, slender plant stems such as those of dandelions, grass, bamboo, and others…As emphasized by Schulgasser and Witztum (1992), their anisotropy greatly increases the risk of buckling for plants that use thin-walled tubular construction. Mainly, the tubes, normally circular in cross section, go somewhat oval just prior to buckling, and that reduces the critical force. Preventing that ovalization may be one of the roles of the periodic transverse bulkheads so conspicuous in, for instance, bamboo.” "}, {"Source": "beetle's wing", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "fold multiple times without wear", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/wings-fold-multiple-times-without-wear/", "Strategy": "Wings Fold Multiple Times Without Wear\n\nWings of beetles fold multiple times without wear or fatigue by having resilin in key joints.\n\n“Beetles use their fore-wings for a different purpose altogether. These creatures are the heavy armoured tanks of the insect world and they spend a great deal of their time on the ground, barging their way through the vegetable litter, scrabbling in the soil or gnawing into wood. Such activities could easily damage delicate wings. The beetles protect theirs by turning the front pair into stiff thick covers which fit neatly over the top of the abdomen. The wings are stowed neatly beneath, carefully and ingeniously folded.”\n\n“This account shows the distribution of elastic elements in hind wings in the scarabaeid Pachnoda marginata and coccinellid Coccinella septempunctata (both Coleoptera). Occurrence of resilin, a rubber–like protein, in some mobile joints together with data on wing unfolding and flight kinematics suggest that resilin in the beetle wing has multiple functions. First, the distribution pattern of resilin in the wing correlates with the particular folding pattern of the wing. Second, our data show that resilin occurs at the places where extra elasticity is needed, for example in wing folds, to prevent material damage during repeated folding and unfolding. Third, resilin provides the wing with elasticity in order to be deformable by aerodynamic forces. This may result in elastic energy storage in the wing.” "}, {"Source": "euphorbia's stem", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protect from heat and drought", "Function2": "hard waxy surface", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/waxy-coating-protects-from-heat-and-drought/", "Strategy": "Waxy Coating Protects From Heat and Drought\n\nThe stems of euphorbias protect from heat and drought via their hard waxy surface.\n\n“On the ground around them grow numerous fat, spiny leafless plants that any non-botanist could be forgiven for calling — without hesitation and even perhaps a certain amount of pride in his expertise — cacti. Only if they are in flower might you suspect that they are not. Then a botanist would notice that the numbers of petals and anthers are quite different from those of cacti. These are euphorbias, members of one of the largest of all families of flowering plants with over seven thousand species. In Europe, its common representatives are dog’s mercury and spurge. In South America, euphorbias grow into trees and shrubs, among them the rubber tree and the manioc plant. In African forests, its members include the castor oil bush. And in African deserts they become cacti look-alikes…The cactus family is, in fact, exclusively American, with hundreds of different species growing in deserts from Canada to Chile. The reason that members of these two families resemble one another so closely is that similar conditions of heat and drought have stimulated the same physical response. Both abandon their leaves at an early stage, since these inevitably lose a great deal of water, and both carry out their photosynthesis under the hard waxy surface of their stems which are green with chlorophyll. Both store water in a bloated pillar-like trunk. And both defend that water from robbers by armouring their trunks with sharp spines.” "}, {"Source": "woody plant's fiber", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "provide mechanical strength", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/reinforced-fibers-provide-strength/", "Strategy": "Reinforced Fibers Provide Strength\n\nFibers in many woody plants provide mechanical strength via lignin reinforcements.\n\n“Plant fibres occur in the wood of many plants, and because of their association with the xylem, are called xylary fibres. They are also often found in the outer part of young stems, bark and leaves, where they are called extraxylary fibres. Their main functioning is in strengthening. The common feature of fibre cells is that they are elongated and thick-walled, with lignins permeating the cellulose of the cell wall. Fibre cells normally have pointed ends (Fig. 3). They often extend in length during development, growing between cells that may not be lengthening at the same rate. Fibres may be only about 10 times longer than wide, but many are 20-30 and even up to and exceeding 100 times longer than wide. They may remain flexible, as in many extraxylary fibres, or have more limited flexibility, as in xylary fibres.” "}, {"Source": "mushroom coral's mucus", "Application": "sunscreen", "Function1": "protect from uv light", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/mucus-acts-as-sunscreen/", "Strategy": "Mucus Acts as Sunscreen\n\nMucus produced by mushroom corals may help protect them from ultraviolet light via several different mycosporine-like amino acids, UV-absorbing compounds.\n\n“The ultraviolet (UV)-absorbance spectrum (300 to 360 nm) of mucus obtained from Fungia fungites after being exposed to air for up to 5 min was measured, and UV-absorbing compounds were demonstrated to be present in the mucus, with a peak at 332 nm. The concentration of these UV-absorbing compounds was at a maximum in the first 2 min of secretion and decreased thereafter. Concentration was significantly related to the weight of the coral. Also, as corals were adapted to bathymetric levels of UV radiation, mucus concentration of UV-absorbing compounds decreased significantly with increasing depth.” \n\n“Surveillance of the bleaching events since 1992 has shown a parallel between coral bleaching and elevations of the sea-water temperature and UV–solar flux …a class of UV-absorbing compounds, preventing deleterious effects of high fluxes of UV-A (320 to 400 nm) and UV-B (280 to 320 nm) radiation, have been identified in many marine organisms. These compounds, mycosporine-like amino acids (MAAs), have absorption maxima in the range of 310–360 nm, corresponding to biologically harmful wavelengths of UV…it has been suggested that they also play this role for marine organisms such as corals . Moreover, when stressed, corals are known to produce mucus. In the solitary coral Fungia fungites, the presence of UV-absorbing material in coral mucus was showed to be positively correlated with the solar flux.” "}, {"Source": "cartilaginous fish's skin", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protect skin", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/scales-protect-skin/", "Strategy": "Scales Protect Skin\n\nThe skin of cartilaginous fish is protected by a covering of abrasive placoid scales, called denticles.\n\n“The other main type of fish scales are those known as placoid scales or, more commonly and appropriately, denticles: ‘little teeth’ (diagram d). They are found on the primitive cartilaginous fishes, sharks, skates, and rays (whose skeletons are made of cartilage, not bone). Each denticle grows up from the dermis until its curved tip breaks the skin surface — denticles are not covered with skin as bony scales are. Each denticle, like a human tooth, is made of dentine (tooth ivory) capped with enamel; each has a pulp cavity containing nerves and blood vessels. Denticles are usually small, but may be sharp. Brushing against the skin of a shark, can flay the skin of a swimming man like a particularly vicious sandpaper.” "}, {"Source": "conifer tree's resin", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "prevent damage", "Function2": "seal the wound", "Function3": "sticky lump", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/resin-protects-damage/", "Strategy": "Resin Protects Damage\n\nResin produced by conifer trees protects from mechanical or insect damage because it flows, then hardens to seal the wound site.\n\n“Conifers protect their trunks from mechanical damage and insect attack with a special gummy substance, resin. When it first flows from a wound it is runny but the more liquid part of it, turpentine, quickly evaporates leaving a sticky lump which seals the wound very effectively.” "}, {"Source": "penguin's feather", "Application": "waterproof coat", "Function1": "prevent water from penetrating", "Function2": "provide a water-tight barrier", "Function3": "waterproof coat", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/feathers-protect-from-water/", "Strategy": "Feathers Protect From Water\n\nThe feathers of penguins prevent water from penetrating to the skin due to their stiff, tightly packed structure.\n\n“The penguins (below) lost the power of flight some 100 million years ago, and have no flight feathers on their wings. Their stiff close-packed feathers form a thick insulating mat that is impervious to water and provides a good streamlined surface for swimming.”\n“Several studies have investigated the thermal resistance of penguin ‘coats’ (feather and skin assembly) and found it to be surprisingly low—an average of 0.74 m2KW-1 or 7.4 Tog. Penguin feathers are heavily modified, being short (30-40 mm), stiff and lance shaped. Insulation is provided by a long (20-30 mm) afterfeather. Penguins are unique in that the feathers are evenly packed over the surface of the body (30-40 per cm2) rather than arranged in tracts. For insulation the penguin requires a thick, air-filled, windproof coat (similar to an open-cell foam covered with a windproof layer) that eliminates convection and reduces radiative and convective heat losses to a minimum. However, when diving, the penguin requires a thin, smooth and waterproof coat with no trapped air (positive buoyancy would be a big disadvantage to an active swimming hunter). It achieves this by using muscles attached to the shaft of the feather to ‘lock down’ the feathers to create a water-tight barrier. In addition, the feather rachis is flattened dorso-ventrally allowing it to bend and conform to the body shape readily with increasing water pressure.” "}, {"Source": "sea urchin's hard outer coverings", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "resist impact loading", "Function2": "reduce impact loading", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/thin-shells-resist-impact-loading/", "Strategy": "Thin Shells Resist Impact Loading\n\nThe hard outer coverings of some sea urchins, called tests, allow local deformation that may resist impact loading by incorporating collagen-swathed sutures.\n\n“Some of the few relatively large shells with thin walls are those of sea urchins and other echinoid echinoderms. They resemble pressure-supported structures…but they lack the requisite internal pressures (Ellers and Telford 1992), so they have to have proper shells, at least in the engineering sense. For the biologist, they have ‘tests’ rather than ‘shells,’ and the latter distinction isn’t just our usual terminological proliferation. Tests, unlike shells, are growing structures of articulated hard elements. For some, at least, collagen-swathed sutures permit significant local deformation, which should reduce impact loading and thus offset some of the hazards of a thin shell (Telford 1985). Nonetheless, they do smash easily…The best rationalization I can offer for why sea urchins tolerate such fragility is that the wave forces don’t provide either piercing loads or a sudden hammering impact.” "}, {"Source": "penguin wing", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "reduce heat loss", "Function2": "conserve heat", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/wings-reduce-heat-loss/", "Strategy": "Wings Reduce Heat Loss\n\nWings of penguins reduce heat loss by forming a countercurrent heat exchanger via the vascular design.\n\n“A major adaptation that allows penguins to forage in cold water is the humeral arterial plexus, a vascular counter-current heat exchanger (CCHE) through the flipper…Foraging exposes penguins to water well below core body temperature and presents a constant threat of hypothermia, a risk avoided in part by managing the flow of heat along the wing. [In most birds] Blood is supplied to the wings of birds through a single major vessel that traverses the humerus as the brachial artery…By contrast, the brachial artery of penguins splits into three to five major vessels that traverse the humerus before anastomosing to two arteries at the humerus–radius joint. Each humeral artery is associated with two or more veins to form a countercurrent heat exchanger (CCHE), the humeral arterial plexus. Blood is supplied to the wing at core body temperature (38.5 deg C), and outgoing arterial blood heats the cooler incoming venous blood at the plexus; heat is thus conserved and returned to the body core instead of travelling further out along the wing to become lost to cold water. The efficacy of the humeral plexus as a CCHE mechanism has been demonstrated by up to 30 deg C internal temperature differences measured between the shoulders and wingtips of penguins.” "}, {"Source": "hummingbird's metabolism", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "insulation, waterproof coat", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/metabolism-slows-when-food-is-scarce/", "Strategy": "Metabolism Slows When Food Is Scarce\n\nThe metabolism of hummingbirds allows them to survive the night when food is unavailable by slowing to a hibernation-like state called torpor.\n\n“The penguins (below) lost the power of flight some 100 million years ago, and have no flight feathers on their wings. Their stiff close-packed feathers form a thick insulating mat that is impervious to water and provides a good streamlined surface for swimming.”\n“Several studies have investigated the thermal resistance of penguin ‘coats’ (feather and skin assembly) and found it to be surprisingly low—an average of 0.74 m2KW-1 or 7.4 Tog. Penguin feathers are heavily modified, being short (30-40 mm), stiff and lance shaped. Insulation is provided by a long (20-30 mm) afterfeather. Penguins are unique in that the feathers are evenly packed over the surface of the body (30-40 per cm2) rather than arranged in tracts. For insulation the penguin requires a thick, air-filled, windproof coat (similar to an open-cell foam covered with a windproof layer) that eliminates convection and reduces radiative and convective heat losses to a minimum. However, when diving, the penguin requires a thin, smooth and waterproof coat with no trapped air (positive buoyancy would be a big disadvantage to an active swimming hunter). It achieves this by using muscles attached to the shaft of the feather to ‘lock down’ the feathers to create a water-tight barrier. In addition, the feather rachis is flattened dorso-ventrally allowing it to bend and conform to the body shape readily with increasing water pressure.” "}, {"Source": "crocodile's eye", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protected the eyes", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/eyes-protected-underwater/", "Strategy": "Eyes Protected Underwater\n\nThe eyes of crocodiles are protected while still enabling vision underwater thanks to deployable transparent membranes.\n\n“The tough, transparent nictitans allows submerged vision.” "}, {"Source": "moth's antennae", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "detect sex pheromone", "Function2": "detect a single molecule of the female sex hormone", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/antennae-used-to-detect-pheromones-find-mates/", "Strategy": "Antennae Used to Detect Pheromones, Find Mates\n\nHighly sensitive antennae of many moths help them detect female sex pheromones thanks to many hairlike olfactory receptors.\n\n“Certain types of moth have an olfactory sensitivity that verges on the supernatural. They can detect a single molecule of the female sex hormone from miles away. Males of the saturniid, bombycid, and lasiocampid families of moth, which include luna, emperor, polyphemus, vaporer, and silk moths, have large, feathery antennae that bear the moths’ hairlike olfactory receptors in great quantities (as many as 60,000 in some species). Thanks to their broad shape, the antennae come into contact with the largest possible volume of air, making them perfect scent receivers.” \n“The females of some moths produce an odour that the males can detect with large feathery antennae. So sensitive are these organs and so characteristic and powerful is the scent, that a female has been known\nto summon a male from eleven kilometres away. At such a distance there must be as little as one molecule of scent in a cubic yard of air, yet it is sufficient to cause the male to fly in pursuit of its source. He needs both antennae to do this. With only one, he cannot establish\ndirection, but with two he can judge on which side the scent is stronger and so fly steadily towards it. A female emperor moth, in a cage in a wood, transmitting a perfume undetectable to our nostrils, has attracted over a hundred huge males from the surrounding\ncountryside within three hours.”"}, {"Source": "ossicle of starfish", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "resist fractures", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/microscopic-holes-deter-fractures/", "Strategy": "Microscopic Holes Deter Fractures\n\nOssicles of starfish resist fractures via microscopic holes in the structure.\n\n“Use ‘foamy’ materials in which any threatening crack will be in short order run into a hole. Not only does this reduce the chance of cracking, but it saves material–less can be more…The little hard bits of echinoderms, the ossicles, develop as single crystals, but they avoid the excessive brittleness typical of crystals by being especially holey, as in figure 16.9. Wood gains some material benefit from similar voids. Such materials come under the heading of ‘cellular solids,’ the term having no connection with ‘cellular’ in the strictly biological sense–but in the sense that Hooke…originally used the word for the microscopic holes in cork.” "}, {"Source": "seed plant's pollen grain", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "avoid dehydration", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/pollen-coat-prevents-dehydration/", "Strategy": "Pollen Coat Prevents Dehydration\n\nThe pollen grains of seed plants are protected from dehydration via a hard coat.\n\n“The gymnosperms, and the flowering plants which evolved more recently, among other, much smaller groups, have developed pollen which carries the male gamete in a form protected from dehydration to special receptive structures in the female part of the flower (pollination).”"}, {"Source": "bamboo", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "distribute tensile forces", "Function2": "stabilize main stem", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/guying-used-for-stabilization/", "Strategy": "Guying Used for Stabilization\n\nThe guying and lateral roots of bamboo stabilize the main stem by distributing tensile forces.\n\n“While no systematic study has yet been done, at least four distinct schemes seem to be used to keep roots and soil in decent contiguity. Combinations of more than a single scheme certainly occur, and a given tree may use different schemes or a varying mix of several as it grows from a sapling…One further scheme, rare in true trees, can certainly stabilize structures of comparable height. The culms of bamboo use what amounts to a variation on tensile buttressing that we can call ‘diagonal guying,’ shown in figure 21.3d. Once again, tensile forces on the upwind side run downward and outward through tension-resisting structures to lateral roots. Once again lateral roots must withstand substantial tensile forces, taking advantage of a dense tangle of other roots in the superficial layer of the soil. Those lateral roots, I assure the reader from hard personal experience, go far and, with their pelage of outgrowths, don’t easily separate from the soil. The diagonal guying of bamboo looks relatively symmetrical above and below the lateral roots, with a taproot and a set of guying roots below as well as above. The scheme seems especially elegant in the way it uses ropes rather than solid buttresses for guying. In a tensile buttress, of course, the outermost region will carry almost the entire load, so the inner part is mainly wasted. But the otherwise admirable ability of dicotyledonous trees to grow in girth probably renders ropes impractical–guying ropes would need not only to thicken but would have to move ever further outward from the base. Bamboos, like palms, just don’t grow girthwise.” "}, {"Source": "neurons", "Application": "sensing and sharing information", "Function1": "sense environment", "Function2": "share information", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/sensing-and-sharing-information/", "Strategy": "Sensing and Sharing Information\n\nNeurons aid organisms in reacting to environmental stimuli because they collaborate to sense the environment, share information, and filter unimportant information\n\n“Feng Zhao, a computer scientist at Xerox’s Palo Alto Research Center, proposes equipping machinery and structures with ‘collaborating sensors’ reminiscent of neurons. These sensors would respond adaptively to the physical environment, infer the needs of their human operators, share information within the network, and filter out unimportant details. A building or piece of equipment containing these sensors would behave almost organically.” "}, {"Source": "mammal's sweat gland", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "aid thermoregulation", "Function2": "evaporative cooling", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/sweating-aids-thermoregulation/", "Strategy": "Sweating Aids Thermoregulation\n\nThe sweat glands of many mammals aid thermoregulation through evaporative cooling.\n\n“Sweat glands play an extremely important part in temperature control. Shaped like a tube, knotted at the bottom and opening out of the epidermis at a ‘pore’, sweat glands secrete a colourless liquid which evaporates on the surface of the skin removing excess heat…There are two kinds of sweat glands: apocrine, associated with hairy skin, and eccrine, associated with smooth. Apocrine glands seem to be concerned mainly with producing scented secretions, and are progressively replaced in the more advanced mammals – gorillas, chimpanzees, and especially man – with eccrine glands, whose secretion dilutes and spreads that of the apocrine glands.”\n\n“From the evidence of comparative mammalian physiology, we suggest that the very common apocrine sweat gland is not primitive but is both specialized and efficient as a cooling organ in an animal with a heavy fur coat and relatively slow movement. The remarkable thermal eccrine sweating system of humans probably evolved in concert with bipedalism, a smooth hairless skin, and adaptation to open country by the ancestors of H. sapiens.” "}, {"Source": "tenrec", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "enter a state of dormancy", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/managing-high-temperatures/", "Strategy": "A Deep Sleep to Beat the Heat\n\nTenrecs survive hot summer weather by entering a state of dormancy called estivation.\n\n“Certain mammals are known to estivate. Perhaps the best-known examples are tenrecs – Madagascan insectivores related to hedgehogs. During the abnormally hot summer weather, they enter a state of inactivity resembling hibernation. Moreover, when outside temperatures plummet, they undergo true hibernation, becoming stiff and cold to the touch. This behavior has been noted on a number of occasions with captive zoo specimens of tenrecs maintained in countries with cooler average temperatures than that of their tropical Madagascan homeland.” \n\n“Prior to the start of the Austral winter (May to September) they eat more and lay down fat reserves within their bodies in order to hibernate, which they usually do in burrows with the entrance plugged with soil. The long-tailed or shrew tenrecs (Microgale) also store fat in their tails, and in Dobson’s shrew tenrec (Microgale dobsoni) the nomad weight of 1 1/2 ounces (46 g) is almost doubled by the fat stored for hibernation. Madagascan winters are quitter mild, and could be termed the cool, dry season rather than winter. In the highlands at 4,100 feet (1,250 m) the temperature averages 59° F (15° C) in the dry season, just a few degrees lower than summer levels, but the vegetation, and consequently the food supplies, suffer from lack of rain and the tenrecs become dormant in their burrows…Dormant tenrecs dug out of their burrows were cold to the touch, had a very low breathing rate, and had neither food in their stomach or feces in the intestine. Even when active the tenrecs have a variable body temperature that ranges from 75.2° F (24°C) to 95°F (35°C). This is considerable lower than other mammals, which average 98.6°F (37°C), and the tenrec shares with the sloths the title of the most cold-blooded mammal. The body temperature of hibernating tenrecs is usually just 1.8° F (1°C) above the ambient temperature…These tenrecs also experience a daily temperature range of several degrees between their active and rest periods during the spring and summer, and they also estivate during the hottest times of the year.” "}, {"Source": "marine dinoflagellate's mycosporine-like amino acid", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protect from harmful uvr", "Function2": "perform daily vertical migrations", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/compounds-cause-uv-radiation-tolerance/", "Strategy": "Compounds Cause UV Radiation Tolerance\n\nSome marine dinoflagellates are protected from UV radiation via mycosporine-like amino acids (MAAs).\n\n“Unlike seaweeds, corals and other sessile organisms, several species of dinoflagellates are known to perform daily vertical migrations [47,48]. In the field, when dinoflagellate rise to sea surface to photosynthesize at daytime, cells would induce cellular MAA [mycosporine-like amino acids] level to avoid from harmful UVR in sunlight. This daily variation of cellular MAA content accompanied by the daily vertical migration may be one of the biological protective strategies against harmful UVR in the dinoflagellate.” "}, {"Source": "polynesian box fruit's seed case", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protect seed", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/case-protects-during-years-at-sea/", "Strategy": "Case Protects During Years at Sea\n\nThe seeds of the Polynesian box fruit are protected from damage as they drift on ocean currents via a tough seed case.\n\n“Protection from air and water: Seed cases are champions of air- and water-tight storage. Among the record-holders: a lotus that germinated after 1288 years, a Polynesian box fruit that germinated after two years at sea, and the Mary’s Bean, a liana seed which stayed afloat from the Marshall Islands to the beaches of Norway, more than 15,000 miles!” "}, {"Source": "male butterfly's mating apparatus", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "prevent mating", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/chemical-plug-prevents-mating/", "Strategy": "Chemical Plug Prevents Mating\n\nThe mating apparatus of male butterflies prevents other males from mating with a female by producing a chemical plug.\n\n“The mating apparatus of the male honeybee actually explodes and detaches, plugging the newly mated queen and preventing other males from mating with her. A number of insects, including butterflies, have chemical mating plugs which serve the same purpose and may even provide nutrients that the female absorbs and uses for egg production.” "}, {"Source": "vascular plant's xylem vessel and tracheid's wall", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "prevent collapse", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/walls-prevent-collapse-under-tension/", "Strategy": "Walls Prevent Collapse Under Tension\n\nXylem vessels and tracheids of vascular plants prevent their own collapse while under tension via helical thickening of their walls.\n\n“In young plants, often in addition to the epidermis, the cells specialized for conducting water from root to leaves and shoots, have a mechanical function. The xylem vessels and tracheids are elongated cells (in the case of vessels, the vessel itself is composed of a series of shorter ‘vessel elements’ forming an axially elongated structure). These cells have thickened walls which help prevent their collapse when water in them is under tension through the pull of the transpiration stream (Fig. 3). The drying effect at the leaf surface promotes water movement from the roots through the plant body. The first formed conducting cells of the xylem consist of rather thin-walled, elongated cells that have to extend with the growth in the length of the stem. Their collapse during the time they are needed to function is prevented by specialised thickening in their walls. This takes on the form of a series of annuli, or of a spiral (helical) winding…The tracheids and vessels formed after extension growth is complete tend to have thick, rigid walls with either thin areas (pits), as in both tracheids and vessel elements, or clear openings between cells in line, as in vessel elements alone. These facilitate water movement from cell to cell. Even here, some of these cells in a range of species have an additional helical thickening on the inner side of their walls.”"}, {"Source": "vertebrate's joint", "Application": "lubricants", "Function1": "lubricate joints", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/fluid-lubricates-joints/", "Strategy": "Fluid Lubricates Joints\n\nJoints of vertebrates are protected by use of a lubricant, synovial fluid.\n\n“Whereas technology tries to polish the hard metal of bearings to as fine a finish as possible, nature covers the touching surfaces with a spongelike substance which is comparatively stiff yet quite elastic: cartilaginous tissue, which differs from hard bone tissue essentially in that it lacks deposits of calcium crystals. One could compare this tissue to fiberglass from which the fibers have been removed. The fine pores of the cartilaginous sliding layer are soaked through with lubricating synovial fluid. When the joint is subjected to pressure, the layer compresses and the fluid is pushed out of the thin ducts. The gliding principle is the same as the one used for air-cushion vehicles, with the difference that in bone bearings the cushion (of fluid) is produced on the spot…Synovial fluid might also compete in the market with modern lubricants. It contains slightly less protein than blood serum, but on the other hand it carries an organic acid with very long molecules which are probably linked to proteins. The more the gliding speeds vary in the lubrication layer, the lower the viscosity of the fluid.” "}, {"Source": "pebble plant's leaf", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "prevent evaporation", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/round-shape-reduces-water-loss/", "Strategy": "Round Shape Reduces Water Loss\n\nThe rounded shape of the leaves of pebble plants minimizes evaporation due to its low surface area relative to volume.\n\n“Pebble plants grow in the stonier patches of the same [Namib] [D]esert. They survive by living partly underground. Their leaves have been reduced to a single pair, fat, round and succulent, with just a groove between them from which, in the right season, will sprout a surprisingly large flower. Such a rounded shape, with a very low surface area for a given volume, reduces evaporation to a minimum and is therefore a great help to the plant in conserving its water in the intense heat. But as has been noted earlier it may bring an additional benefit. Outside the flowering season, the plant is very difficult to find among the gravel and pebbles, so its shape could also serve as a defence against detection by grazing animals — ostriches and tortoises, porcupines and perhaps a few gerbils.” "}, {"Source": "moth's cocoon", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "prevent ice crystals", "Function2": "prevent moisture intrusion", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/cocoon-lining-prevents-ice-crystals/", "Strategy": "Cocoon Lining Prevents Ice Crystals\n\nOral secretions in the cocoons of many moths prevent formation of ice crystals because they form a fine, dry, web-like lining.\n\n“An oral secretion lining (a spider-like thread) is essential in the cocoons of many moths overwintering in cold conditions: it prevents moisture from intruding and prevents the formations of ice crystals, which would be lethal for the pupa…The cocoon may look rough and chunk-like but the interior surface is smoothly covered by web. This is most important for the cold-hardiness of the pupa. It overwinters in a supercooled state, and if a single ice crystal penetrates the skin, the animal freezes momentarily and dies. The fine and dry web prevents the formation of dangerous ice crystals.” "}, {"Source": "plant stem", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "resistance to buckling", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/stems-resist-buckling/", "Strategy": "Stems Resist Buckling\n\nThe stems of many plants resist buckling using low-density foam cores.\n\n“Anyone who has squashed an empty metal can knows about the second form of buckling; it’s called ‘local buckling’ or ‘Brazier buckling…Local buckling does occur in biological columns–it’s certainly involved in the lodging of slender crop plants in wind storms, and it can be deliberately induced in any dandelion stem. A low-density foam core reduces susceptibility, and many plants (but not dandelions!) have such cores.” "}, {"Source": "cushion plant's stem", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "control moisture loss", "Function2": "retain water", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/bulk-prevents-moisture-loss/", "Strategy": "Bulk Prevents Moisture Loss\n\nThe stems of cushion plants prevent moisture loss due to their fibrous bulk.\n\n“Other plants deal with cold by packing their stems tightly together into a cushion. By doing so, the plant creates a miniature ecosystem where the resources of warmth, humidity and nourishment are significantly better than in the world outside it. The cushion’s furry exterior acts like a muff, helping to hold any warmth it might contain. The plant may even add to that by, on occasion, expending a little of its food reserves in slightly raising the internal temperature. The sheer bulk of fibres of the cushion retains water like a sponge and the fierce winds do not dry it out. Nor is the nutriment embodied in the leaves lost when they die. Instead of being shed, they remain within the cushion and the upper part of the stems puts out lateral rootlets to reabsorb much of the leaves’ constituents just as soon as decay releases them…No plants develop bigger cushions than those growing on the tops of the mountains in Tasmania. They have a particular need to do so. Snow seldom falls on these peaks because the surrounding sea keeps the climate relatively mild. But the sea does nothing to reduce the wind, and the chill it brings at these altitudes can be very bitter indeed. The plants in winter, lacking a protective blanket of snow, are thus subject to particularly severe chilling…The plants that form the cushions here belong to the same family as daisies and dandelions, but their flowers are tiny and their stems are packed tightly together. A single square yard may contain a hundred thousand shoots so that a big cushion could easily contain a million stems…Some cushions are twelve feet across and spill over boulders and around the boles of trees. They may contain several species intermingled so that their surface is spangled with different shades of green.” "}, {"Source": "ground squirrel's burrow", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "prevent flooding", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/dikes-prevent-flooding/", "Strategy": "Dikes Prevent Flooding\n\nThe underground burrows of ground squirrels are protected from flooding during rain storms because the squirrels build circular dikes to divert water.\n\n“American ground squirrels, or prairie dogs (Cynomys spp.) for example, build a circular dyke to keep rain from flooding their underground burrows.”"}, {"Source": "moth's eye", "Application": "multifunctional surfaces", "Function1": "enhance adhesion", "Function2": "decrease the contact area", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/corneal-gratings-reduce-adhesion/", "Strategy": "Corneal Gratings Reduce Adhesion\n\nThe eyes of moths and flies reduce adhesion by corneal gratings that decrease the contact area.\n\n“The surface of some insect eyes consists of arrays of cuticular protuberances, which are 50–300?nm in diameter, and are termed corneal nipples or ommatidia gratings. They were widely reported to reduce the reflectance for normally incident light, contributing to camouflage by reducing glare to predators, while furthermore enhancing the intake of light, which is especially important for nocturnal insects. Our preliminary observations suggest a third function: in contrast to the rest of the body, ommatidia of various insects remain clean, even in a heavy contaminated environment. In order to prove such an anticontamination hypothesis of these structures, we measured the adhesive properties of polymer moulds of insect ommatidia, and compared these data with control surfaces having the same curvature radii but lacking such a nanostructure. A…study and force measurements…on the eye surfaces of three different insect species, dragonfly Aeshna mixta (Odonata), moth Laothoe populi (Lepidoptera) and fly Volucella pellucens (Diptera), were undertaken. We revealed that adhesion is greatly reduced by corneal grating in L. populi and V. pellucens when compared with their smooth controls. The smooth cornea of A. mixta showed no statistically significant difference to its control. We assume that this anti-adhesive phenomenon is due to a decrease in the real contact area between contaminating particles and the eye’s surface. Such a combination of three functions in one nanostructure can be interesting for the development of industrial multifunctional surfaces capable of enhancing light harvesting while reducing light reflection and adhesion.” "}, {"Source": "lesser clubmoss plant's cells", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "prevent deformation", "Function2": "avoid critical cell deformation", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/plants-survive-repeated-drying-and-rehydration/", "Strategy": "Plants Survive Repeated\nDrying and Rehydration\n\nThe cells of lesser clubmoss plants prevent deformation during repeated dehydration via small vacuoles filled with mechanical mixtures called colloids.\n\n“Some plants, for example, in the genus Selaginella, can repeatedly dry and rehydrate without structural damage. They avoid critical cell deformations during severe dehydration by using vacuoles of smaller size that are filled with tannin colloids instead of ions. Upon dehydration these colloids undergo minimal volume changes (Walter, 1956). Nature itself points here to the interesting alternative of replacing crystallizing small molecules with larger-sized colloids. ”"}, {"Source": "banana leaf's stem", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "twist rather than bend", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/flexibility-encourages-twisting-not-bending/", "Strategy": "Flexibility Encourages Twisting, Not Bending\n\nThe stems of banana leaves twist rather than bend when pushed sideways because of their torsional flexibility.\n\n“A banana leaf, pushed sideways, twists rather than bends, again using a structure, its petiole (or leaf stem) of very torsional stiffness.\" \n“Bananas are among the largest herbs in the world and their lightweight petioles hold up huge leaves. This study examined how the petioles manage to achieve adequate rigidity to do this, while allowing extensive and reversible reconfiguration in high winds. Morphological and anatomical examination of the petioles and leaves of Musa textilis suggested how these two apparently incompatible abilities are achieved. The hollow U-shaped section of the petiole and the longitudinal strengthening elements in its outer skin give it adequate rigidity, while its ventral curvature help support the leaf without the need for thick lateral veins. These features, however, also allow the petiole to reconfigure by twisting away from the wind, while the leaf can fold away. In addition, two sets of internal structures, longitudinal partitions and transverse stellate parenchyma plates, help prevent dorsoventral flattening, allowing the petiole to flex further away from the wind without buckling. These ideas were tested and verified by a range of mechanical tests. Simple four-point-bending and torsion tests showed that the petioles are indeed far more compliant in torsion than in bending. Axial bending tests and crushing tests showed that petioles could be flexed twice as far and were four times as resistant to dorsoventral flattening when intact than when the internal tissue is removed. The banana petiole, therefore, seems to be an excellent example of natural integrated mechanical design.” "}, {"Source": "leaves of some plants", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "resist adhesion", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/convex-surface-geometry-resists-adhesion/", "Strategy": "Convex Surface Geometry Resists Adhesion\n\nPlant leaves resist adhesion of water and dirt due to convex geometry on their surface.\n\n“Non-smoothness is a common natural phenomenon in [the] biological world, which has been formed during the long evolutionary process of living creatures as a stable, self-adaptive system. The non-smooth surfaces of plants, resulting from long interaction between self-growing mechanism and external environment, exert several important functions, such as water repellency, anti-adhesion, and self-cleaning.” "}, {"Source": "blennies' skin", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "prevent abrasion", "Function2": "secrete mucus", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/skin-mucus-prevent-abrasion/", "Strategy": "Skin, Mucus Prevent Abrasion\n\nThe skin of blennies prevents abrasion through tough skin and secreted mucus.\n\n“The skin of intertidal fishes is generally tough, and so it can withstand repeated scraping against the substratum. Some of the fishes (such as blennies and clingfishes) have no scales; in others (such as gunnels and pricklebacks) the scales are greatly reduced and in still others (the gobies) they are attached very firmly. Many of the fishes secrete large amounts of mucus, which may provide lubrication in confined spaces.”"}, {"Source": "lichens' fungal skin", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "reduce water loss", "Function2": "protect algae", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/fungal-skin-prevents-water-loss/", "Strategy": "Fungal Skin Prevents Water Loss\n\nThe fungal skin of lichens prevents water loss to the algae below via its dense compacted thread structure.\n\n“Others [lichens] develop minuscule branches and grow into dense curling thickets a few inches high. Their outer skin is formed by the compacted threads of the fungi and is sufficiently impermeable to prevent the loss of water from the partnership; beneath are the algal cells, kept moist and protected from harmful ultra-violet radiation by the fungal skin; and below them, in the centre of the structure, there is looser tissue, also provided by the fungus, where food and water is stored.” "}, {"Source": "edelweiss leaf", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protect from the cold", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/felt-like-covering-protects-from-cold/", "Strategy": "Felt‑like Covering Protects From Cold\n\nLeaves of edelweiss protect from cold via woolly hairs.\n\n“Cold remains a major danger, for the temperature even in summer may fall well below freezing at night. A furry blanket can help to keep off the worst chills. The edelweiss, growing in cracks in rocks, protects itself with a coat of woolly hairs that gives its leaves and the bracts surrounding its tiny flowers a felt-like appearance.”"}, {"Source": "cuvier's beaked whale's veins and arteries", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "manage heat", "Function2": "counter-current heat exchange", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/deep-divers-manage-temperature/", "Strategy": "Deep Divers Manage Temperature\n\nVeins and arteries of Cuvier's beaked whales manage heat through different configurations of counter-current heat exchangers.\n\n“In general, mammals possess two venous returns from their extremities: one deep and warmed; one superficial and cooled. In the deep veins, which are adjacent to nutrient arterial supplies, countercurrent heat exchange (CCHE) occurs if the temperature of the arteries is higher than that of the veins; warmed blood is returned and body heat is trapped in the core…Three examples of CCHEs found in cetaceans are…a flat array of juxtaposed arteries and veins found in the reproductive coolers of cetaceans…a vascular bundle, an array of relatively straight, parallel channels, an optimum configuration for CCHE , such as is found in the chevron canals of cetacea…[and] a periarterial venous rete (PAVR), which is a rosette of veins surrounding an artery. These CCHEs are found in the circulation of cetacean fins , flukes and flippers …Superficial veins of a cetacean can supply cooled blood to the body core . The veins carrying this blood feed into bilaterally paired reproductive coolers. In addition to providing thermoregulation for the reproductive system, cooled blood from the periphery is also returned to the heart via large epidural veins , which perform some of the functions of the azygous system in other mammals . In deep divers, such as beaked whales and sperm whales, these epidural veins are even larger than those observed in delphinids .” "}, {"Source": "pussmoth's cocoon", "Application": "waterproof mixture", "Function1": "waterproof", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/special-mixture-waterproofs-cocoon/", "Strategy": "Special Mixture Waterproofs Cocoon\n\nThe cocoon of pussmoths is waterproof because it's made from a mixture of wood litter, spinneret thread, and formic acid.\n\n“The puss caterpillar scrapes hoary wood around the cocoon to camouflage it, and it does not make the mistake of digging pale wood from deeper layers. The wood litter is mixed with the spinneret thread which is hardened by a formic acid solution from a neck gland. The whole is entirely water-proof.”"}, {"Source": "land snail's shell", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "prevent evaporation", "Function2": "avoid desiccation", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/membrane-reduces-evaporation/", "Strategy": "Membrane Reduces Evaporation\n\nA secreted mucus membrane across the opening of the shells of some land snails protects them from drying out by reducing evaporation.\n\n“And certain land snails, particularly desert dwellers, seal themselves inside their shells to avoid desiccation in dry conditions, secreting a special membrane across their shells’ opening that reduces evaporation; they can remain encased for years if need be until rain returns.” "}, {"Source": "bacteria's spore", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "prevent toxin entry", "Function2": "endure drought", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/spores-survive-drought-toxins/", "Strategy": "Spores Survive Drought, Toxins\n\nSpores of some bacteria prevent entry of toxins, water by immobilizing lipids in the core membrane.\n\n“To survive long periods without nutrients or other adverse conditions, certain types of bacteria have developed the ability to form spores, where the cell’s DNA and necessary enzymes are packed into a capsule\nsurrounded by multiple protective barriers. In this form the bacteria can survive for hundreds, perhaps millions, of years in a dormant state and, what’s more, endure drought, extreme temperatures, radiation, and\ntoxins that would quickly knock out unprotected bacteria…\n\n“In their experiments the researchers\nhave also been able to see that the membrane of the spore core lets water through at a rate that is at least a hundred times slower than for a bacterial cell membrane. This compact inner barrier protects the\nspore from toxic molecules that otherwise might destroy the spore’s DNA.\n\n“‘There are so many other things we still have to learn about structures and processes inside living cells. Almost everything we know about proteins comes from test tube experiments, but in the special environment inside a cell, partially different phenomena may occur. A molecular understanding of the structure and dynamics of cells is important, not least for the development of new drugs,’ says Erik Sunde.” "}, {"Source": "waxy monkey tree frog's skin", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "avoid dehydration", "Function2": "repair skin surface", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/how-oily-mucus-prevents-dehydration/", "Strategy": "How Oily Mucus Prevents Dehydration\n\nAfter their skin is disturbed, waxy monkey tree frogs secrete lipids and mucus then wipe their bodies to restore the skin's impenetrability.\n\n“All parts of the body skin possess lipid glands (as well as mucus and granular glands) and consequently the action of wiping cannot be simply to spread the lipid. Wiping must have a grooming function and combined with the secretions of the integumentary glands repairs the skin surface and makes the skin impenetrable.” "}, {"Source": "bacillus subtilis", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "change shape of proteins", "Function2": "alter chemical activity", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/transmembrane-protein-takes-the-temperature/", "Strategy": "Transmembrane Protein Takes the Temperature\n\nThe bacterium, Bacillus subtilis, senses temperature changes and adjusts chemical activity accordingly by placing a protein across its cell membrane that changes shape as membrane thickness changes with temperature.\n\nJust like computers need temperature control for optimum function, the complex machinery of living cells must maintain temperatures within a certain range for optimum performance. The bacterium, Bacillus subtilis, uses cell membrane thickness as an indicator of temperature swings. At low temperatures, the fatty molecules making up the membrane arrange themselves in a more orderly fashion which cause the membrane to thicken. Conversely, at warmer temperatures, the fatty molecules are less ordered, so the membrane becomes thinner. Variations in thickness are accompanied by a change in the level of hydration within the membrane, which causes a change in the shape of proteins integrated through the membrane—the so-called ‘‘sunken-buoy’’ proteins. The change in shape alters the chemical activity of the protein."}, {"Source": "smooth-hound shark's vertebrae", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "provides structural support", "Function2": "strengthen vertebrae", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/minerals-strengthen-vertebrae/", "Strategy": "Minerals Strengthen Vertebrae\n\nVertebrae of the smooth-hound shark are strengthened by being coated with minerals whose arrangement provides structural support.\n\nSmooth-hound sharks are a species that express variability in the material make-up of their vertebras. The vertebrae of smooth-hound sharks have different measures of mineral coatings. The variability of mineralization among the vertebrae has led to questioning about the purpose of mineral coatings. Recent studies show that mineral coatings provide strength to the vertebrae when tested under compression. The mechanism of the strength of these coatings lays in the mineral arrangement rather than the amount of mineral coating itself. Thus, heavier coating does not necessarily translate to greater strength, rather coating arrangement does. This provides insight into biomaterials that could be used to strengthen construction matter."}, {"Source": "alligator's skin", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "increase blood flow", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/blood-flow-regulates-heat-exchange/", "Strategy": "Blood Flow Regulates Heat Exchange\n\nSkin of alligators regulates heat exchange by increasing blood flow.\n\n“Alligators possess several thermoregulatory abilities that may be of interest to architects. First, alligators have the ability to drop their body temperature when they are not receiving enough oxygen. This seems to offset changes that would otherwise occur in ventilation, oxygen consumption, acid-base balance, and lactate levels. Second, alligators warm their bodies much more quickly than they cool off. The ratio of rate of heating to rate of cooling is dependent on body mass, but is generally 2-3. The ratio is maximal when the alligator is 5 kg, indicating that there is an optimal size for control of heat exchange. The speedy rate of warming in alligators can be attributed to increased blood flow in the skin. During cooling, blood flow does not change. In fact, the results of one study suggest that blood flow is not at all involved in cooling. When blood flow to the appendages was occluded, the rate of warming dropped significantly, while the rate of cooling did not change. There may be an optimum body size for the control of heat exchange. The ratio of rate of heating to rate of cooling is maximum when the alligator is 5 kg. Alligators warm their bodies up to twice as fast as they cool down. There is greater blood flow in the skin during warming than during cooling.”"}, {"Source": "beetle's elytra", "Application": "design of a joint", "Function1": "resist shear and crack", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/insect-elytra-resist-shear-and-cracking/", "Strategy": "Insect Elytra Resist Shear and Cracking\n\nElytra of beetles maintain integrity of their two layers by transforming forces through connecting bio-nails.\n\n“Nature is replete with examples of layered-structure materials that are evolved through billions of years to provide high performance. Insect elytra (a portion of the exoskeleton) have evoked worldwide research attention and are believed to serve as fuselages and wings of natural aircraft. This work focuses on the relationship between structure, mechanical behavior, and failure mechanisms of the elytra. We report a failure-mode-optimization (FMO) mechanism that can explain elytra’s mechanical behaviors. We show initial evidence that this mechanism makes bio-structures of low-strength materials strong and ductile that can effectively resist shear forces and crack growth. A bio-inspired design of a joint by using the FMO mechanism has been proved by experiments to have a potential to increase the interface shear strength as high as about 2.5 times. The FMO mechanism, which is based on the new concept of property-structure synergetic coupling proposed in this work, offer some thoughts to deal with the notoriously difficult problem of interface strength and to reduce catastrophic failure events.” "}, {"Source": "flanks of brazilian free-tailed bats", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "aid thermoregulation", "Function2": "maintain heat balance", "Function3": "facilitate energy balance", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/hot-spots-cool-and-heat/", "Strategy": "Hot Spots Cool and Heat\n\nThe flanks of Brazilian free-tailed bats aid thermoregulation due to a unique arrangement of arteries and veins creating thermal windows.\n\n“The Brazilian free-tailed bat (Tadarida brasiliensis) experiences challenging thermal conditions while roosting in hot caves, flying during warm daylight conditions, and foraging at cool high altitudes. Using thermal infrared cameras, we identified hot spots along the flanks of free-ranging Brazilian free-tailed bats, ventral to the extended wings. These hot spots are absent in syntopic cave myotis (Myotis velifer), a species that forages over relatively short distances, and does not engage in long-distance migration. We hypothesized that the hot spots, or ‘radiators,’ on Brazilian free-tailed bats may be adaptations for migration, particularly in this long-distance, high-flying species. We examined the vasculature of radiators on Brazilian free-tailed bats with transillumination to characterize the unique arrangements of arteries and veins that are positioned perpendicular to the body in the proximal region of the wing. We hypothesized that these radiators aid in maintaining heat balance by flushing the uninsulated thermal window with warm blood, thereby dissipating heat while bats are flying under warm conditions, but shunting blood away and conserving heat when they are flying in cooler air at high altitudes. We also examined fluid-preserved specimens representing 122 species from 15 of 18 chiropteran families and radiators appeared present only in species in the family Molossidae, including both sedentary and migratory species and subspecies. Thus, the radiator appears to be a unique trait that may facilitate energy balance and water balance during sustained dispersal, foraging, and long-distance migration.” "}, {"Source": "lichen's surface", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "hydrophobic surface", "Function2": "allow gas exchange", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/rough-hydrophobic-surface-allows-gas-exchange/", "Strategy": "Rough, Hydrophobic Surface\nAllows Gas‑exchange\n\nPores on lichen surface allow water to roll off it and gas to be exchanged under saturated conditions due to rough surface and hydrophobic compounds.\n\nThis particular species of lichen utilizes hydrophobic interactions at its surface to avoid absorbing contaminated water (such as acid rain). Most lichen are susceptible to airborne pollution because their “open structure and tendency to dry and re-hydrate in response to drought mean that alga and fungus are exposed to high quantities of unbuffered water”. Lecanora conizaeoides have adapted to counter this through their rough structure and hydrophobic pores. Hydrophobic means “water-fearing,” in other words, these pores reject interaction with water molecules. The rough surface of the lichen creates unevenness. When rain falls, the water molecules sit upon the topmost part of the lichen’s rough, multi-layered surface. Below these top layers sit micropores that are coated in hydrophobic compounds. This design creates openings for gasses to come through while preventing clogging by water. So even when a large amount of water is present, the lichen is still exchanging gasses. Such gas exchange is important for photosynthetic processes, meaning that while other plants become waterlogged, these lichen are still photosynthesizing by allowing water to roll off their surface."}, {"Source": "thale cress", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "prevent metal ions from entering plant cells", "Function2": "neutralize and sequester metal ions", "Function3": "mitigate damage caused by metals", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/defensive-measures-prevent-toxicity-of-heavy-metals/", "Strategy": "Defensive Measures Prevent\nToxicity of Heavy Metals\n\nCells of thale cress protect themselves from dissolved heavy metals by releasing compounds that bind the metal ions or neutralize the destructive substances they spawn.\n\nWhen exposed to toxic heavy metals like nickel, lead, cadmium, and mercury in the soil, plants initiate a complex sequence of steps to counteract the effects of these poisons. Defensive measures prevent metals from getting inside cells, sequester and neutralize metals that do enter the cell, or mitigate damage caused by the metals that overwhelm these defenses.\nTwo mechanisms keep metal ions out of plant cells. In one case, the plant releases chelating agents into the soil which form molecular “cages” around the metal ions making them too bulky to fit through slim ion channels in the cells’ protective outer cell wall. Alternatively, compounds in the cell wall material (hystidyl groups, pectic sites, and certain carbohydrates) bind to the metal ions keeping them away from the cells’ internal machinery. Of course, these preventative defensive measures can be overwhelmed by high concentrations of the metals so other means of protection are required. When metal ions do get into the cell, efflux pumps (heavy metal ATPases and HMAs) actively pump metal ions out of the cells and back into the soil or into isolated spaces within the cell (vacuoles) where they are effectively sequestered. If concentrations of the metals are particularly high, the plant cells will pump the metals into its vascular network so that they can be carried to the shoots where they become imprisoned in vacuoles. Metal ions that do get past these defenses can destroy plant cells by producing reactive compounds such as hydrogen peroxide. Presence of these damaging compounds trigger cells to produce defense chemicals that, in turn, scavenge or destroy them."}, {"Source": "monarch butterfly's egg", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "avoid transmission", "Function2": "fight infection", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/choice-of-plant-reduces-parasite-load/", "Strategy": "Choice of Plant Reduces Parasite Load\n\nMonarch butterflies infected with parasites capable of infecting their offspring avoid transmission by selectively laying their eggs on plants containing therapeutic remedies.\n\nThe parasitic protozoan, Ophryocystis elektroscirrha, is known to infect monarch butterflies and produce extremely deleterious symptoms. Caterpillars ingest parasitic spores inadvertently scattered on leaves by their mothers during egg laying. After the parasite enters the body of the caterpillar, it reproduces rapidly and consumes a significant portion of the host’s nutrient intake. During pupation, the parasites produce millions of spores that cover the nascent wing scales of the developing adult butterfly. These spores are shaken off onto leaves during egg laying, thereby starting the cycle over again. Infected adults have not been observed self-medicating their own parasitic infection, but they preferentially lay their eggs on a specific species of milkweed (Asclepias curassavica) that contains compounds capable of fighting infection when consumed by their caterpillars. The anti-parasitic properties of A. curassavica are thought to be due to their special suite of cardenolides including several non-polar varieties that interfere with parasite ATPase enzymes."}, {"Source": "african clawed frog's skin", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "prevent fungal infection", "Function2": "self-assemble into structures", "Function3": "interrupt protective functioning of fungal cell membrane", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/peptides-protect-from-fungal-infection/", "Strategy": "Peptides Protect From Fungal Infection\n\nPeptides on the skin of African clawed frog protect from fungal infection by having a semiselective binding nature to bacterial pathogen cells affording each peptide the ability to bind to a variety of pathogens.\n\nAmphibians are constantly beset with microbial pathogens. In particular, the chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis is known to infect over 350 species of frogs and has lead to widespread declines in many populations. The pathogen infects the mouths of larvae and the skin of adults leading to osmotic imbalance, salt loss, and eventually death.\nThe African clawed frog has evolved skin secretions that render it immune to the fungus. The toad secretes many compounds in its skin mucus including the peptides magainin-1, magainin-2, and PGLa. When exposed to the outer membrane of fungal cells, these peptides self-assemble into structures that interrupt the normal protective functioning of the membrane leading to fungal death. This strategy is also quite effective against a broad variety of microbes including many that are resistant to antibiotics. What is remarkable is that magainin and PGLa alone are relatively weak antimicrobial agents; however, when combined, they exhibit synergy which increases their antimicrobial effectiveness more than 30 fold."}, {"Source": "animal tissue", "Application": "hard tissues", "Function1": "create strong surface", "Function2": "withstand tensile force", "Function3": "withstand compressive force", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/stiff-platelets-create-building-blocks/", "Strategy": "Stiff Platelets Create Building Blocks\n\nTissues of many animals are hard due to platelets arranged in a staggered micro-array inside a flexible matrix.\n\nHard tissues are found in countless places throughout nature (e.g., materials such as collagen, nacre, teeth, bone, etc.). While each tissue experiences different material and structural properties, researchers have found an underlying building block that is found throughout many of these hard tissues. That building block consists of stiff platelets arranged in a staggered micro-array inside a flexible matrix. This arrangement of molecules helps to create strong, hard surfaces capable of withstanding tensile and compressive forces (though different tissues withstand different amounts)."}, {"Source": "thale cress's leaves", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "interrupt cellular signals", "Function2": "close stoma", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/leaves-protect-from-pathogens/", "Strategy": "Leaves Protect From Pathogens\n\nLeaves of thale cress protect the plant from pathogenic microorganisms by interrupting the cellular signals that otherwise keep the stoma open and vulnerable to bacterial invasion.\n\nPlants rely on complex innate immune systems to make up for their lack of adaptive systems. They use complex signaling cascades that can detect and respond to bacterial and fungal pathogens both inside and outside their cells. One type of response is for the plant to close their stoma–the small openings on its leaves–which denies the pathogen entry points into the plant. The RIN4 protein has recently been shown to be instrumental in this process. Under normal circumstances, proteins embedded in the cell membrane send signals to RIN4 to keep stoma opened. When chemical signals from pathogenic microbes are detected, these signals stop and the stoma close."}, {"Source": "vibrio harveyi bacteria", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protect from uv light", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/bioluminescent-proteins-reduce-solar-damage/", "Strategy": "Bioluminescent Proteins Reduce Solar Damage\n\nVibrio harveyi bacteria protect themselves from the damaging effects of UV radiation by channeling the UV energy to bioluminescent proteins.\n\nBioluminescence is a seemingly confusing adaptation for bacteria. Unlike large multicellular organisms, bacteria do not use it to catch prey or find mates. Recent research has even shown that under normal conditions, bioluminescent bacteria cannot compete with non-luminescent versions of themselves since they are wasting so much energy on the seemingly useless process. However, when exposed to UV light, the luminescent strains eventually came to dominate the cultures. This suggests that the bioluminescence is somehow related to preventing damage from the ionizing radiation. Research has demonstrated that bioluminescence requires radical initiators or reactive oxygen species in order to provide the energy required to release a photon. It is conceivable that bacteria are capable of channeling some of the reactive species produced by the ionizing UV radiation into their bioluminescent pathways in order to eliminate the harmful substances."}, {"Source": "thick-tailed scorpion's venom", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "antifungal properties", "Function2": "antimicrobial properties", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/venom-destroys-fungi/", "Strategy": "Venom Destroys Fungi\n\nThe venom of the thick-tailed scorpion protect it from fungal parasites by containing antifungal, antimicrobial proteins that work synergistically when applied to its own body.\n\nFungal infections represent major threats to agriculture. In fact, pathogenic fungi are responsible for 35% of all crop loss worldwide. Developing new fungicides is of paramount importance. Tityus discrepans scorpions are extremely susceptible to fungal infections because of their habitat. In order to cope, they spray themselves with their own venom. The complex mixture contains numerous compounds with antifungal and antimicrobial properties. Some function by interfering with fungal cell wall development and others by altering membrane permeability. The synergistic effect of all of the antifungal proteins acting in concert makes the venom a potent fungicide."}, {"Source": "grand rapid lettuce", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "stimulate germination", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/smoke-detection-induces-seed-germination/", "Strategy": "Fire Creates Chemical That Tells Plant to Grow\n\nSmoke-derived compounds called karrikinolides stimulate germination.\n\nSince fires usually destroy all of the foliage in a given location, the time immediately after a fire is an optimum growing period for seedlings whose access to sunlight would otherwise be blocked by leaves of larger plants. Because of this, some plant seeds have evolved mechanisms for sensing smoke associated with local fires. Grand Rapid lettuce germinates in response to the presence of low concentrations of karrikinolides present in the smoke from burning vegetation."}, {"Source": "leaves of some plants", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "resist bending", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/leaves-resist-bending/", "Strategy": "Leaves Resist Bending\n\nThe leaves of many plants are flat yet flexible surfaces that resist bending thanks to structural features and bracing from below."}, {"Source": "blood worm's jaw", "Application": "hard, wear resistant jaw", "Function1": "hard wear-resistant flexible jaw", "Function2": "knaw through carapaces and burrow through sediment", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/mineralized-jaws-resist-abrasion/", "Strategy": "Mineralized Jaws Resist Abrasion\n\nJaws of blood worms are hard and wear resistant due to stratified composites containing precise configurations of proteins and two forms of copper.\n\nNature uses chemistry to build strong, resilient, tough materials tailor made for the job at hand. The carnivorous bloodworm, for instance, needs a hard, wear-resistant, flexible jaw to knaw through carapaces and burrow through sediment. It’s recipe includes four substances: proteins, melanin pigment, copper ions, and atacamite (a mineralized form of copper) arranged in four layers in precise patterns and thicknesses. Copper ions facilitate a tight network between proteins and pigment in the thin outermost layer as well as in the third layer confering hardness and wear resistance. Sandwiched between these two is a layer reinforced with atacamite fibers thought to confer flexibility to the entire jaw. The innermost layer contains ony trace amounts of copper."}, {"Source": "ficus tree's bark cell", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "temporarily repair rupture", "Function2": "seal wound", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/cells-temporarily-self-repair-ruptures/", "Strategy": "Cells Temporarily Self‑repair Ruptures\n\nCells in the bark of ficus trees temporarily repair ruptures by secreting latex into the wound site which cures upon exposure to air.\n\nAfter a break or tear in its bark, ficus trees secrete pre-made latex at the site of the wound. When exposed to air, this complex emulsion coagulates into an elastic polymer that serves several defensive functions including halting any further tearing (i.e., increasing tensile strength) and sealing the wound from infection until cell growth can permanently mend the injury. Thirty minutes after the damage is sustained by the ficus, latex has already coagulated enough at the damage site for about 55% of the materials original, un-wounded tensile strength to be restored. This added strength is maintained for hours or days until cellular growth can restore the materials complete strength (latex protects from further tearing but does not provide stiffness). Even before 30 minutes after the injury, when latex is still largely uncoagulated, it serves to support the mechanical properties of the damaged material perhaps acting like a sticky, glue-like substance."}, {"Source": "english ivy's organic nanoparticles", "Application": "sunblocker", "Function1": "absorb and scatter ultraviolet light", "Function2": "protect skin", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/nanoparticles-block-uv-light/", "Strategy": "Nanoparticles Block UV Light\n\nOrganic nanoparticles secreted by English ivy rootlets absorb and scatter ultraviolet light thanks to large surface-to-volume ratio and uniformity.\n\n“Zhang, an associate professor of biomedical engineering at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, along with his research team and collaborators, has found that ivy nanoparticles may protect skin from UV\nradiation at least four times better than the metal-based sunblocks found on store shelves today…”Zhang speculated the greenery’s hidden power lay within a yellowish material secreted by the ivy…It also has the ability to soak up and disperse light which is\nintegral to sunscreens. “‘Nanoparticles exhibit unique physical and chemical properties due to large surface-to-volume ratio which allows them to absorb and scatter light,’ Zhang said. ‘Titanium dioxide and zinc oxide are currently used for sunscreen for the same reason, but the ivy nanoparticles are more uniform than the metal-based nanoparticles, and have unique material properties, which may help to enhance the absorption and scattering of light, and serve better as a sun-blocker.’” "}, {"Source": "mammal bone fibril", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "alter bone strength", "Function2": "influence collagen stiffness", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/material-interaction-varies-bone-strength/", "Strategy": "Material Interaction Varies Bone Strength\n\nSurface of bone fibril in mammals alters mechanics of collagen by interfacial interaction between collagen and hydroxyapatite.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nBone is a hard material made up mostly of a substance known as collagen. Collagen in bone self-assembles in a staggered, parallel manner to form fibrils. Between the staggered molecules of collagen, the mineral part of bone fills in. This mineral is known as hydroxyapatite (HAP), and it is a crystalized form of calcium phosphate. The way that HAP orients between collagen molecules alters the way that the bone responds to mechanical tests of its properties. “The HAP crystal platelets nucleate in hole zones, and grow in length along collagen long axis, and in width, along channels influenced by the presence of mineral in the proximity” (Katti et al. 2010). Much of the rest of the space near the surface of bone is occupied by water. Collagen, HAP, and water all interact with one another in varying manners. Researchers struggle to study the mechanical properties of collagen because of the varied responses they get along the surface. The HAP mineral makes the collagen stiffer in some areas and the presence of water (or lack of HAP) makes the collagen less stiff in other places along the surface."}, {"Source": "conch shell", "Application": "hard materials", "Function1": "resist compression", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/shell-microstructure-protects-from-compression/", "Strategy": "Shell Microstructure\nProtects From Compression\n\nThe shell of the conch survives compression and three-point bending due to lath-like aragonite crystals that form a microlayer.\n\nThe conch shell is known for its highly organized shape, but it is not the organization alone that makes these special animals. The shell of a conch has a microstructure made up of a cross-lamellar matrix consisting of lath-like aragonite crystals. It is this structure that creates the hard shell and provides such strong mechanical responses for a shell under compressive forces. In a sea full of predators this shell provides the animal with its only protection. Such unique design would prove useful for materials used in high impact or high compressive situations."}, {"Source": "rotifers of class bdelloidea", "Application": "preserving food", "Function1": "survive extreme exposure to ionization radiation", "Function2": "repair dna", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/dna-self-repairs-after-exposure-to-ionizing-radiation/", "Strategy": "DNA Self‑repairs After\nExposure to Ionizing Radiation\n\nBodies survive extreme exposure to ionization radiation in certain species of Rotifers of class Bdelloidea by repairing DNA.\n\nRotifers of class Bdelloidea are small invertebrates that inhabit temporary aqueous environments (i.e., freshwater pools), mosses, and lichens. When these environments dry up, these tiny animals are subject to drought that would likely kill most other species. However, two species of the above class, Adineta vaga and Philodina roseola are not only able to survive such conditions, but are able to reproduce (and thus, thrive) afterwards. Scientists, Gladyshev and Meselson, tested their survival by exposing the species to ionization radiation (IR) and made a comparison of these species to a species of bacteria that avoids desiccation. These researchers believe that survival techniques such as IR resistances are the result of evolutionary divergence from other species thousands of years ago to avoid desiccation; they hypothesize that the animals DNA undergo repair from breakage after the extreme conditions of the environment are removed. Understanding how these animals are capable of being exposed to such extreme conditions and then bouncing back to reproduce may provide clues as to how humans can repair their own DNA after damage or perhaps provide humans with a better way to preserve food that undergoes extreme conditions of transportation."}, {"Source": "foam-nesting frog's bubble nest", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protect eggs and sperm", "Function2": "resist environmental and microbiological assault", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/nests-are-antimicrobial/", "Strategy": "Nests Are Antimicrobial\n\nNests of foam-nesting frogs protect eggs and sperm from microbes using unique antimicrobial proteins called ranaspumins.\n\n“The foam nests of the túngara frog (Engystomops pustulosus) [formerly Physalaemus pustulosus] form a biocompatible incubation medium for eggs and sperm while resisting considerable environmental and microbiological assault. We have shown that much of this behaviour can be attributed to a cocktail of six proteins, designated ranaspumins (Rsn-1 to Rsn-6), which predominate in the foam. These fall into two discernable classes based on sequence analysis and\nbiophysical properties. Rsn-2, with an amphiphilic amino acid sequence unlike any hitherto reported, exhibits substantial detergent-like surfactant activity necessary for production of foam, yet is harmless to the membranes of eggs and spermatozoa. A further four (Rsn-3 to Rsn-6) are lectins, three of which are similar to fucolectins found in teleosts but not previously identified in a land vertebrate, though with a carbohydrate binding specificity different from previously described fucolectins. The sixth, Rsn-1, is structurally similar to proteinase inhibitors of the cystatin class, but does not itself appear to exhibit\nany such activity. The nest foam itself, however,\ndoes exhibit potent cystatin activity. Rsn-encoding genes are transcribed in many tissues of the adult frogs, but the full cocktail is present only in oviduct glands. Combinations of lectins and cystatins have known roles in plants and animals for defence against microbial colonization and insect attack. Túngara nest foam\ndisplays a novel synergy of selected elements of innate\ndefence plus a specialized surfactant protein, comprising a previously unreported strategy for protection of unattended reproductive stages of animals.” "}, {"Source": "fruit fly's survival strategy", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "produce antimicrobial molecules", "Function2": "activate antimicrobial molecules", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/immune-system-is-fortified/", "Strategy": "How Hungry Fruit Flies Fight Infection\n\nFruit flies cells activate antimicrobial molecules as a precaution against infection in times of energy shortage.\n\nIntroduction\n\nFrom the largest whale to the tiniest bacterium, hunger and disease are two of life’s biggest threats. Both play a role in a unique survival strategy of the fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster). When a fruit fly is stressed by hunger, its cells automatically start producing a type of compound that destroys bacteria and other pathogens. This reduces the likelihood that microbes can take advantage of the fly’s hunger-caused low-energy to launch a full-bore invasion.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nHunger creates stress for an organism by reducing the amount of energy available for keeping its organs and tissues humming along. This reduced energy in turn makes the organism more vulnerable to invasion by bacteria and other illness-causing organisms—similar to the way humans are more likely to make mistakes when we’re tired or distracted by problems we’re trying to solve or difficulties we’re trying to deal with.\n\nThe Potential\n\nIt’s easy to imagine that the right response when times get tough is to slow down other activities and focus on the stress. The fruit fly’s innate system for ramping up defense mechanisms under stress provides a template for using stress as a signal that it’s time to take preemptive actions to minimize the adverse consequences that might emerge from the stressed conditions. By responding to conditions that signal a potential increase in vulnerability, the fly preemptively fortifies itself against potential enemies.\n\nThe take-home lesson for humans: Rather than focusing exclusively on dealing with immediate sources of stress, also be mindful of what other, future stresses the current challenge might catalyze and take preventive actions to avoid being buried in an avalanche of snowballing stresses down the road."}, {"Source": "tobacco leaf", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "release chemical signal", "Function2": "trigger calcium ion release", "Function3": "produce gaba", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/chemical-defenses-protect-from-parasites/", "Strategy": "Chemical Defenses Protect From Parasites\n\nThe leaves of tobacco protect from parasitic insects by releasing a chemical signal, inducing production in adjacent cells of a compound toxic to invertebrates.\n\nWhen cells within a tobacco leaf are touched by an external force, stretch receptors cause them to release calcium ions. The signal spreads into adjacent cells in a propagating wave triggering the release of more calcium ions and the subsequent production of a chemical called GABA. Tobacco leaf parasites that ingest GABA suffer tremors, excitablilty, paralysis, and death."}, {"Source": "microcolonial fungi", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protect from uv light", "Function2": "protect from desiccation", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/mycosporines-protect-from-uv-light-desiccation/", "Strategy": "Mycosporines Protect\nFrom UV Light, Desiccation\n\nMicrocolonial fungi are protected from UV light and desiccation via mycosporines.\n\n“UV absorption of both mycosporines at 310 nm hints at their biological role as UV filters. However, it is believed that, in addition to UVR protection, mycosporines may also play an important role as antioxidants and osmoprotectants. The presence of at least two different mycosporines enhances the survival capabilities of MCF [microcolonial fungi] undergoing UVR and desiccation stress. However, it is also possible that mycosporine-glutaminol-glucoside and mycosporine-glutamicol-glucoside are internally converted within the fungal cell and thus have a biochemical precursor–product relationship.”"}, {"Source": "t cells", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "fight infection", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/t-cells-fight-infections/", "Strategy": "T Cells Fight Infections\n\nThe immune system of our body fights infections by creating T cells.\n\n"}, {"Source": "honeybee's immunocompetence", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "maintain immunocompetence", "Function2": "increase social immunity", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/diet-diversity-affects-health/", "Strategy": "Diet Diversity Affects Health\n\nImmunocompetence of honeybees is maintained with a diverse diet.\n\n“The maintenance of the immune system can be costly, and a lack of dietary protein can increase the susceptibility of organisms to disease. However, few studies have investigated the relationship between protein nutrition and immunity in insects.\nHere, we tested in honeybees (Apis mellifera)\nwhether dietary protein quantity (monofloral pollen) and diet diversity (polyfloral pollen) can shape baseline immunocompetence (IC) by measuring parameters of individual immunity (haemocyte concentration, fat body content and phenoloxidase activity) and glucose oxidase (GOX) activity, which enables bees to sterilize colony and brood food, as a parameter of social\nimmunity. Protein feeding modified both individual and social IC but increases in dietary protein quantity did not enhance IC. However, diet diversity increased IC levels. In particular, polyfloral diets induced higher GOX activity compared with monofloral diets, including protein-richer diets. These results suggest a link between protein nutrition and immunity in honeybees and underscore the critical role of resource availability on pollinator health.” "}, {"Source": "cassowary's head", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protect head", "Function2": "have excellent shock-absorbing qualities", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/head-protected-from-minor-impacts/", "Strategy": "Head Protected From Minor Impacts\n\nThe head of cassowaries may be protected from impact as they traverse dense forest thanks to a foam-like 'helmet' with keratinized covering.\n\n“A casque or helmet composed of a firm foamlike substance with a heavily keratinized covering is located on the top of the head. The purpose of the casque may be to protect the birds when moving head first through dense forest vegetation or may be a social display.” \n\n“We recently had an opportunity to dissect an adult male Cassowary found dead near Feluga, in northern Queensland, and found that the casque is neither horny nor bony. The skull does not have a protuberance as might be expected and the casque itself consists of a keratinous skin over a core of firm, cellular foam-like material that looks like some hi-tech plastic. This foam is very resilient and gives the casque elastic properties that appear to be lost in dried museum skins. The casque is very rigid longitudinally but can easily be squeezed and deformed laterally. When pressure is released the casque springs back to shape.\n\n“The casque is usually described as serving to provide protection as the bird moves through thick vegetation. Cassowaries normally move slowly with head and neck erect, but when moving at high speed they stretch the neck out horizontally and run full tilt through the vegetation, brushing saplings aside and occasionally careering into small trees. The casque would help protect the skull from such collisions. There is also the possibility that it has a secondary sexual function. However, both sexes have one, the female’s being larger than the male’s and I (F.C.) have not seen it being particularly prominent in mating displays or fighting. We believe the foam inside the casque supports the idea that it acts as a protective device – it appears to have excellent shock-absorbing qualities.” "}, {"Source": "sea star's body", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "buffer thermal variations", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/body-buffers-thermal-variations/", "Strategy": "Body Buffers Thermal Variations\n\nThe body of sea stars helps buffer thermal variations experienced in low tide by taking up and storing cold sea water during high tide.\n\n“One starfish has a remarkable strategy to avoid overheating in the sun, scientists have discovered.\n\n“The starfish pumps itself up with cold seawater to lower its body temperature when exposed to the sun at low tide.\n\n“It is equivalent to a person drinking seven litres of water before heading into the midday sun, scientists say” "}, {"Source": "puss moth's cocoon", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "provide protection", "Function2": "provide a hard casing", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/cocoon-provides-hard-protective-casing/", "Strategy": "Cocoon Provides Hard, Protective Casing\n\nCocoons of puss moths form a hard, protective casing because they are made of labial silk and bark fragments.\n\n“Many adecticous pupae [toothless] are enclosed in cocoons of varying shape and consistency. That of the puss moth (Cerura vinula) is constructed on the boles of willow and sallow and is of extreme toughness, being fashioned from a mixture of labial silk and bark fragments which hardens into an oval whole, rough and bark-like on the outside but glossily smooth inside. Having no biting jaws, pupae of this type need other means to free themselves from their cocoons. The puss moth exudes a special liquid which softens the casing, allowing the moth to push its way out through a relatively small hole; others have special cocoon-rupturing structures on head or thorax which may be lost on emergence.”"}, {"Source": "adult leatherback sea turtle's trachea", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "endothermy", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/trachea-enables-deep-dives/", "Strategy": "Trachea Enables Deep Dives\n\nThe trachea of adult leatherback sea turtles enables deep dives via a compressible cartilaginous structure.\n\n“Adult leatherbacks are large animals (300–500 kg), overlapping in size with marine pinniped and cetacean species. Unlike marine mammals, they start their aquatic life as 40–50 g hatchlings, so undergo a 10,000-fold increase in body mass during independent existence. Hatchlings are limited to the tropics and near-surface water. Adults, obligate predators on gelatinous plankton, encounter cold water at depth (<1280 m) or high latitude and are gigantotherms that maintain elevated core body temperatures in cold water. This study shows that there are great ontogenetic changes in tracheal structure related to diving and exposure to cold. Hatchling leatherbacks have a conventional reptilian tracheal structure with circular cartilaginous rings interspersed with extensive connective tissue. The adult trachea is an almost continuous ellipsoidal cartilaginous tube composed of interlocking plates, and will collapse easily in the upper part of the water column during dives, thus avoiding pressure-related structural and physiological problems. It is lined with an extensive, dense erectile vascular plexus that will warm and humidify cold inspired air and possibly retain heat on expiration. A sub-luminal lymphatic plexus is also present. Mammals and birds have independently evolved nasal turbinates to fulfil such a respiratory thermocontrol function; for them, turbinates are regarded as diagnostic of endothermy. This is the first demonstration of a turbinate equivalent in a living reptile. "}, {"Source": "bagassa guianensis tree's tissues", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "increase durability", "Function2": "resist decay", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/metabolites-make-wood-durable/", "Strategy": "Metabolites Make Wood Durable\n\nTissues of the Bagassa guianensis tree increase its durability due to the presence of metabolites called stilbenoids.\n\n“In order to explain the durability of the Moraceae plant family, phytochemistry of Bagassa guianensis was performed…18 secondary metabolites were isolated, including…8 stilbenoids…Previous studies suggest that stilbenoids are responsible for the natural durability of wood.” "}, {"Source": "bristlecone pine", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "survive for thousands of years", "Function2": "shut down non-essential processes", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/trees-have-extreme-longevity/", "Strategy": "Trees Have Extreme Longevity\n\nBristlecone pines can survive for thousands of years in harsh environments by shutting down non-essential processes.\n\nBristlecone pines survive for thousands of years in an environment with little rainfall, few nutrients, cold temperatures and high elevations by shutting down all non-essential processes and focusing energy on long-term survival rather than growth."}, {"Source": "hybrid striped bass's cells", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "prevent infection", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/compounds-in-tissues-prevent-infection/", "Strategy": "Compounds in Tissues Prevent Infection\n\nCells of the hybrid striped bass fight fungal infection with peptides that punch hydrophilic holes in the cell membranes of the infectious microorganism.\n\nAdvanced lifeforms have faced the onslaught of parasitic microbial life for billions of years and have evolved numerous tools to prevent attack. Many fish, in particular, have diverse and highly developed protein strategies to fight infection. Some of these, including piscidin-2 found in hybrid striped bass, are effective against pathogenic fungi. They are thought to act by creating channels in the cell membrane allowing cell contents escape.\n\nPiscidin-2 opening channels in cell membrane of a fungal species. "}, {"Source": "migratory songbirds", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "stock up on nutrients", "Function2": "deal with the stresses of migration", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/dietary-choices-fight-oxidative-stress/", "Strategy": "Dietary Choices Fight Oxidative Stress\n\nMigratory songbirds prepare for long flights by eating berries rich in antioxidants.\n\n“Bug-chomping songbirds have been discovered doing something remarkable before migrating south for the winter: They switch, awkwardly, to berries rich in antioxidants.  “The dietary change has less to do with fattening up and more to do with stocking up on nutrients to help their bodies deal with the stresses of migration, say researchers.” "}, {"Source": "elephant's nasal passage", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "emit vibration", "Function2": "emit infrasonic sound", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/trunk-emits-infrasonic-calls/", "Strategy": "Trunk Emits Infrasonic Calls\n\nNasal passages of elephants communicate by emitting vibrations that cause infrasonic sounds.\n\n“The elephant was the first land animal shown to communicate infrasonically–a landmark discovery that came from two independent observations. In 1981, Kansas University scientists Dr. Rickye Heffner and Dr. Henry Heffner were surprised to discover that elephants could detect sound frequencies as low as 17 Hz, which were within the infrasonic range. But why should they be able to do this? What purpose does it serve?”\n\nThis sound was described by Dr. Katherine Payne from Cornell’s Laboratory of Ornithology as, “I repeatedly noticed a palpable throbbing in the air like distant thunder, yet all around me was silent.” . The sound reminded her of standing next to the largest organ pipe in her church when the organ blasted out the bass line in a Bach chorale.\n\nDr. Payne and others recorded elephants and found that “[W]ithin one month 400 separate calls had been recorded–three times the number of calls heard by the researchers in the sonic range. Analyses showed that the elephants emitted short calls at a frequence range of 14-24 Hz, which lasted for 5-10 minutes, over a period of 10 minutes.\n\n“The tam also uncovered an important visual clue to the production of these secret sounds by elephants. When an elephant is volcalizing infrasonically, the skin on its brown flutters, vibrating gently as air passes through to its nasal passages…Since infrasound travels over long distances, it is useful in this regard. Subsequent studies have shown that elephants in Africa can hear calls from as far away as 2.5 miles (4 km) during the day, whereas in the evening this range can extend to up to 6 miles (10 km) as a result of temperature inversions in the atmosphere that make sound travel farther.”\n\n"}, {"Source": "red velvet mite's glandular opening", "Application": "waterproofing", "Function1": "waterproofing by a secretion", "Function2": "reduce the mite's cuticular permeability to water", "Function3": "increase water-tightness of the cuticle", "Function4": "increase optimal temperature tolerance", "Function5": "decrease activation energy for water loss", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/secretion-waterproofs/", "Strategy": "Secretion Waterproofs\n\nGlandular openings for the red velvet mite provide waterproofing by a secretion that fills pores and congeals.\n\n“Features of Balaustium sp. include resistance to intense heat and desiccation, affinity for hot surfaces in bright light, abundance in semi-arid/arid biotopes, and a large pair of secretory glands called urnulae with no known function (defense secretion excepted). Here we show that the urnulae secrete a waterproofing barrier that reduces the mite’s cuticular permeability to water. Exposure to white light was used to stimulate release of the secretion; the urnulae protruded and exuded streams of red fluid at the tip of this structure that covered the entire body. Results showed that mites coated with urnulae secretion lost water at approximately half the rate of mites that did not secrete. Similarly, urnulae secretion coated mites demonstrated an increase in water-tightness of the cuticle reflected by a 9 OC elevation in temperature threshold for water loss on an evaporation curve, increasing their optimal temperature tolerance for survival (lethal permeability temperature, LPT). Results also show a 10 kJ/mol drop in activation energy (Ea) for water loss, representative of a substantial cuticular modification, and a decrease in Arrhenius frequency steric factor A, indicating an overall decrease in body water losses. The absence of a critical transition temperature (CTT), however, reveals that urnulae secretion coating functions to resist a phase change as the temperature rises, permitting the mites to cope with high temperature without succumbing to water and heat stress, by inhibiting cuticular breakdown.” "}, {"Source": "parasitic worm", "Application": "prototype worm therapies", "Function1": "dampen immune system", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/parasitic-worms-dampen-immune-system-response/", "Strategy": "Parasitic Worms Dampen Immune System Response\n\nInfestation of humans by parasitic worms (helminths) induces a dampened immunological response in human beings.\n\n“Helminths are parasitic animals [worms] that have [co-]evolved over 100,000,000 years to live in the intestinal track or other locations of their hosts. Colonization of humans with these organisms was nearly universal until the early 20th century. More than 1,000,000,000 people in less developed countries carry helminths even today. Helminths must quell their host’s immune system to successfully colonize. It is likely that helminths sense hostile changes in the local host environment and take action to control such responses. Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) probably results from an inappropriately vigorous immune response to contents of the intestinal lumen. Environmental factors strongly affect the risk for IBD. People living in less developed countries are protected from IBD. The ‘IBD hygiene hypothesis’ states that raising children in extremely hygienic environments negatively affects immune development, which predisposes them to immunological diseases like IBD [also allergies, asthma, etc] later in life. Modern day absence of exposure to intestinal helminths appears to be an important environmental factor contributing to development of these illnesses. Helminths interact with both host innate and adoptive immunity to stimulate immune regulatory circuitry and to dampen effector pathways that drive aberrant inflammation. The first prototype worm therapies [aka ‘helminthic therapy’] directed against immunological diseases are now under study in the United States and various countries around the world.”"}, {"Source": "spittle bug's bubble", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "hide from predators", "Function2": "protection", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/bubbles-protect-against-predators/", "Strategy": "Bubbles Protect Against Predators\n\nSpittle bugs hide from predators within a froth of bubbles they produce.\n\n“Bubbles are commonly encountered in nature, across many phyla and habitats—from the slimy protective bubbles of the spittle bugs to the bubble eggs of many water-loving vertebrates, including many species of fish and amphibians, particularly frogs. Bubbles serve as insulation, moisturizer, and protection from predators. Spittle bugs use recycled sap from grass stems converted to a soapy liquid that they pump into foamy bubbles using their tails…Frog eggs and spittle bug bubbles self-cushion when packed in an array and naturally leave little air amongst them. This is because nature’s bubbles join according to three principles of soap bubble geometry. First, a compound bubble consists of flat or smoothly curved surfaces joined together. Second, the surfaces meet in only two ways: either three surfaces merge along a curve (edge), or six surfaces at a vertex. Third, when surfaces come together at a curve, or curves and surfaces at a point, they do so at equal angles. These three principles allow bubbles to eliminate air space between their flexible membranes, thereby optimally packing spheres.” (Biomimicry Guild unpublished report)"}, {"Source": "pacific palolo worm's reproductive cycle", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "reproduce via lunar cycle detection", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/lunar-cycle-triggers-reproduction/", "Strategy": "Lunar Cycle Triggers Reproduction\n\nThe reproductive cycle of the Pacific palolo worm is synchronized via lunar cycle detection.\n\n“The Pacific palolo worm (Eunice viridis) and its West Indian relative (E. fucata) exhibit one of the most incredible examples of reproductive behavior on record, which is intimately linked to the lunar cycle. These two annelid species are polychaete worms, and normally remain secure within tubes excavated by them in coral or under rocks, with their heads at the open end of their tubes – until the breeding season, that is.\n\n“When this period approaches, the rear half of each worm transforms dramatically, developing fast-growing reproductive organs. The worm itself reverses its position within its tube, so that it is now pointing head-down, with its highly modified posterior half-projecting out of the tube. Once the reproductive organs are fully developed, the posterior body half breaks off from the rest of the worm (which remains inside its tube but realigns itself so that its head is at the tube’s open end again), and swims up toward the sea’s surface – almost as if it were a separate animal in its own right. Indeed, it has even developed a pair of eyes to assist it in locating the surface.\n\n“As it swims, the worm’s posterior body half undergoes a further transformation, its internal structures and segmentation breaking down, so that when it reaches the surface it is nothing more than a writhing bag of either sperm or eggs (the sexes are separate in these species). At the surface, the bag bursts, releasing its contents – and, bearing in mind that millions of palolo worms have all undergone this radical metamorphosis at precisely the same time, the sea is soon awash with a mass of sperm and eggs, yielding a vast bout of communal, random fertilization. What makes these worms’ reproductive behavior even more extraordinary is the exact nature of this event’s timing. It occurs twice a year on the neap tides of the last quarter moon in October and November for the Pacific species, and the third quarter moon in June and July for the West Indian species of palolo worm.” "}, {"Source": "microcolonial fungi", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protect from uv light", "Function2": "protect from desiccation", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/circular-tapering-beams-stabilize/", "Strategy": "Mycosporines Protect From UV Light, Desiccation\n\nCantilever-like structures such as long necks and antennae of many organisms stabilize via circular, tapering structure.\n\n“UV absorption of both mycosporines at 310 nm hints at their biological role as UV filters. However, it is believed that, in addition to UVR protection, mycosporines may also play an important role as antioxidants and osmoprotectants. The presence of at least two different mycosporines enhances the survival capabilities of MCF [microcolonial fungi] undergoing UVR and desiccation stress. However, it is also possible that mycosporine-glutaminol-glucoside and mycosporine-glutamicol-glucoside are internally converted within the fungal cell and thus have a biochemical precursor–product relationship.” "}, {"Source": "jumbo squid's beak", "Application": "composites", "Function1": "provide strength", "Function2": "provide flexibility", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/composites-provide-strength/", "Strategy": "Composites Provide Strength\n\nThe beaks of jumbo squid are flexible near the body and stiff near the tip, as defined by varying degrees of water content in a composite of chitin nanofibrils infused with cross-linked proteins.\n\nSquid, like other cephalopods, have a hard, sharp beak for catching and devouring prey. While most other animals that have to bite and tear their food achieve the required level of hardness and strength through the incorporation of minerals, metal ions, or halogen atoms (fluorine, chlorine, bromine, or iodine) in their structure, the squid’s beak lacks any of these features. Instead, it’s a composite of reinforcing chitin nanofibrils infused with proteins containing catechol functional groups that form many strong cross linkages that act like cement. Given that squids live underwater, the process starts out in an aqueous environment. However, during the cross linking/hardening process, water is continuously expelled. The degree of water remaining in different areas of the composite material is thought to contribute to the gradient of flexibility along the length of the beak – flexible where it is attached to the body and increasingly stiff towards the far end. In other words, water content imparts flexibility, so a high water content is found at the flexible base of the beak where it attaches to the body. The water content gradually decreases further from the body – the tip of the beak is strong, stiff, and dehydrated. Layering keeps cracks from propagating."}, {"Source": "bird's uropygial gland", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protect from water penetration", "Function2": "prevent bacteria and fungi infiltration", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/preening-waterproofs-feathers/", "Strategy": "Preening Waterproofs Feathers\n\nThe uropygial gland of birds protects them from water penetration, fungi, and bacteria by producing preen waxes.\n\n“In addition to the stratum corneum barrier, glandular lipids are deposited exteriorly to the epidermis in both mammals and birds (Hadley, 1991)…In birds, ‘preen waxes’ from the uropygial gland are spread over feathers to prevent water penetration and ingress of bacteria and fungi. Uropygial secretions contain a complex mixture of lipids in which wax esters usually predominate…In birds and mammals, plumage and pelage appear to impede significantly the passage of water vapor from skin to atmosphere, although the skin remains the principal barrier to TEWL [transepidermal water loss] (Cena and Clark, 1979; Webster et al., 1985). In pigeons, for example, plumage contributes 5–20% of total resistance to water loss through the integument, and the plumage and boundary layer together account for 6–26% of total resistance to water vapor diffusion (Webster et al., 1985). Therefore, adjustments of plumage or pelage and seasonal shedding patterns are potential means of adjusting rates of TEWL.”"}, {"Source": "ant nest", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "block opening", "Function2": "prevent water intrusion", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/nest-openings-protect-from-floods/", "Strategy": "Nest Openings Protect From Floods\n\nEntrances to ant nests protect them from flooding during high tide by collapsing to block the opening.\n\n“In Australia, Polyrhachis sokolova is found only on the lower shore, in the Ceriops and Rhizophora zones. Uniquely, it nests actually in the mangrove mud. Because of the position of the nests, they are inundated in up to 61 per cent of high tides, for periods of up to 3 1/2 hours. Individual P. sokolova forage at low tide, returning to the nest before the entrances are covered by the tide…The structure of the nests has been studied by making casts with polyurethane foam. They may be up to 45 cm deep in the mud, and have two entrance holes. When the advancing tide reaches the nest, loose soil collapses into the entrances, blocking them and preventing water from penetrating the passages beneath. In this way ants–provided they get back to the nest in time–survive high tide in air trapped in the galleries.” \n\n“The nest sites of the mud-nesting ant Polyrhachis sokolova were studied in Darwin Harbour mangroves. They were found from the Ceriops tagal zone to the Rhizophora stylosa zone at elevations ranging from 7.22 to 5.99 meters above the lowest astronomical tide (LAT), which means that the nests were inundated in 13-61% of all high tides and for durations of up to 3.5 hours. The nest structure was studied by excavating nests and making a cast of the galleries using polyurethane foam. The nests were quite extensive, normally with two elevated nest entrances and galleries down to depths of 45 cm. The loose soil particles at the nest entrances collapsed when the tide reached them and formed a stopper which prevented water from intruding into the nest. In this way, the galleries remained dry during high tide. The ants showed a clear swimming or “walking on the surface” behaviour when they returned to the nest just before the entrance collapsed and during ebb. The tolerance of the ants to submergence was tested in the laboratory, with 50% mortality after 11 hours submergence in seawater at 23o C, and only 3.5 hours in water at 33o C. Therefore, the nesting behaviour with trapped air in the galleries is necessary for survival in these environments.” "}, {"Source": "beaked sedge and other peatland plants' rootlike stems", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "aid survival in fluctuating water levels", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/floating-mats-adjust-to-water-levels/", "Strategy": "Floating Mats Adjust to Water Levels\n\nFloating mats of beaked sedge and other peatland plants aid survival in fluctuating water levels because they are held together and kept afloat by rootlike stems (rhizomes) of the plants.\n\n“Another way to cope with water table fluctuations is simply to follow the water surface. Floating mats are common features where fens border lakes. Such Schwingmoor or quaking mires often consist of a Sphagnum or brown moss cover, but are actually held together and kept afloat by the rhizomes of Carex rostrata, C. lasiocarpa, C. elata, Menyanthes trifoliata, and other species. Sometimes parts of the mat break loose, forming floating rafts. These may be transported by flooding or currents, and most plants are capable of establishing a root system once the raft has stranded.” "}, {"Source": "lady's mantle leaf", "Application": "water-repellent surfaces", "Function1": "hydrophobic surface", "Function2": "dense hairs", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/leaf-surfaces-are-hydrophobic/", "Strategy": "Leaf Surfaces Are Hydrophobic\n\nThe leaves of the Lady's mantle plant have a hydrophobic surface due to dense hairs.\n\n“Ulrike Mock and others from the University of Freiburg report on efforts to mimic the wetting behaviour of surfaces or leaves of certain plants, especially the lady’s mantle (Alchemilla vulgaris L.) [Alchemilla monticola], which are rendered ultrahydrophobic through a dense layer of hairs grown on top of the leaf.” (Courtesy of the Biomimicry Guild)\n“Recent studies showed that the most crucial criterion [for achieving the ‘Lotus Effect’] mainly relies on roughening the surface into multiple length scales of roughness so that liquid droplets can be retained in the Cassie-Baxter state, where air pockets are trapped underneath the liquid, reducing the solid-liquid interface. These hierarchically structured surfaces have been fabricated through various routes and demonstrated to have superhydrophobic properties as well. This amazing water-repellent property is also found in other biological systems comprising a plurality of flexible hairs, and some of them have been recognized for over 100 years. Fuzzy leaves, such as the Lady’s Mantle, cause water droplets to form perfect spheres and allow them to roll off easily as a result of being lifted and suspended by coming into contact with the hairs. In the animal kingdom, this piliferous exterior plays a more crucial role for numerous living creatures not only to effectively protect their bodies from getting wet but also to provide various functions for their living activity. These hairs protrude several micrometers from their cuticles, typically inclined at certain angles, with diameters in the micrometer to submicrometer range. These structures can resist the impact of raindrops, allow locomotion on the surface of water, or even trap a layer of air for respiration when submerged. Some arthropods have been shown to have contact angles above 150o, which allows them to walk on water.” "}, {"Source": "western boxelder bug's gland", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "release monoterpenes", "Function2": "inhibit germination of fungal pathogens", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/chemical-protects-from-pathogens/", "Strategy": "Chemical Protects From Pathogens\n\nGlands of the western boxelder bug protect from pathogens due to release of monoterpenes when exposed to sun.\n\n“When western boxelder bugs, Boisea rubrolineata (Barber) (Hemiptera: Rhopalidae), form aggregations in warm sunlight, they release from their posterior dorsal abdominal gland an odorous blend of monoterpenes with heretofore unknown biological function. In laboratory analyses and experiments, we show that bugs in warm sunlight, but not in shade, exude and spread copious amounts of monoterpenes onto their cuticle. These monoterpenes do not serve as a pheromone, but rather as a means of sanitation. They inhibit germination of conidia of the fungal pathogen Beauveria bassiana (Bals.-Criv.) Vuill. (Hypocreales) as well as halt the growth of germinated spores. This prophylactic defense against pathogens appears adaptive for phytophagous insects, like B. rubrolineata, that are prone to infections by microbes thriving on leaf surfaces and in the insects’ overwintering microhabitat.” "}, {"Source": "epaulette shark's heart", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "reduce respiration rate", "Function2": "lower metabolic rate", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/respiration-rate-allows-survival-in-low-oxygen/", "Strategy": "Respiration Rate Allows Survival in Low Oxygen\n\nHeart, arteries, lungs, and cells of epaulette shark allow survival in low oxygen by reducing respiration rate.\n\n“The epaulette shark (Hemiscyllium ocellatum) is a tropical marine vertebrate. It lives on shallow reef platforms that repeatedly become cut off from the ocean during periods of low tides. During nocturnal low tides, the water [O2] can fall by 80% due to respiration of the coral and associated organisms. Since the tides become lower and lower over a period of a few days, the hypoxic exposure during subsequent low tides will become progressively longer and more severe. Thus, this shark is under a natural hypoxic preconditioning regimen. Interestingly, hypoxic preconditioning lowers its metabolic rate and its critical PO·. Moreover, repeated anoxia appears to stimulate metabolic depression in an adenosine-dependent way.” "}, {"Source": "marine threespine stickleback's armor", "Application": "protective armor", "Function1": "withstand impacts", "Function2": "protect from harm", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/armor-protects-against-predators/", "Strategy": "Shapes and Materials of Armor\nProtect Against Penetration\n\nSticklebacks use movable spines and fixed plates to provide stability and flexibility in withstanding impacts.\n\nIntroduction\n\nIt’s not easy being a small fish in a big ocean filled with hungry predators. But the marine threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) has found a way to survive the onslaught of neighbors looking for a seafood dinner.\n\nThis 4-inch-long (10-cm) fish is found along coastlines throughout much of the northern hemisphere. It has not only spines but also dozens of overlapping plates of armor along its sides and a strong pelvic girdle to protect itself from harm. Together these structures use not one, but six different features to thwart attackers seeking the juicy meal inside.\n\nTogether these structures use not one, but six different features to thwart attackers seeking the juicy meal inside.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nFirst, rather than relying on a single type of protection, the armor uses both movable spines and fixed plates to provide both stability and flexibility to adapt to circumstances.\n\nEach plate also varies in thickness from one end to the other. That means that even though the plates overlap, they produce uniformly thick protection rather than leaving thinner, more vulnerable spots in the sections where just one plate is present\n\nThe plates have bumps and indentations that fit together where they overlap. This maintains the overall integrity of the armor while also allowing the plates to shift positions relative to each other as the fish moves.\n\nThe bottom-facing plates on the pelvic girdle interlink, creating a structure that’s flexible for easy movement when the fish is not threatened but can lock into a more rigid, protective position during an attack.\n\nThe individual lateral plates are layered, with a lightweight porous middle layer sandwiched between two denser surfaces. This helps make them stiff, strong, and lightweight all at the same time.\n\nFinally, the lateral plates have a bumpy outside surface. This not only may make the armor tougher to penetrate than a smooth surface would (perhaps by increasing surface area and causing the force of a predator’s bite to be distributed through the tissue), but also likely reduces drag and shear stress, allowing the fish to swim with minimal energy cost.\n\nInterestingly, in places where sticklebacks have spread inland to inhabit freshwater, the number of plates and density of minerals within them tend to decline. The adaptive value of this is not completely clear, but scientists speculate it may have to do with differences in predation, mineral availability, or other variables between the two types of environments.\n\nThe Potential\n\nEach of the six principles offers valuable insights for designing materials and products that resist abrasion, puncture, and other onslaughts. For instance, the texture of the surface of the plates can inform the construction of aircraft, watercraft, and motor vehicles, which need to be both durable and streamlined. Similarly, the sandwich-like configuration can inform the design of underground pipelines, which need to resist penetration by rocks but also be lightweight for transportation and installation. And the durability and flexibility offered by the interlocking plates might inspire new designs for helmets and other protective gear for sports.\n\nPerhaps the most important lessons of all have to do with the value of not putting all of one’s defensive eggs in one basket, and with adapting to circumstances. By combining a variety of strategies and adapting to different environments, the marine threespine stickleback can ward off a range of onslaughts from different predators at the least cost to itself—a valuable lesson in general for coping with an often unpredictable world."}, {"Source": "staghorn coral", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protect against compression loading", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/structure-protects-against-compression-loading/", "Strategy": "Structure Protects Against Compression Loading\n\nThe structure of staghorn coral is just one example of a natural branched system that protects against compression loading using scaled struts joined in a common lattice.\n\n“In nature we notice trees, branching corals, and other fairly stiff items. In these systems, all of the struts join in a common lattice, and no motion is permissible at joints–they’re simple, statically determined systems. If our systems branch, they’re usually equipped with lots of triangular elements, although some crude cases (frame houses) use an array of mechanisms braced against any possible deformations by a structural skin of plywood or something similar. In nature, more often than not, the branches of a system diverge without rejoining, although struts are sometimes joined into trusses–the arms of some sand dollar larvae and some bones in the wings of large birds have already been mentioned.” "}, {"Source": "bamboo fiber", "Application": "structural materials", "Function1": "provide toughness", "Function2": "good carrying capacity", "Function3": "good toughness", "Function4": "optimal behaviors under tensile, bending, compressing stress", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/fiber-gives-toughness/", "Strategy": "Fiber Gives Toughness\n\nFibers of bamboo and trees provide toughness by their simple structure of fiber-reinforced composites\n\n“[I]t has been found that these natural biomaterials [bamboos and trees] have very reasonable structures which gives them many excellent properties, such as good carrying capacity, good toughness, self-healing, and so on. Furthermore, these biomaterials have very fine and special structures rather than complicated compositions…For example, trees and bamboos are typical long, fiber-reinforced composites. Their fibers have different sizes and arranged modes in structure so that they can display the optimal behaviors under tensile, bending, compressing stress and other applied load…So, the complicated and reasonable structure of natural biomaterials can give us an important insight into making better structure materials through biomimetic design.” "}, {"Source": "kenyan sand boa's integument", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "minimize abrasive damage", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/scales-minimize-abrasive-damage/", "Strategy": "Scales Minimize Abrasive Damage\n\nScales of integument of the Kenyan sand boa minimize abrasive damage by having a gradient in the material properties.\n\n“The aim of this study was to compare material properties of the outer and inner scale layers of the exuvium [discarded skin after shedding] of Gongylophis colubrinus, to relate the structure of the snake integument to its mechanical properties. The nanoindentation experiments have demonstrated that the outer scale layers are harder, and have a higher effective elastic modulus than the inner scale layers. The results obtained provide strong evidence about the presence of a gradient in the material properties of the snake integument. The possible functional significance of this gradient is discussed here as a feature minimizing damage to the integument during sliding locomotion on an abrasive surface, such as sand.” "}, {"Source": "arthropod cuticle", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protection", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/cuticle-provides-protection/", "Strategy": "Cuticle Provides Protection\n\nThe cuticle of arthropods provides rigid protection via its composite structure.\n\n“What we’re calling rigid materials includes a lot of familiar biological items. There’s arthropod cuticle, a composite of chitin fibers in some proteinaceous material, with the addition of calcium carbonate salt in the larger crustaceans. In many instances, the fibers are arranged in sheets, each with a specific orientation, rather like plywood.” "}, {"Source": "rat-tailed maggot's breathing tube", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "prevent entry of water", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/hairs-prevent-entry-of-water/", "Strategy": "Hairs Prevent Entry of Water\n\nThe breathing tubes of rat-tailed maggots block water from entering via hydrophobic hairs.\n\n“Some diptera (Syrphidae or red-tailed maggots [rat-tailed maggots]) and Ephydridae (shore flies) have a pair of posterior, telescopic breathing tubes that open in spiracles with hydrophobic hairs that prevent water from entering.” "}, {"Source": "gaur's skin", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "repel mosquitoes", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/secretion-repels-mosquitoes/", "Strategy": "Secretion Repels Mosquitoes\n\nThe skin of the gaur deters landing and feeding by mosquitoes by secreting an oily substance, a novel 18-carbon acid.\n\n“Gaur acid (…) was recently isolated from the oily secretion of the gaur (B. frontalis), a wild ox in Asia, by Oliver et al.[9, 10] This 18-carbon acid is thought to serve as a landing and feeding deterrent for the yellow-fever mosquito (Aedes aegypti).”"}, {"Source": "octopus's ink cloud", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "emitting ink cloud", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/ink-cloud-distracts-predators/", "Strategy": "Ink Cloud Distracts Predators\n\nThe ink cloud emitted by an octopus when threatened aids escape because it resembles the shape of the octopus.\n\n“When their speed alone is not enough for safety, [cuttlefish] squirt a cloud of dense, dark coloured ink that is synthesised in their bodies. This ink surprises their predators for a few seconds, which is usually\nenough for them to escape.” \n\n“Sometimes the ink cloud itself resembles the blobby shape of an octopus and acts as a decoy, allowing the octopus to escape while the predator eyes the blob.” "}, {"Source": "skipjack tuna's counter-current heat exchange system", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "stay warmer", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/bodies-stay-warm-in-cold-water/", "Strategy": "Bodies Stay Warm in Cold Water\n\nBodies of skipjack tuna stay warmer because of counter-current heat exchange system.\n\n“Tunas are extraordinary fishes. This paper concerns one of the features that makes them extraordinary: the counter-current heat exchanger. The evolution of this device permits tuna to achieve body temperatures much greater than ambient water temperature. For example, the muscle temperature of large bluefin tuna can be as much  as 20 °C above ambient water temperature  and the muscle temperature of small skipjack tuna (2 kg) can be as much as 9 °C above ambient. The body temperature of other fishes is at most 2 °C above ambient because metabolic heat is efficiently transferred from the venous blood to surrounding water at the gills. To maintain a large temperature excess, tuna have had to make a tremendous anatomical investment and construct a thermal barrier between venous blood and the gills. The present paper describes this thermal barrier, the counter-current heat exchanger of skipjack tuna.” "}, {"Source": "kidney bean leaf", "Application": "temporarily insect snare permanently", "Function1": "snare insect pests", "Function2": "capture mechanism", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/hooked-hairs-on-leaves-snare-insect-pests/", "Strategy": "Hooked Hairs on Leaves Snare Insect Pests\n\nMicroscopic hooked hairs (trichomes) on kidney bean leaves can make a temporarily insect snare permanently irreversible by impaling the trichomes into the insects legs.\n\n“Resurgence in bed bug infestations and widespread pesticide resistance have greatly renewed interest in the development of more sustainable, environmentally friendly methods to manage bed bugs. Historically, in Eastern Europe, bed bugs were entrapped by leaves from bean plants, which were then destroyed; this purely physical entrapment was related to microscopic hooked hairs (trichomes) on the leaf surfaces. (…) we documented the capture mechanism: the physical impaling of bed bug feet (tarsi) by these trichomes. This is distinct from a Velcro-like mechanism of non-piercing entanglement, which only momentarily holds the bug without sustained capture. Struggling, trapped bed bugs are impaled by trichomes on several legs and are unable to free themselves. (…) Using bean leaves as templates, we microfabricated surfaces indistinguishable in geometry from the real leaves (…). These synthetic surfaces snag the bed bugs temporarily but do not hinder their locomotion as effectively as real leaves.” The team is working on improving bug-snaring capabilities for more permament capture."}, {"Source": "locust's jumping legs", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "withstand high bending force", "Function2": "trap crack", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/jumping-legs-resist-failure/", "Strategy": "Jumping Legs Resist Failure\n\nThe jumping legs of the locust avoid failure due to high and frequent loading through viscoelasticity and plasticity of the chitin protein matrix.\n\n“Insect cuticle is one of the most common biological materials, yet very little is known about its mechanical properties. Many parts of the insect exoskeleton, such as the jumping legs of locusts, have to withstand high and repeated loading without failure.* This paper presents the first measurements of fracture toughness for insect cuticle using a standard engineering approach. Our results show that the fracture toughness of cuticle in locust hind legs is 4.12 MPa m1/2 and decreases with desiccation of the cuticle. Stiffness and strength of the tibia cuticle were measured using buckling and cantilever bending and increased with desiccation. A combination of the cuticle’s high toughness with a relatively low stiffness of 3.05 GPa results in a work of fracture of 5.56 kJ m–2, which is amongst the highest of any biological material, giving the insect leg an exceptional ability to tolerate defects such as cracks and damage. Interestingly, insect cuticle achieves these unique properties without using reinforcement by a mineral phase, which is often found in other biological composite materials.” \n\n* When jumping, the two tube-like metathoracic tibiae not only have to withstand repeated high bending forces of up to 20 times the locust’s body mass, they also temporarily store and release up to 10% of the jumping energy.\n\n“The mechanical properties of cuticle, like those of most biological composite materials, are determined by the volume fraction and the mechanical properties of its components. In particular, the viscoelasticity and plasticity of the protein matrix play an important role, allowing the material to dissipate energy, trap cracks and redistribute stress .”\n\n“We analysed natural jumping when a hindleg slips, and kicking when a target is missed, and show that buckling can occur during both movements. Buckling did not occur when the tibia was flexed in preparation for a jump, unless flexion was impeded. We show that buckling is capable of dissipating energy, and thereby reduces the energy that would have to be absorbed by structures such as the joints. We also show that this buckling region contains a band of resilin that may help in energy storage and enable the original shape of the tibia to be restored after buckling. Finally, of the sense organs close to this region, we show that a group of campaniform sensilla responds to buckling movements.” "}, {"Source": "female fireflies of the genus photuris", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "release noxious blood", "Function2": "contain distasteful substance", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/reflex-bleeding-deters-predators-3/", "Strategy": "Reflex Bleeding Deters Predators\n\nSome female fireflies defend themselves by releasing noxious, steroid-containing blood from their thoraxes.\n\n“When defending themselves, female fireflies of the genus Photuris release droplets of blood from their thorax that contain distasteful substances known as lucibufagins (LBG).\n“Intriguingly, in 1998, Cornell University biologist Dr. Thomas Eisner revealed that these fireflies do not produce the chemicals themselves but obtain them from the bodies of their prey, males of a related genus, Photinus. These are lured to their doom when the female Photuris fireflies cunningly mimic the bioluminescent signals of the Photinus females.” "}, {"Source": "male honeybee's mating apparatus", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "detaches", "Function2": "plug the queen", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/exploding-plug-prevents-mating/", "Strategy": "Exploding Plug Prevents Mating\n\nThe mating apparatus of male honeybees prevents other males from mating with the queen after them by acting as an exploding, detachable plug.\n\n“The mating apparatus of the male honeybee actually explodes and detaches, plugging the newly mated queen and preventing other males from mating with )"}, {"Source": "nettle's stinging hair", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "ward off predators", "Function2": "cause pain", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/irritating-sting-wards-off-predators/", "Strategy": "Irritating Sting Wards Off Predators\n\nNettles ward off predators via stinging hairs.\n\n“Other plants defend themselves even more aggressively. They sting. The nettle’s sting is a modified hair. Its tip is a minute glassy needle which if given even the slightest touch, breaks off. The broken edges are so sharp that they can cut skin. At the same time a poison held in a small chamber at the bottom of the hair squirts into the wound. The poison [formic acid] causes us considerable pain.” "}, {"Source": "sea palm", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "adopt various postures", "Function2": "withstand waves", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/variable-postures-aid-intertidal-zone-survival/", "Strategy": "Variable Postures Aid Intertidal Zone Survival\n\nSea palms survive changing intertidal conditions by adopting various postures, thanks to a unique set of mechanical properties.\n\n“Postelsia palmaeformis–the scientific name makes the same allusion as the common name, ‘sea palm’–lives in the lower intertidal zones of rocky, wave-swept shore on the west coast of North America. The plant, shown in figure 21.4, never reaches a meter in height, so it’s not exactly a big tree. But, like trees, it has three parts, an attachment (holdfast), a column (stipe), and photosynthetic laminae (fronds). It stands against gravity, getting higher in dense stands, and it bends in response to lateral force, for it, waves. Unlike any tree, though, it responds to lateral force by bending until almost prostrate and then springing back upright. Concomitant with that untreelike behavior are a set of most untreelike material properties, set out in a lovely paper by Holbrook, Denny, and Koehl (1991). Table 21.1 lists these, along with typical values for wood.\n\n“Postelsia‘s ‘trunk’ certainly looks wimpy next to wood. It gives rather than standing tall in the face of fierce force, getting from a high second moment of area just enough flexural stiffness to stand erect at all. Only in work of extension does it play in the same league as wood, although it gets its high value by quite a different tactic–high stretchiness instead of high strength. Regaining its erect posture depends on reinvesting that work of extension, which requires a high resilience, which it has. But, as Holbrook, Denny, and Koehl emphasized, the energy storage underlying that resilience undermines its toughness. Postelsia is notably brittle and sensitive to scratches–its stipe may be soft, but cracks propagate all too readily. Before dismissing this alga as just a lowly tree wannabe, bear in mind that it has extraordinarily high photosynthetic productivity and that it invests far more, proportionately, in photosynthetic organs than any ordinary tree. Its fronds represent no less than 38 percent of its energy content or 35 percent of its weight (Lawrence and McClintock 1988)–compare this with the trivial weight and burning yield of the annual leaf-fall of a tree that yields a cord or so (perhaps 2 metric tons) of dry firewood.” (Vogel 2003:434-435)\n\n“Sea-palms Postelsia palmaeformis Ruprecht are annual brown algae that grow on wave-swept rocky shores, often forming dense stands. Unlike most macroalgae, Postelsia stands upright in air–like trees. The stipe flexibility that permits Postelsia to withstand waves is provided by the low elastic modulus\n(5-10 MPa) of stipe tissue; in spite of the weakness (low breaking stress, ~ 1 MPa) of this tissue, a large amount of energy ( ~ 100 kJ/m 3) is required to break a stipe because they can be extended by 20-25 % before breaking. Although made of such easily deformed tissue, Postelsia can stand upright in air due to the width (high second moment of area) and resilience of their stipes, but the brittleness (low work of fracture, 400-900 J/m 2) that accompanies this resilience renders them susceptible to breakage if they sustain deep scratches. Although wave-induced stresses experienced by individuals in aggregations are not lower than those experienced by isolated sea-palms, photon flux densities of photosynthetically active radiation within these dense groves are less than 10% of those above Postelsia canopies. A number of morphological features differ between canopy, understory, and isolated individuals. Canopy plants in dense aggregations are taller than isolated individuals and may exceed limiting proportions for elastic stability. Postelsia shows photosynthetic characteristics of “shade-adapted” plants, understory individuals being especially effective at using low light. Despite this, blade growth rates of understory plants are lower than those of either canopy or isolated individuals.” "}, {"Source": "methanopyrus microbe's membrane", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "avoid melting", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/membranes-avoid-melting/", "Strategy": "Membranes Avoid Melting\n\nMembranes of Methanopyrus microbes avoid melting in high heat because they are made up of waxy chemicals instead of ordinary fats.\n\n“But hyperthermophiles still have waxy membranes, consist of proteins, and their genes are made of DNA; how do they manage to thrive in such heat? Well, as far as their membranes are concerned, there are no ordinary fats that do not melt at 90 to 110° [note: temperatures are in C], and these organisms prove to have instead special waxy chemicals which are not true fats: they have higher melting points. (Digression for those who know organic chemistry: their fat materials (lipids) are not esters but ethers.) Their proteins, too, prove to be naturally more heat-resistant than most, and there is evidence that some are permanently stabilised by chaperonins, others by newly-discovered substances that are not proteins, such as a compound of glycerol and phosphate which is plentiful in the record-breaking Methanopyrus. The problem of how such organisms manage their DNA is still unsolved, because their DNA is much like that of other living things: when extracted it unravels in the 65 to 75° range.” "}, {"Source": "leafcutter ant's fungal garden", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "inhibit the growth of unwanted fungi and bacteria", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/fungal-gardens-kept-free-of-weeds/", "Strategy": "Fungal Gardens Kept Free of ‘weeds’\n\nThe fungus gardens grown by leaf-cutter ants are kept free of unwanted fungi and bacteria using multiple antimicrobial compounds concurrently.\n\n“Scientists at the University of East Anglia, have shown that\nfungus-farming ants are using multiple antibiotics as weed killers to maintain their fungus gardens…ants use the antibiotics to inhibit the growth of unwanted fungi and bacteria in their fungus cultures which they use to feed their larvae and queen\n\n“These antibiotics are produced by actinomycete bacteria that live on the ants in a mutual symbiosis.\n\n“Although these ants have been studied for more than 100 years this is the first demonstration that a single ant colony uses multiple antibiotics and is reminiscent of the use of multidrug therapy to treat infections in humans.\n\n\n“…Dr Hutchings’ research investigates the Acromyrmex octospinosus leaf\ncutter ant, endemic in South and Central America and the southern US.” "}, {"Source": "human muscle", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "adapt in response to changes", "Function2": "self-repair and remodeling", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/muscles-self-repair/", "Strategy": "Muscles Self‑repair\n\nMuscles of humans go through self-repair and remodeling due to a modular system that incorporates nutrient and waste transport.\n\n“The ability to adapt in response to changes in functional demands sets living tissues apart from their engineered counterparts. Muscles grow during development, they remodel in response to use and disuse, and they are able to repair themselves after an injury…The modular design of muscle also facilitates the remodeling and repair of the muscle. The selfhealing properties of muscle emerge from the integration of muscles into a system that allows wound healing and continuous turnover via transport of nutrients and removal of waste products. It is arguably much simpler to grow and repair individual units than having to adapt the entire structure.” "}, {"Source": "mammals' mast cell", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "reduce long-term inflammation", "Function2": "limit the pathology, infiltrates of leukocytes, epidermal hyperplasia and epidermal necrosis", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/mast-cells-reduce-inflammation/", "Strategy": "Mast Cells Reduce Inflammation\n\nMast cells of mammals reduce long-term inflammation by secreting a protein known as interleukin-10.\n\n“Allergic contact dermatitis, such as in response to poison ivy or poison oak, and chronic low-dose ultraviolet B irradiation can damage the skin. Mast cells produce proinflammatory mediators that are thought to exacerbate these prevalent acquired immune or innate responses. Here we found that, unexpectedly, mast cells substantially limited the pathology associated with these responses, including infiltrates of leukocytes, epidermal hyperplasia and epidermal necrosis. Production of interleukin 10 by mast cells contributed to the anti-inflammatory or immunosuppressive effects of mast cells in these conditions. Our findings identify a previously unrecognized function for mast cells and mast cell–derived interleukin 10 in limiting leukocyte infiltration, inflammation and tissue damage associated with immunological or innate responses that can injure the skin.” "}, {"Source": "daffodil's flower", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "twist in the wind", "Function2": "decrease drag", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/flexibility-reduces-drag/", "Strategy": "Flexibility Reduces Drag\n\nThe flowers of daffodils twist in the wind, reducing drag because of their torsional flexibility due to stem noncircularity.\n\n“And daffodil flowers, borne off to one side of their stems, swing around similarly, reducing their drag by about 30 percent in the process (Etnier and Vogel 2000). Twisting in the wind isn’t just a slogan left over from the Nixon presidency. Daffodils appear to ‘dance’ in the wind, as noted by the poet William Wordsworth, because down near ground level, winds are especially puffy.” \n“Daffodil flowers extend laterally from the long axes of their stems; as\na result, wind on a flower exerts torsional as well as flexural stress\non the stem. Stems respond by twisting, and thus flowers reorient to\nface downwind in moderate winds, in the process reducing their drag by\n∼30%. This repositioning is facilitated by the stems’ relatively low\ntorsional stiffness. Daffodil stems have a ratio of flexural to\ntorsional stiffness of 13.27 ± 0.96 (SD), compared with 8.33 ± 3.20\n(SD) for tulip stems, which bear flowers as symmetrical extensions of\ntheir long axes, and compared with 1.5 for isotropic, incompressible,\ncircular cylinders.” "}, {"Source": "woody plant's cell and cellulose microfiber", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "provide tensile strength", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/cells-provide-strength/", "Strategy": "Cells Provide Strength\n\nCells and cellulose microfibers of woody plants provide tensile strength due to their position of long axes parallel to the direction of the tensile force.\n\n“Because plant structures are formed by the assembly of cellular units, tensile materials made from cellulose do not contain the long, continuous fibers characteristic of such tensile materials as tendon. Rather, tensile plant materials consist of linear aggregates of cellular units which form fibrous structures. The cells found in these fibrous structures are normally elongated with their long axes parallel to the direction of the tensile force, and the cellulose microfibrils within the walls of these fibre cells have a high degree of preferred orientation parallel or nearly parallel to the long axis of the cell.”"}, {"Source": "black pitohui bird's skin and feathers", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "repel predators", "Function2": "deter ectoparasites", "Function3": "higher mortality of lice", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/skin-and-feathers-deter-ectoparasites/", "Strategy": "Skin and Feathers Deter Ectoparasites\n\nThe feathers and skin of black pitohui birds may repel predators and ectoparasites thanks to a steroidal alkaloid chemical obtained in their diet.\n\n“From their diet of berries and insects, they store in their skin and feathers a steroidal alkaloid, homobatrachotoxin (found elsewhere only in poison-dart frogs). Bent Poulson is convinced that the storage of toxins in the skin and feathers is useful for deterring ectoparasites as well as predators. In laboratory tests, lice show far higher mortality on pitohui feathers than on nontoxic feathers; not surprisingly, they avoid feeding or even resting on them.” "}, {"Source": "bracken's leaves", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "deter most insects", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/cyanide-protects-from-herbivores/", "Strategy": "Cyanide Protects From Herbivores\n\nBracken protects its leaves from being eaten by filling them with cyanide.\n\n“Bracken, that most widespread of ferns in Britain, fills its young tender leaves with cyanide. That deters most insects…By the time the leaves are mature and so tough that they seem likely to be of interest only to larger grazers such as rabbits and deer, they have manufactured a cocktail of toxins so powerful that they can cause blindness and cancer in mammals.”"}, {"Source": "plant cell", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "rapid cell death", "Function2": "block pathogen movement", "Function3": "strengthen cell walls", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/cells-recognize-and-respond-to-pathogens/", "Strategy": "Cells Recognize and Respond to Pathogens\n\nCells of plants detect pathogens and promote rapid cell death around the infection, keeping the plant alive, using Hypersensitive Response (HR).\n\n“When a plant is attacked and there is a gene-for-gene recognition, the HR [Hypersensitive Response] response leads to very rapid cell death around the site of attack. This seals off the wounded tissue to prevent the pathogen or pest from moving into the rest of the plant. Hydrogen peroxide and nitric oxide are produced and may signal a cascade of biochemical events resulting in the localized death of host cells.” (Raven et al. 2002:834)\n\n“In the case of virulent invaders (no R gene recognition), there are changes in local cell walls that at least partially block the movement of the pathogen or pest farther into the plant. In this case there is not an HR response and the local plant cells are not suicidal.”\n“Certain proline-rich proteins of the cell wall become oxidatively cross-lined after pathogen attack in an H2O2 – mediated reaction. This process strengthens the walls of the cells in the vicinity of the infection site, increasing their resistance to microbial digestion.” \n“The hypersensitive response behaves in the following manner: before the HR is triggered, reactive oxygen and nitric oxide (NO) rapidly accumulates in the cells. The accumulated oxygen then reduces, forming hydroxide ion (OH–) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). These compounds contribute to death of the infected host cells. The NO is the activator of HR and triggers the reduction of oxygen. Accumulation of both oxygen and NO are needed to trigger the HR, an increase in one of these will not trigger a response by the plant cells.  In addition, HR only responds to biotic and pathogenic invasions, virulent attacks gain no response from the plant cell.”"}, {"Source": "snake", "Application": "ground-source heat pump", "Function1": "generate little body warmth", "Function2": "depend on external heat", "Function3": "survive wintertime", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/underground-dens-protect-from-cold/", "Strategy": "Snakes Tap Earth’s Heat to Keep Warm\n\nEctotherms keep their temperatures from dropping too low in the cold by heading underground.\n\nIntroduction\n\nThe Earth doesn’t rotate perfectly upright with respect to the Sun. Instead, thanks to a large impact early in Earth’s history (which probably resulted in the formation of our Moon), the Earth’s axis of rotation is tilted 23.5° with respect to the Sun. The result? For months on end, half of the Earth is tilted away from our local star, and winter besets that portion of the world.\n\nBut despite the bitter cold, life goes on, and  even species which couldn’t survive extended exposure to cold or freezing temperatures find ways to make such regions home. These residents include, perhaps most surprisingly, many species of ectotherms––organisms which generate little body warmth on their own and depend nearly entirely on external sources of heat to provide the energy for their bodies to function.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nMany ectotherms living in cold regions (including lizards, turtles, snakes, frogs, and salamanders) survive the wintertime by finding shelter underground. Not only are underground dens protected from the worst of winds , but in just a few feet, the Earth quickly provides a stable, relatively warm microclimate that can be dozens of degrees warmer than the air temperature at the surface. During one winter in Wisconsin, it was -2֯ F (-18֯ C) at the surface; two inches below the soil, the temperature was measured at 27֯ F (-2.7֯ C).\n\nThe Earth produces this heat from its own internal dynamics: friction from the movement of its core, the decay of radioactive atoms, and residual heat from the planet’s formation. While deep inside the temperatures and pressures are enough to keep rock in a molten state, in shallow caves and burrows in the transition zone between the planet’s inner heat and the atmosphere’s relative coolness, the temperature averages a comfortable 55֯ F (12֯ C).\n\nWherever winters occur, nearly every non-climbing, non-migrating species one sees during summer overwinters underground. Some, such as the Pacific rattlesnake, select overwintering dens whose depth increases with colder conditions. Rattlers will also select dens preferentially on south-facing slopes, which receive more sunlight than other slopes. Other species, such as the three-toed box turtle, actively dig their burrows deeper as surface temperatures get colder.\n\nThe Potential\n\nManaging temperature is a big concern for people, too. Humankind devotes 40% of its total energy use to controlling the temperature of its buildings, for instance.\n\nFossil fuels are typically used to heat air or water from ambient surface temperatures to room temperature, in order for people to live and work comfortably indoors. Meanwhile, just a few feet away, an enormous, free thermal resource sits untapped.\n\nBut increasingly, underground denning species, resourceful by necessity, are inspiring people to use the subsurface’s ambient temperatures to do the work of heating air and water for us. Because they use subsurface ground heat to bring air and water up to that average 55֯ F (12֯ C) at all times of year, “ground-source heat pump” systems deliver 400% as much energy as they require to run, compared with fossil fuel heating systems, which always deliver less heat (<100%) than they burn. Estimates are that these heat pumps could meet 90% of global building heating needs, at a fraction of the energy consumption or greenhouse gas production."}, {"Source": "dicranum moss", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "repel herbivorous slugs", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/compounds-repel-slugs/", "Strategy": "Compounds Repel Slugs\n\nTissues of Dicranum moss repel herbivorous slugs by responding to damage with chemical compounds called oxylipins.\n\n“[S]nails don’t like all plants in the same way — they shun moss. Why is that so?…What spoils the snails’ appetite for moss are oxylipins. ‘These are\ncompounds which are formed from unsaturated fatty acids by pathways involving oxidation when the moss is being damaged,’ Prof. Pohnert explains.” \n\n“The defensive properties of oxylipins from the moss Dicranum scoparium are far more active than required to fend off herbivory by a common slug.”\n\n"}, {"Source": "cushion plant's stem", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protect from the cold", "Function2": "retain water", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/tightly-packed-stems-insulate-against-cold/", "Strategy": "Tightly Packed Stems Insulate Against Cold\n\nThe stems of cushion plants protect from the cold via tight packing.\n\n“Other plants deal with cold by packing their stems tightly together into a cushion. By doing so, the plant creates a miniature ecosystem where the resources of warmth, humidity and nourishment are significantly better than in the world outside it. The cushion’s furry exterior acts like a muff, helping to hold any warmth it might contain. The plant may even add to that by, on occasion, expending a little of its food reserves in slightly raising the internal temperature. The sheer bulk of fibres of the cushion retains water like a sponge and the fierce winds do not dry it out. Nor is the nutriment embodied in the leaves lost when they die. Instead of being shed, they remain within the cushion and the upper part of the stems puts out lateral rootlets to reabsorb much of the leaves’ constituents just as soon as decay releases them…No plants develop bigger cushions than those growing on the tops of the mountains in Tasmania. They have a particular need to do so. Snow seldom falls on these peaks because the surrounding sea keeps the climate relatively mild. But the sea does nothing to reduce the wind, and the chill it brings at these altitudes can be very bitter indeed. The plants in winter, lacking a protective blanket of snow, are thus subject to particularly severe chilling…The plants that form the cushions here belong to the same family as daisies and dandelions, but their flowers are tiny and their stems are packed tightly together. A single square yard may contain a hundred thousand shoots so that a big cushion could easily contain a million stems…Some cushions are twelve feet across and spill over boulders and around the boles of trees. They may contain several species intermingled so that their surface is spangled with different shades of green.” "}, {"Source": "herbivorous mammal", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "safely ingest various toxic plant compounds", "Function2": "regulate the dose of plant secondary compounds", "Function3": "process pscs", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/herbivores-digest-toxic-plant-compounds/", "Strategy": "Herbivores Digest Toxic Plant Compounds\n\nMany herbivorous mammals are capable of safely ingesting various toxic plant compounds in part thanks to biotransformation enzymes.\n\n“Many mammalian herbivores continually face the possibility of being poisoned by the natural toxins in the plants they consume. A recent key discovery in this area is that mammalian herbivores are capable of regulating the dose of plant secondary compounds (PSCs) ingested…\n\n“The majority of wild mammalian herbivores confront food items which contain a myriad of chemical compounds that are potentially poisonous. Plant secondary compounds (PSCs) are arguably some of the most abundant and diverse naturally occurring toxins on earth. Although some herbivores behaviourally circumvent ingestion of marked quantities of PSCs either through food manipulation or avoidance (Dearing 1997), many herbivorous mammals regularly ingest foods with PSCs that if over-ingested could have serious consequences including death…Thus, herbivores have evolved physiological mechanisms for processing PSCs as well as behavioural feedback mechanisms to permit feeding on plants with toxins while avoiding ill effects…\n\n“The specialist’s constraint: Few mammalian herbivores have evolved the ability to forage nearly exclusively from a single species of plant. Surprisingly, the plant species consumed by specialists tend to be low in nutrients and well-defended by PSCs . Specialist herbivores are extraordinary because they are capable of taking in large doses of plant toxins with no obvious ill effects. The biotransformation enzymes permitting a diet rich in PSCs are just being discovered. Not surprisingly many of these enzymes are in the diverse superfamily of the cytochrome P450 enzymes.”"}, {"Source": "red-backed salamander's skin", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protect from pathogenic fungus", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/skin-protects-from-fungus/", "Strategy": "Skin Protects From Fungus\n\nSkin of red-backed salamanders protects from pathogenic fungus thanks to resident antifungal microbes.\n\n“The disease chytridiomycosis, which is caused by the chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, is associated with recent declines in amphibian populations. Susceptibility to this disease varies\namong amphibian populations and species, and resistance appears to be attributable in part to the presence of antifungal microbial species associated with the skin of amphibians. The betaproteobacterium\nJanthinobacterium lividum has been isolated from the\nskins of several amphibian species and produces the antifungalmetabolite violacein, which inhibits B. dendrobatidis. In this study, we added J. lividum to red-backed salamanders (Plethodon cinereus) to obtain an increased range of violacein concentrations\non the skin. Adding J. lividum to the skin of the\nsalamander increased the concentration of violacein on the skin, which was strongly associated with survival after experimental exposure to B. dendrobatidis. As expected from previous work, some individuals that did not receive J. lividum and were exposed to B. dendrobatidis survived. These individuals had\nconcentrations of bacterially produced violacein on their skins that were predicted to kill B. dendrobatidis.\nOur study suggests that a threshold violacein concentration of about 18 µM on a salamander’s skin prevents mortality and morbidity caused by B. dendrobatidis. In addition, we show that over one-half of individuals in nature support antifungal bacteria that produce violacein, which suggests that there is a mutualism between violacein-producing bacteria and\nP. cinereus and that adding J. lividum is effective for\nprotecting individuals that lack violacein-producing skin\nbacteria.”"}, {"Source": "water smartweed's polygodial compound", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "deter insect feeding", "Function2": "block the effects of glucose and sucrose", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/compounds-deter-insect-feeding/", "Strategy": "Compounds Deter Insect Feeding\n\nPolygodial compounds from water smartweed deter insect feeding by blocking the effects of glucose and sucrose on insect taste receptors.\n\n“Polygodial, a compound in Polygonum hydropiper (water smartweed) is among the most potent deterrents to insect feeding known.\n\n“The deterrent effect appears to be a direct result of the action of polygodial on taste receptors. In lepidopteran larvae, polygodial and other drimane dialdehydes block the stimulatory effects of glucose and sucrose on chemosensory receptor cells found on the mouthparts .”"}, {"Source": "snow lotus plant's flowers", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "thermal lagging", "Function2": "thick, furry insulation", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/dense-covering-protects-from-cold/", "Strategy": "Dense Covering Protects From Cold\n\nFlowers of snow lotus plants protect from the cold via thick, furry insulation.\n\n“A Himalayan plant, saussurea, has taken this kind of thermal lagging to extremes. In some species it is difficult to distinguish the leaves within the mound of fur with which they surround themselves. There is a hole in the top which allows pollinating bees to enter and reach the flowers. Inside it is so snug that the insects often overnight there.” "}, {"Source": "antarctic ice fish's blood", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "resist freezing", "Function2": "prevent ice crystals", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/glycoprotein-prevents-ice-crystals/", "Strategy": "Glycoprotein Prevents Ice Crystals\n\nThe blood of some Antarctic ice fishes resists freezing via a glycoprotein that lowers the temperature at which ice crystals enlarge.\n\n“An internal antifreeze stops some animals from freezing in sub-zero temperatures. Some Antarctic fishes and certain species inhabiting Scandinavian fjords, as well as the Alaskan blackfish (Dallia pectoralis), are said to be freezing-susceptible because their bodies do not form ice crystals even in sub-zero temperatures. The blood of Antarctic ice fishes of the genus Trematomus has a glycoprotein that functions very efficiently in preventing the formation of ice crystals; indeed, it is 200-500 times more effective than salt. The glycoprotein lowers the temperature at which ice crystals enlarge, while having no effect upon the temperature at which they melt.” \n\n“Antifreeze proteins (AFPs) and antifreeze glycoproteins (AFGPs) enable the survival of organisms living in subfreezing habitats and serve as preservatives. Although their function is known, the underlying\nmolecular mechanism was not understood. Mutagenesis experiments questioned the previous assumption of hydrogen bonding as the dominant\nmechanism. We use terahertz spectroscopy to show that antifreeze activity is directly correlated with long-range collective hydration dynamics. Our results provide evidence for a new model of how AFGPs\nprevent water from freezing. We suggest that antifreeze activity may be induced because the AFGP perturbs the aqueous solvent over long distances. Retarded water dynamics in the large hydration shell does not\nfavor freezing. The complexation of the carbohydrate cis-hydroxyl groups by borate suppresses the long-range hydration shell detected by terahertz absorption. The hydration dynamics shift toward bulk water\nbehavior strongly reduces the AFGP antifreeze activity, further supporting our model.” "}, {"Source": "mammalian platelet cell", "Application": "oil pipelines", "Function1": "prevent blood loss", "Function2": "form a clot", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/platelets-block-blood-loss/", "Strategy": "Platelets Stop Blood Loss\n\nMammalian platelet cells stop blood loss from wounds by gathering and changing shape to plug the hole.\n\nIntroduction\n\nWhy doesn’t all of our blood drain from our bodies when we get even a minor cut? The answer, in a word, is platelets. About one-fifth the size of the red blood cells that carry oxygen, these disc-shaped cells move into action to create a temporary patch when a blood vessel springs a leak.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nWhen all is well, platelets simply flow through blood vessels alongside other cells and substances. But if a platelet encounters a protein on the wall of the blood vessel that indicates that the vessel has been injured, it springs into action and another protein on the surface of the platelet grabs onto the protein that’s signaling trouble.\n\nThat connection then triggers a series of changes within the platelet. The platelet forms octopus-like tentacles that extend its surface area. It flattens out like a pancake. It releases compounds that make it sticky and compounds that attract other platelets to join the effort. And its surface changes in a way that enables a stringlike material called fibrin to link it to these additional platelets. Within minutes, these many activities create a clot—a plug that closes the wound and reduces or stops the loss of blood.\n\nThe body’s ability to mobilize its blood-clotting forces when a blood vessel is breached without any conscious effort is critical to survival. People with a genetic mutation that prevents normal clotting can suffer life-threatening damage to internal tissues due to uncontrolled bleeding.\n\nAlso critical is the ability to prevent clotting when it’s not wanted. Sometimes platelets misread the signals, interpreting an irregularity in a blood vessel wall as an injury that needs repair. In such cases, clots can form within an intact vessel, blocking normal blood flow in a way that can injure or kill the organism. For the most part, however, the rapid transformation of inactive platelet cells to connected clumps that are able to stop blood flow serves as a literal life saver, providing a stopgap patch after injury until the blood vessel repair team arrives.\n\nThe Potential\n\nWith its ability to flow freely through the bloodstream under normal circumstances but also to identify a break and rapidly change form and function to create a temporary closure, platelets offer an inspiring model for preventing problems caused by breaching a barrier between a liquid and its environment. For oil pipelines, wastewater disposal systems, tanker trucks, and more, these microscopic first responders offer valuable inspiration for strategies that both alert system operators that a problem has occurred and help minimize harm when it does."}, {"Source": "cockroach's nervous system", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protect from predator", "Function2": "insulating", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/nervous-system-fights-drug-resistant-microbes/", "Strategy": "Nervous System Fights Drug‑resistant Microbes\n\nNervous system tissues of cockroaches protect them from drug-resistant microbes via unique antimicrobial chemicals.\n\n“Bubbles are commonly encountered in nature, across many phyla and habitats—from the slimy protective bubbles of the spittle bugs to the bubble eggs of many water-loving vertebrates, including many species of fish and amphibians, particularly frogs. Bubbles serve as insulation, moisturizer, and protection from predators. Spittle bugs use recycled sap from grass stems converted to a soapy liquid that they pump into foamy bubbles using their tails…Frog eggs and spittle bug bubbles self-cushion when packed in an array and naturally leave little air amongst them. This is because nature’s bubbles join according to three principles of soap bubble geometry. First, a compound bubble consists of flat or smoothly curved surfaces joined together. Second, the surfaces meet in only two ways: either three surfaces merge along a curve (edge), or six surfaces at a vertex. Third, when surfaces come together at a curve, or curves and surfaces at a point, they do so at equal angles. These three principles allow bubbles to eliminate air space between their flexible membranes, thereby optimally packing spheres.” "}, {"Source": "pied kingfisher's eye", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protect eye", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/covering-protects-eye/", "Strategy": "Covering Protects Eye\n\nThe eye of the pied kingfisher is protected during high speed water entry via a bony plate.\n\n“The pied kingfisher (Ceryle rudis), a highly adapted bird who feeds almost exclusively on fish, some crustaceans and aquatic insects, also has a bony plate joined to the prefrontal bone of the skull, which provides a sliding screen in front of the eye for when it plunges into the water.” "}, {"Source": "case-bearing leaf beetle's larvae", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "avoid predation", "Function2": "co-opt physical plant defense", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/larvae-protected-from-predators/", "Strategy": "Larvae Protected From Predators\n\nLarvae of case-bearing leaf beetles protect themselves with hard cases made of fecal matter.\n\n“Animals create a wide variety of structures to deal with abiotic and biotic challenges. We evaluated an intriguing structure whose function has never been thoroughly tested. Specifically, we evaluated the hypothesis that the body-enclosing ‘faecal case’ created and lived in by\nthe immature stages of Neochlamisus leaf beetles reduces their risk of predation. We especially focus on the case of N. platani, which is externally covered with host-plant trichomes, and includes a distinct trichome-filled chamber (‘attic’) in the case apex. Here, we\nseparately evaluated the effects of case, trichomes and attic on each of several behavioural stages of predator attack using N. platani and N. bimaculatus larvae and pupae. Three generalist predators (crickets, soldier bugs and lynx spiders) that represent different feeding strategies were used in our individual-level repeated observation behavioural trials. Results strongly demonstrated that the faecal case itself greatly reduced predation risk for all combinations of beetle species, life history stage and predator. Additional evidence\nindicated that both trichomes and attics further and independently reduced predation risk. Variation in results among treatments was also informative. For example, the capacity of faecal case components to\nreduce predation sometimes varied markedly among predators and between larval versus pupal life stages. Patterns of predator behaviour provided no evidence that caseless larvae have alternative means of defence.\nThis study further presents a rare example of the co-option of a physical plant defence (trichomes) by an herbivore.”"}, {"Source": "nuchal ligament of large grazing mammals", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "support head", "Function2": "shock absorption", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/elastic-ligament-provides-support-shock-absorption/", "Strategy": "Elastic Ligament Provides Support, Shock Absorption\n\nThe nuchal ligament of large grazing mammals provides support for the head and seems to act as a shock absorber, due to the presence of the protein elastin.\n\n“Our own rubber, elastin, occurs mainly as a component of two composites, skin and arterial wall. The nearest thing to pure elastin is the nuchal ligament of large grazing mammals. It runs from a ridge on the rear of the skull back along the top of the neck to the thoracic vertebrae; it seems to act as a shock absorber as well as a support for the head.” "}, {"Source": "horse's hooves", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "resist cracks", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/hooves-resist-cracking/", "Strategy": "Hooves Resist Cracking\n\nThe hooves of horses resist cracking by having braided filaments of keratin in horizontal sheets punctuated vertically by thin, hollow tubes.\n\n“Bubbles are commonly encountered in nature, across many phyla and habitats—from the slimy protective bubbles of the spittle bugs to the bubble eggs of many water-loving vertebrates, including many species of fish and amphibians, particularly frogs. Bubbles serve as insulation, moisturizer, and protection from predators. Spittle bugs use recycled sap from grass stems converted to a soapy liquid that they pump into foamy bubbles using their tails…Frog eggs and spittle bug bubbles self-cushion when packed in an array and naturally leave little air amongst them. This is because nature’s bubbles join according to three principles of soap bubble geometry. First, a compound bubble consists of flat or smoothly curved surfaces joined together. Second, the surfaces meet in only two ways: either three surfaces merge along a curve (edge), or six surfaces at a vertex. Third, when surfaces come together at a curve, or curves and surfaces at a point, they do so at equal angles. These three principles allow bubbles to eliminate air space between their flexible membranes, thereby optimally packing spheres.” "}, {"Source": "spittle bug's bubble", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "self-cushion", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/arrangement-allows-self-cushioning/", "Strategy": "Arrangement Allows Self‑cushioning\n\nThe bubbles of spittle bugs and other organisms self-cushion due to the principles of soap bubble geometry.\n\n“Bubbles are commonly encountered in nature, across many phyla and habitats—from the slimy protective bubbles of the spittle bugs to the bubble eggs of many water-loving vertebrates, including many species of fish and amphibians, particularly frogs. Bubbles serve as insulation, moisturizer, and protection from predators. Spittle bugs use recycled sap from grass stems converted to a soapy liquid that they pump into foamy bubbles using their tails…Frog eggs and spittle bug bubbles self-cushion when packed in an array and naturally leave little air amongst them. This is because nature’s bubbles join according to three principles of soap bubble geometry. First, a compound bubble consists of flat or smoothly curved surfaces joined together. Second, the surfaces meet in only two ways: either three surfaces merge along a curve (edge), or six surfaces at a vertex. Third, when surfaces come together at a curve, or curves and surfaces at a point, they do so at equal angles. These three principles allow bubbles to eliminate air space between their flexible membranes, thereby optimally packing spheres.” "}, {"Source": "the pitcher plant", "Application": "alternative antifungal drugs", "Function1": "stop fungi growth", "Function2": "antifungal effect", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/pitchers-prevent-fungal-growth/", "Strategy": "Pitchers Prevent Fungal Growth\n\nThe pitchers of pitcher plants prevent fungal growth using napthoquinones.\n\n“Nepenthes spp. are carnivorous plants that have developed insect capturing traps, evolved by specific modification of the leaf tips, and are able to utilize insect degradation products as nutritional precursors. A chitin-induced antifungal ability, based on the production and secretion to the trap liquid of droserone\nand 5-O-methyldroserone, is described here. Such specific secretion uniquely occurred when chitin injection was used as the eliciting agent and probably reflects a certain kind of defence mechanism that has been evolved for protecting the carnivory-based\nprovision of nutritional precursors. The pitcher liquid\ncontaining droserone and 5-O-methyldroserone at 3:1 or 4:1 molar ratio, as well as the purified naphthoquinones, exerted an antifungal effect on a wide range of plant and human fungal pathogens. When tested against Candida and Aspergillus spp., the concentrations required for achieving inhibitory and fungicidal effects were significantly lower than those causing cytotoxicity in cells of the human embryonic kidney cell line, 293T. These naturally secreted 1,4-naphthoquinone derivatives, that are assumed to act via semiquinone enhancement of free radical production, may offer a new lead to develop alternative antifungal drugs with reduced selectable pressure for potentially evolved resistance.” "}, {"Source": "sedges' stem", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "twist rather than bend", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/flexibility-allows-twisting-not-bending-in-wind/", "Strategy": "Flexibility Allows Twisting, Not Bending, in Wind\n\nThe stems of sedges twist rather than bend in the wind due to their torsional flexibility.\n\n“On a smaller scale, Ennos (1993a) found that sedges swing around in a wind rather than bending over, doing so with stems of remarkably low torsional stiffness.” \n“The mechanics of the triangular stems of Carex acutiformis was investigated by subjecting sections to bending and torsional tests. The stem was rigid in bending, being stiffened peripherally by lignified material around the vascular bundles, but because of its triangular shape it was vulnerable to local buckling. Despite being [sic] and narrow the stem was able to support the seed head, though it sagged appreciably towards the tip. In contrast the stem had very low torsional rigidity, both because of its triangular shape because the strands of lignified material were isolated from each other. In its lowland habitat this allows the drooping stem to twist away from the light winds, so reducing drag and the chances of self-fertilization. This method of reconfiguring is not possible in the shorter, stiffer mountain sedges which must withstand higher winds; many therefore have more circular stems which will be more efficient at resisting bending.” "}, {"Source": "spring peeper's glucose", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "prevent ice crystals", "Function2": "prevent lethal freeze injury", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/glucose-prevents-formation-of-ice-crystals/", "Strategy": "Glucose Prevents Formation of Ice Crystals\n\nGlucose produced by spring peepers in cold weather reduces ice crystal formation by concentrating the frogs' body fluids.\n\n“In 1997, biologists from Pennsylvania’s Slippery Rock University revealed that the spring peeper (Pseudacris crucifer), a tiny species of North American frog, produces glucose during frosty weather to concentrate its body fluids and so reduce ice crystal formation, enabling it to survive for up to three days with almost half of its total body fluid frozen. It returns to a fully active state in only a day after thawing out.”\n\n“To prevent lethal freeze injury, these [North American] frogs initiate intensive hepatic glycogenolysis immediately after the onset of tissue freezing and concomitantly distribute the glucose throughout their bodies, raising levels of tissue glucose by as much as 10- 100 X above normal. The treefrog Hyla versicolor is exceptional because it converts most of the glucose into glycerol, which is then distributed to body tissues . Because so much of their body water is sequestered into ice (to 70%), frozen frogs cannot sustain systemic functions, including breathing, heartbeat, and blood flow . Upon thawing, freeze-tolerant frogs resume cardiovascular functions first, whereas, other functions resume during the ensuing hours …Pseudacris crucifer mobilizes glucose to levels that are comparable to most other freeze-tolerant frogs.” "}, {"Source": "banana aphid", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "avoid being killed", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/larvae-ditch-threatened-hosts/", "Strategy": "Larvae Ditch Threatened Hosts\n\nLarvae of a parasitic fly evade predation by abandoning their hosts when they are in peril.\n\n“A recently discovered fly, Endaphis fugitiva,\nmay be the first known parasitic insect that is able to escape a host that is under attack from predators. When researchers injured the fly’s host — called the banana aphid — or let brown lacewings attack the\naphids, the fly larvae broke out of the aphid’s body…\n“The ability of E. fugitiva  larvae to shift niches adaptively may help them to avoid being killed along with their host, but it comes at the cost of having to devote resources to detecting and avoiding threats, write Muratori and his co-authors. The researchers speculate that the larvae detect their host’s imminent\ndemise either by sensing chemical cues, such as stress factors in the aphid’s blood-like ‘haemolymph’, or by perceiving the mechanical pressure of a predator’s attack on the aphid.”"}, {"Source": "jewel scarab beetle's vision", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "detect circularly polarized light", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/vision-enables-stealth-communication/", "Strategy": "Vision Enables Stealth Communication\n\nThe vision of jewel scarab beetles allows them to find each other while evading enemies thanks to the detection of circularly polarized light.\n\n“According to researchers from the University of Texas, the jewel scarab species Chrysina gloriosa can distinguish between circularly polarized and unpolarized light. That ability could provide\nthe beetles with a tremendous advantage, the researchers say, because most of the light reflected off these beetles’ colorful bodies happens to be circularly polarized.\n\n“‘The trait would allow the beetles to easily see each other while simultaneously hiding from predators that cannot see circular polarized light,’ said physicist Parrish Brady, who conducted the research with Molly Cummings…\n\n“Because ability to see CP light is very rare in nature, it’s not likely that any of the beetles’ predators can see it. So the ability to both see and reflect CP light probably evolved to allow jewel scarabs to communicate with each other while staying hidden from predators…”"}, {"Source": "fly", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "fly lands on a ceiling", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/acrobatics-used-to-land/", "Strategy": "Acrobatics Used to Land\n\n“A fly lands on a ceiling by flying up at an angle of about 45° with its front feet extended; as soon as contact is made the fly cartwheels over onto its other four feet.” "}, {"Source": "microscopic diatoms' silica-based skeletons", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "resist impact", "Function2": "strong architecture", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/intricate-silica-architecture-survives-forces/", "Strategy": "Intricate Silica Architecture Survives Forces\n\nSilica-based skeletons of microscopic diatoms offer significant resistance to impact forces due to symmetry, pores, nanospheres, and ribs.\n\n“All free-living diatoms differ from other phytoplankton groups in having silicified cell walls in the form of two ‘shells’ (the frustule) of manifold shape and intricate architecture… Here we show that the frustules are remarkably strong by virtue of their architecture and the material properties of the diatom silica. We conclude that diatom frustules have evolved as mechanical protection for the cells because exceptional force is required to break them.” "}, {"Source": "conifers' leaves", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protect from drought, snow and cold", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/leaves-protect-from-the-elements/", "Strategy": "Leaves Protect From the Elements\n\nThe leaves of conifers protect from drought, snow and cold by employing unique design elements, including a needle shape, thick waxy rinds, and pores set in deep grooves in the needles.\n\n“Some species of tree, even outside the balmy climates of the tropics, manage to produce a kind of leaf that can survive both drought and cold. Conifers do so. Many of them grow branches that, instead of rising upwards towards the sky, slope gently downwards. In consequence, snow tends to slide off them and does not accumulate into huge loads that might break them. Their leaves are not flat and broad but needle-shaped. They have a thick waxy rind, very little freezable sap, and pores that are set in the bottom of a deep groove running the length of the needle.” "}, {"Source": "arctic willow's stems and branches", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protect plant from wind", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/branches-protect-plant-from-wind/", "Strategy": "Branches Protect Plant From Wind\n\nStems and branches of Arctic willow protect from strong winds via horizontal growth.\n\n“A species of willow developed that does not grow vertically upwards, like its European and American relatives. To do so would be to risk being flattened by the ferocious Arctic wind. Instead, it grows horizontally, keeping close to the ground. Even in the most favourable circumstances it seldom exceeds four inches in height. But it may become as long as some of its southern relatives are tall. When you walk across a carpet of such prostrate trees, you are, in effect, walking over a woodland canopy.”"}, {"Source": "beewolf digger wasp's larvae", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protect against pathogens", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/larvae-protected-from-pathogens/", "Strategy": "Larvae Protected From Pathogens\n\nThe larvae of beewolf digger wasps are protected from pathogenic microbes thanks to bacterial symbionts.\n\n“Beewolf digger wasps cultivate specific symbiotic bacteria (Streptomyces spp.) that are incorporated into the larval cocoon for protection against pathogens. We identified the molecular basis of this protective symbiosis in the natural context and demonstrate that the bacteria produce a ‘cocktail’ of nine antibiotic substances. The complementary action of all symbiont-produced antibiotics confers a potent antimicrobial defense for the wasp larvae that parallels the\n‘combination prophylaxis’ known from human medicine.”"}, {"Source": "anemones' tissues", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "resist bending", "Function2": "high stress resistance", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/tissues-resist-bending-under-stress/", "Strategy": "Tissues Resist Bending Under Stress\n\nAnemones resist bending because of the high stress resistance of the tissues and the distance of those tissues from the axis of bending.\n\n“Flexural stiffness is the ability of a beam-like organism to resist bending. The higher the elastic modulus of the organism’s tissues and the greater the distance of those tissues from the axis of bending, the less the organism will bend when loaded.”"}, {"Source": "pelican's gular pouch", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "dissipate heat", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/pouch-dissipates-heat/", "Strategy": "Pouch Dissipates Heat\n\nThe gular pouch the pelican dissipates heat by having a vascular structure.\n\n“The gular pouch is used for prey capture in the pelicans, courtship displays in the frigatebirds, and thermoregulation in most species.2 Blood flow to the pouch of the pelican is supplied through midline vessels that send branches laterally and through subramal vessels that send branches medially into the gular sac.11 The inner and outer surfaces of the gular sac are covered with squamous epithelium, with a highly vascular muscular layer between.“"}, {"Source": "defensin", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "inhibit pathogen growth", "Function2": "degrade pathogen toxins", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/peptide-defensin-fights-pathogens/", "Strategy": "Peptide Defensin Fights Pathogens\n\nDefensins are naturally produced peptides that inhibit pathogen growth and degrade pathogen toxins by binding to the pathogens\n\n“In addition to their bacterial membrane permeabilizing capacity, defensins have been shown to neutralize bacterial invasion by directly binding to bacterial toxins….Similar properties have been described for retrocyclins, a class of circular defensins found in non-human primates, which were shown to bind to the anthrax lethal factor with high affinity [66].”"}, {"Source": "kingfisher's eyes", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "allow sight through water or glare", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/eyes-manage-glare/", "Strategy": "Eyes Manage Glare\n\nRed droplets in the cone cells of kingfisher eyes may allow sight through water or glare by acting as chromatic filters.\n\n“Kingfishers have specialized eyes and excellent eyesight. The retina of each eye has two fovea. The cone cells have a high proportion of red droplets, which may act as chromatic filters, allowing sight through the surface of the water.”"}, {"Source": "pyrolobus fumarii archaea", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "survive extreme heat", "Function2": "accumulate charged organic solutes", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/microbe-survives-extreme-heat/", "Strategy": "Microbe Survives Extreme Heat\n\nThe ability of Pyrolobus fumarii archaea to survive extreme heat may be related to the accumulation of charged organic solutes.\n\n“The archaeon Pyrolobus fumarii, one of the most extreme members of hyperthermophiles known thus far, is able to grow at temperatures up to 113°C. Over a\ndecade after the description of this organism our knowledge about the structures and strategies underlying its remarkable thermal resistance remains incipient. The accumulation of a restricted number of charged organic solutes is a common response\nto heat stress in hyperthermophilic organisms and accordingly their role in thermoprotection has been often postulated.”"}, {"Source": "bony fish's skin", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "antimicrobial properties", "Function2": "protect fish", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/mucus-has-antibacterial-properties/", "Strategy": "Mucus Has Antibacterial Properties\n\nGlands in the skin of bony fishes help protect the fish from bacterial infection via secreted mucus.\n\nfish from bacterial infection via secreted mucus.\n“The typical bony fishes — trout, herring, cod, and hundreds of other species — have scales made of very thin, flake-like pieces of bone, often fine enough to be transparent. They are usually more or less rounded in outline: cycloid scales have smooth edges, while ctenoid scales have a spiked or serrated trailing edge (diagram b). The scales grow in the dermis, the inner layer of the skin, and are covered by a fine epidermis or outer skin layer: each scale fits into its own little pocket of epidermis (diagram c). The skin contains glands emitting mucus which keeps the scales slippery and flexible (as an angler knows to his cost) and also acts as an anti-septic, protecting the fish from bacterial infection. The scales grow by adding rings around the edge; they grow fast in summer but little in winter, and thus leave seasonal growth lines by which the age of the fish can be estimated.”"}, {"Source": "loon's glands and kidneys", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "generate a net gain of water", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/adaptations-allow-ingestion-of-salt-water/", "Strategy": "Adaptations Allow Ingestion of Salt Water\n\nGlands and kidneys of loons generate a net gain of water from the ingestion of sea water due to nasal salt excretions and ultrastructure specialization.\n\n“The marine species in this group of birds have the ability to generate a net gain of water with the ingestion of seawater. Ingestion is facilitated by large nasal glands for the elimination of excess salt and ultrastructural specialization of the kidneys.”"}, {"Source": "crab's claw and limbs", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "shed limb", "Function2": "regenerate limb", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/limbs-sacrificed-to-escape-predators/", "Strategy": "Limbs Sacrificed to Escape Predators\n\nThe claw and other limbs of a crab assist escape because they can be shed and regenerated.\n\n“In some invertebrates, autotomy can involve the loss of one or more legs. Crabs, for instance, are famous for sacrificing a claw if attacked by a predator, which they will then regrow. Indeed, they are willing to lose several of their limbs if necessary to avoid capture, though this willingness decreases markedly with each successive limb loss, for obvious reasons.” "}, {"Source": "elephant's behavior", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "induce labor", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/eating-bark-to-induce-labor/", "Strategy": "Eating Bark to Induce Labor\n\nElephants may induce labor by eating the bark of the red seringa tree.\n\n“One of the most extraordinary recent case histories featuring what would seem to be a bona fide example of an animal herbalist concerned a pregnant female elephant in Kenya’s Tsavo Park. After spending almost a year observing the unchanging daily feeding ritual of this particular animal, ecologist H. [Holly] T. Dublin was puzzled one day when the elephant wandered much farther afield than usual, not feeding until she came upon a small tree belonging to a species related to borage that she had never been seen by Dublin to include in her diet before. Watched by Dublin, the elephant almost entirely devoured the tree, until only its stump remained…Four days later, she gave birth to a healthy calf, and investigations by Dublin revealed that tea made from the leaves and bark of this particular species of tree seemed to induce uterine contractions, since it was often drunk by Kenyan women specifically to induce labor or abortion.”"}, {"Source": "crocodile's ear", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "seal out water", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/ears-seal-out-water/", "Strategy": "Ears Seal Out Water\n\nThe ears of crocodiles seal out water using fitted muscular flaps.\n\n“Muscular external nostril and ear flaps on crocodilians seal out water.” "}, {"Source": "poison-dart frog's skin", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protect from predator", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/neurotoxin-protects-from-predators/", "Strategy": "Neurotoxin Protects From Predators\n\nGlands in the skin of poison-dart frogs protect from predators via a secreted neurotoxin called batrachotoxin.\n\n“Yet another type of skin gland is the poison gland which is prevalent among amphibians, including the common toad…The most lethal frogs are a few Phyllobates species: named batrachotoxin, their poison is 250 times stronger than strychnine, and acts on the nervous system.”"}, {"Source": "chimpanzee", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protect against pathogens", "Function2": "kill harmful bacteria and fungi", "Function3": "rid the intestinal tract of parasitic nematodes", "Function4": "stimulate", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/self-medicating-with-plants/", "Strategy": "Self‑medicating With Plants\n\nChimpanzees protect against pathogens by self-medicating with various plants.\n\n“Perhaps the most famous example of an animal herbalist is the common chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes). Those living in Tanzania’s Gombe National Park are often seen pulling leaves off any of three species of Aspilia, a genus of bushy plant related to the sunflower. Instead of simply chewing the leaves, the apes roll them around their mouths for a while, rather like humans sucking medicinal pills, before swallowing them whole.\n“Humans living in this area do precisely the same with Aspilia leaves (which taste far too unpleasant to chew, anyway), as they are effective in killing harmful bacteria and fungi because they contain thiarubine A, a powerful antibiotic. They also rid the intestinal tract of parasitic nematodes. In addition, scientists believe that these leaves act as a stimulant for the chimps, since they tend to eat them first thing in the morning, just as humans often drink coffee or tea shortly after waking to benefit from the stimulating effect of caffeine…Another herbal remedy employed by Tanzanian chimps is the bitter-tasting pith of the aptly named bitterleaf shrub (Vernonia amygdalina). This is popularly used by native tribes to counter both parasites and stomach pains, and has been proven to help the recovery of sick chimps.”"}, {"Source": "kangaroo's teeth", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "replace teeth", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/teeth-replace-themselves/", "Strategy": "Teeth Replace Themselves\n\nTeeth of kangaroos replace themselves when they wear down by falling out and rear teeth migrate forward.\n\n“Grazers elsewhere have molars with open roots so that wear can be compensated by continuous growth throughout the animal’s life. Kangaroo teeth have no such ability. Their roots are closed, so they use a different system of replacement. There are four pairs of cheek teeth on either side of the jaws. Only the front ones engage. As they are worn down to the roots, they fall out and those from the rear migrate forward to take their place. By the time the animal is fifteen or twenty years old, its last molars are in use. Eventually these too will be worn down and shed so that even if the venerable animal does not die for any other reason, it will eventually do so from starvation.” "}, {"Source": "university of massachusetts and yale university", "Application": "virus traps", "Function1": "trap pathogens", "Function2": "coat with sugar chains", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/mucins-trap-pathogens/", "Strategy": "Mucins Trap Pathogens\n\nMucins of animals stop invading pathogens by being coated with sugar chains that trap the invaders.\n\n“Researchers at the University of Massachusetts and Yale University are looking for ways to trap viruses. In order to reproduce, viruses need to invade a host cell and replicate using the cell’s own DNA-replication system. The researchers figured that if they could lure viruses to decoy cells, they could reduce the viral load enough for someone with HIV or other disease for that person’s own immune system to successfully fight off the attack. Mucins are proteins found in most body fluids. They are coated with sugar chains that trap invading pathogens. Red blood cells also appear to act as pathogen traps. One approach is to coat nanoparticles with viral receptors. Another approach is to add decoy attachment sites to red blood cells. One advantage of using viral traps is it would be hard for viruses to evolve resistance to them.” "}, {"Source": "lesser siren's skin", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "retard desiccation", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/skin-secretion-slows-desiccation/", "Strategy": "Skin Secretion Slows Desiccation\n\nThe skin of the lesser siren protects from desiccation by secreting a mucus cocooon.\n\n“The skin of Siren intermedia is fully metamorphosed, amphibian-like, and specialized in its cocoon-producing function. During aestivation in burrows in the bottoms of dry ponds, epidermal and dermal skin glands secrete a cocoon which covers the entire body except the mouth. This structure, remarkably like the cocoons of African lungfishes, retards desiccation and permits sirens to remain in periodically dry, aquatic environments. This adaptive strategy may be alternative to that of avoiding drought by overland movement to nearby water.” "}, {"Source": "kangaroo's skin", "Application": "skin cancer prevention", "Function1": "repair sun-damaged dna", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/skin-self-repairs-2/", "Strategy": "Skin Self‑repairs\n\nSkin of kangaroos self-repairs after sun damage using a DNA repair enzyme.\n\n“University of Melbourne researchers have found that kangaroos could hold the key to the prevention of skin cancer.\n\n“The researchers, who teamed up with Austrian scientists from the University of Innsbruck, believe that finding out how kangaroos repair their sun-damaged DNA could be the key to preventing skin cancer.\n\n“Dr Linda Feketeova and Dr Uta Wille from the University of Melbourne are investigating a DNA repair enzyme found in kangaroos and many other organisms but not humans…’Other research teams have proposed a `dream cream’ containing the DNA repair enzyme which you could slap on your skin after a day in the sun.\n\n“‘We are now examining whether this would be feasible by looking at the chemistry behind the (kangaroo) DNA system.’\n\n“Dr Wille, who has been researching the kangaroo link for a number of years, said the DNA’s repair process had resulted in a number of chemical by-products that had never been seen before.\n\n“‘Our plan is to study these products to understand if the DNA repair enzyme could be incorporated into a safe and effective method for skin cancer prevention,’ she said.”"}, {"Source": "cushion plant's stem", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "retain water", "Function2": "protect from wind", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/tightly-packed-stems-protect-from-wind/", "Strategy": "Tightly Packed Stems Protect From Wind\n\nThe stems of cushion plants protect from the wind via tight packing.\n\n“Other plants deal with cold by packing their stems tightly together into a cushion. By doing so, the plant creates a miniature ecosystem where the resources of warmth, humidity and nourishment are significantly better than in the world outside it. The cushion’s furry exterior acts like a muff, helping to hold any warmth it might contain. The plant may even add to that by, on occasion, expending a little of its food reserves in slightly raising the internal temperature. The sheer bulk of fibres of the cushion retains water like a sponge and the fierce winds do not dry it out. Nor is the nutriment embodied in the leaves lost when they die. Instead of being shed, they remain within the cushion and the upper part of the stems puts out lateral rootlets to reabsorb much of the leaves’ constituents just as soon as decay releases them…No plants develop bigger cushions than those growing on the tops of the mountains in Tasmania. They have a particular need to do so. Snow seldom falls on these peaks because the surrounding sea keeps the climate relatively mild. But the sea does nothing to reduce the wind, and the chill it brings at these altitudes can be very bitter indeed. The plants in winter, lacking a protective blanket of snow, are thus subject to particularly severe chilling…The plants that form the cushions here belong to the same family as daisies and dandelions, but their flowers are tiny and their stems are packed tightly together. A single square yard may contain a hundred thousand shoots so that a big cushion could easily contain a million stems…Some cushions are twelve feet across and spill over boulders and around the boles of trees. They may contain several species intermingled so that their surface is spangled with different shades of green.” "}, {"Source": "flower's markings", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "draw pollinators", "Function2": "discourage insect herbivores", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/flowers-pattern-attractsdeters-insects/", "Strategy": "Flower’s Pattern Attracts/deters Insects\n\nMarkings on flowers help draw pollinators and at the same time discourage insect herbivores by containing ultraviolet pigments.\n\n“Two categories of pigments, flavonoids and dearomatized isoprenylated phloroglucinols (DIPs), are responsible for the UV demarcations of this flower. Flavonoids had been shown previously to function as floral UV pigments, but DIPs had not been demonstrated to serve in that capacity. We found the DIPs to be present in high concentration in the anthers and ovarian wall of the flower, suggesting that the compounds also serve in defense. Indeed, feeding tests done with one of the DIPs (hypercalin A) showed the compound to be deterrent and toxic to a caterpillar (Utetheisa ornatrix). The possibility that floral UV pigments fulfill both a visual and a defensive function had not previously been contemplated.” "}, {"Source": "sponges' spicular skeleton", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "provides structural support", "Function2": "provide support", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/skeleton-provides-support/", "Strategy": "Skeleton Provides Support\n\nThe spicular skeleton of sponges provides structural support in the form of dispersed struts.\n\n“In nature, the [dispersal strut] scheme is commoner but still far from widespread–the clearest example, noted in chapter 19, is the spicular skeleton of sponges, in which tiny rigid elements are laced together by collagen (fig 19.7). And there are occasional forays in this direction among sea anemones (coelenterates) and sea cucumbers (echinoderms). It ought to be reemphasized that the arrangement is not intrinsically flawed in some way; the limitation is more likely to lie in problems of compatibility with attachment surfaces for muscles.” "}, {"Source": "pitcher plant's water trap", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "withstand digestive enzyme", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/larvae-survive-in-digestive-liquids/", "Strategy": "Larvae Survive in Digestive Liquids\n\nThe larvae of flesh flies live in the water trap of pitcher plants and withstand the digestive enzyme juices meant to break down organisms.\n\n“Consider the pitcher plant, carnivorous, or meat-eating plant found in Canadian bogs…A flesh fly larva lives in the water trap, as does a mosquito and a midge, and they are all adapted to withstand the digestive enzymes that the plant excretes to break down the terrestrial insects it captures in the water trap. Each insect occupies a different position in the water trap. Most important, none of the insects can live anywhere else but in these exact spots.”"}, {"Source": "feather shaft", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protect from wind", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/shape-of-feather-shafts-protect-from-wind/", "Strategy": "Shape of Feather Shafts Protect From Wind\n\nThe shafts of feathers and petioles of leaves protect from wind by having non-circular cross sections.\n\n“In cross section, feathers look like grooved petioles upside down. Again, that makes functional sense. If an elongated structure must have a groove to raise EI/GJ (‘twistiness-to-bendiness ratio’), the groove should be on the side that’s loaded in tension. That location won’t increase the structure’s tendency to buckle, since tensile loading is nearly shape-indifferent. A leaf blade bends its petiole downward; its aerodynamic loading bends a feather upward–leaf blades hang from the ends of their petioles; flying birds hang from bases of their wing feathers.”"}, {"Source": "horse mackerel's immune system", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "withstand venom", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/immune-system-protects-from-toxin/", "Strategy": "Immune System Protects From Toxin\n\nThe immune system of the horse mackerel allows it to hide among the tentacles of the man-of-war via toxin immunity.\n\n“A small species of blue-and-white fish called the horse mackerel (Trachurus trachurus) spends a lot of time swimming among the man-of-war’s tentacles, without suffering any ill effects, because it can withstand ten times the dose of venom that would kill other fishes of the same size. Therefore it is effectively protected from the attention of any would-be predators.”"}, {"Source": "macaw's behavior", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "detoxify meal", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/clay-protects-from-toxic-sap/", "Strategy": "Clay Protects From Toxic Sap\n\nMacaws survive ingesting toxic hura seeds because they eat clay.\n\n“The hura tree protects its explosive fruits with a sap so toxic that it will raise great red welts if it touches human skin and even blind those who get it into their eyes. The macaws, however, are not put off. Long before the fruits are ripe, the birds rip them apart, pods, seeds and all, and then, after a meal that would have poisoned others, they fly to particular places on a river bank where they can gnaw out and swallow a special clay which detoxifies their meal.”"}, {"Source": "arctic springtail's body", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protect from freezing temperature", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/dehydration-helps-survive-freezing/", "Strategy": "Dehydration Helps Survive Freezing\n\nThe body of the Arctic springtail protects from freezing temperatures via protective dehydration.\n\n“To survive the harsh cold of Arctic winters, animals living there have to get creative. The tiny, humpbacked arthropod known as the ‘springtail’ is no exception. Scientists have discovered it loses water and shrivels up in a process known as protective dehydration.\n\n“Melody Clark of the British Antarctic Survey and colleagues studied the Arctic springtail Onychiurus arcticus, which is an arthropod that looks like a tiny insect. They found that springtails release the water in their body to avoid damage caused by freezing. Despite their unhealthy appearance, the bugs remain very much alive.\n\n“‘During this process the body loses all its water and you end up with a normal-looking head, and a body which looks like a crumpled up crisp [chip] packet when it is fully dehydrated,’ says Clark. ‘But add a drop of water and it all goes back to normal.’ Clark presented the findings in April, at the Society for Experimental Biology annual meeting in Glasgow, UK.”"}, {"Source": "cryptopygus antarcticus' body", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protect from the cold", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/compounds-protect-from-extreme-cold/", "Strategy": "Compounds Protect From Extreme Cold\n\nThe body of Cryptopygus antarcticus functions in extreme cold via anti-freeze compounds.\n\n“Onychiurus arcticus (from the Arctic) uses protective dehydration to survive harsh Arctic winters. This means that water is lost from the body across a diffusion gradient between the animals’ super-cooled body fluids and ice in the surroundings. ‘During this process the body loses all its water and you end up with a normal looking head, and a body which looks like a crumpled up crisp packet when it is fully dehydrated. But add a drop of water and it all goes back to normal!’ explains Dr Clark [Dr. Melody Clark, from the British Antarctic Survey]. Scientists examined the different stages of this process to see which genes were activated.\n\n“Cryptopygus antarcticus lives in the Antarctic and uses a different mechanism to survive cold temperatures. These creatures accumulate anti-freeze compounds which lower the temperature at which their bodies freeze, meaning they can withstand temperatures as low as minus 30°C. Within this population there is a clear divide into less- and more-cold hardened animals, which has been a puzzle to researchers. However, by looking for differences in gene expression levels between the two populations, scientists think that there could be a link to moulting (this is the process by which arthropods shed their exoskeleton).”"}, {"Source": "fungus-growing ants' nest", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "avoid flood damage", "Function2": "create uniform microclimates", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/architecture-avoids-flooding-creates-microclimates/", "Strategy": "Architecture Avoids Flooding, Creates Microclimates\n\nThe nests of fungus-growing ants avoid flood damage and create uniform microclimates via necklace-like or tree-like architecture.\n\n“Both species built their nests in two different ways. The first type possessed a ‘tree-like’ architecture, in which a vertical tunnel led downwards and lateral tunnels branched off at 90° angles from the main tunnel, with a chamber at the end of each side branch. Alternatively, other nests displayed a ‘necklace-like’ architecture, where the main tunnel also led down vertically, but entered each chamber from the top and exited it at the bottom, resulting in an architecture where chambers appeared like pearls on a necklace…Fungus gardens were suspended from the ceiling of the subterranean chambers and originated as small mycelial tufts. Through continual addition of organic debris, the tufts first grew vertically to strands before they expanded laterally until most of the chamber volume was filled with fungus garden curtains.”"}, {"Source": "midge larva", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "survive freezing", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/larvae-survive-freezing/", "Strategy": "Larvae Survive Freezing\n\nLarvae of midges survive freezing by having a high supercooling point.\n\n“Certain insects, moreover, can even survive the formation of ice crystals within their bodies. One example is the larva of the midge Chironomus, which can be repeatedly frozen to a temperature as low as -13°F (-25°C), up to 90 percent of its body fluid is frozen. Such creatures are said to be freezing-tolerant.”"}, {"Source": "african camels", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "thermoregulation", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/body-temperature-regulated-in-hot-environment/", "Strategy": "Body Temperature Regulated in Hot Environment\n\nThermoregulation in African camels appears to be related to water availability.\n\n“When African camels (Camelus dromedarius) do not get enough water, their body temperature’s amplitude (the difference between its highest and lowest values) increases from 3.6°F (2°C) to as much as 10.8°F (6°C).” "}, {"Source": "blister beetle's secretions", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "deter predators", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/poisonous-secretions-deter-predators/", "Strategy": "Poisonous Secretions Deter Predators\n\nSecretions of blister beetles help deter predators by containing cantharidin, a poisonous chemical.\n\n“Other animals that autohemorrhage come from various insect families within the beetle order Coleoptera…Another is Lytta vesicatoria from the oil beetle family, commonly known as the blister beetle. These creatures secrete a liquid called cantharidin which, when in contact with human skin, causes it to blister. The liquid has valuable medical properties, and is often used as a treatment for skin complaints such as warts.”"}, {"Source": "scallop's shell", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "resist cracks", "Function2": "reduce force concentration", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/shell-resists-cracking/", "Strategy": "Shell Resists Cracking\n\nThe shell of a scallop resists cracking via composite structure.\n\n“But there’s yet another and perhaps even better way to keep cracks from propagating disastrously. It consists of making a material of at least two components, one stiffer than the other. If a crack runs through a little fiber of stiff material and then reaches an unstiff (compliant) component, the latter will give a little, accommodate the crack, and reduce the force concentration at the tip of the crack. Result–the crack stops…Organisms don’t use pure metals, and they use composites for all their rigid and most of their pliant materials…They inevitably divide their stiff stuff into small pieces that form components of composites…You can drill a hole in a scallop shell with little worry that it might shatter…it’s not as brittle as you might think.”"}, {"Source": "ascomycetes", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "rapidly adapt to new conditions", "Function2": "survive long period of suspended metabolism", "Function3": "protect themselves from environmental stresses", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/microcolonial-fungi-adapt-to-extreme-conditions/", "Strategy": "Microcolonial Fungi Adapt to Extreme Conditions\n\nFree-living ascomycetes growing in colonies can spread into the extremely hostile environments including deserts because they possess extracellular polymeric substances and other adaptations.\n\n“Rock-inhabiting MCF [microcolonial fungi] endure sudden changes in the environment by rapidly adapting their metabolic activity, life style and survival structures to the new conditions. Ultrastructural peculiarities of these fungi suggest spore-like metabolism and protection  although MCF do not propagate sexually . Relevant characteristics of poikilo-tolerant MCF include: (i) the capacity to survive long periods of suspended metabolism. In this way, they can remain as colonies made up of pseudo tissue-like microcolonies comprising 100–500 cells for several decades until conditions favourable to further growth return; (ii) the ability to re-organize internally by constantly replacing dying or dead cells with new buds (Gorbushina et al., 2003) and Fig. 6C; (iii) the ability to form filamentous hyphae that develop from clump-like colonies to penetrate deep into rocks thus protecting themselves from environmental stresses. In this sense, the visible portion of melanized MCF is like the tip-of-the-iceberg, because the hyphae can rapidly penetrate several mm to cm into hard rocks in search of more protected environments and; (iv) the ability to create a multitude of varnish-like coatings, skins and shells that arise from the impregnation of the extracellular matrix and melanin layers with minerals "}, {"Source": "meadow grass", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protect themselves", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/microscopic-silica-blades-protect/", "Strategy": "Microscopic Silica Blades Protect\n\nThe blades of some meadow grasses protect themselves via sharp microscopic silica blades along their edges.\n\n“The defences developed by grasses become only too clear if you carelessly run your finger along the blade of one of the coarser meadow grasses. You may well cut yourself. The damage is done by a line of microscopic silica blades.”"}, {"Source": "sea-wrack", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "avoid dehydration", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/protective-coating-prevents-dehydration/", "Strategy": "Protective Coating Prevents Dehydration\n\nSea-wracks prevent dehydration when exposed to air by coating themselves with a protective mucus.\n\n“Where the coast is not muddy but rocky, trees cannot survive. They would soon be smashed by pounding waves. The only tactic here is to be flexible and ride the thrusts of the waves rather than resist them. And that is what the sea-wracks do. They are algae. Those that live between the tides have to take precautions against being dried out during their twice daily exposure to the air and they do so by covering themselves with a coat of mucus. It is this that makes them so slippery under foot. Some species develop gas-filled bladders in their fronds so that, as the tide sweeps in and out, they rise and fall and remain close to the surface within reach of the all-important light.” "}, {"Source": "termite colony", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "social vaccination", "Function2": "group immunity", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/social-system-protects-from-disease/", "Strategy": "Social System Protects From Disease\n\nMembers of termite colonies transfer immunity among colony members via a sort of social vaccination.\n\n“Termites have devised an ingenious public health programme. By vaccinating their nest mates against infection, they prevent potentially devastating diseases destroying the colony, entomologists have discovered. This group immunity could be one reason why social insects are so successful…Now James Traniello and his team at Boston University in Massachusetts have found that living in a group boosts an individual termite’s immunity to disease. He had shown previously that termites that survive an infection are better able to fight off the same disease in future, suggesting that their immune system develops a ‘memory’ for the parasite, just as ours does. Traniello now wanted to find out whether this memory could be transferred between nest mates.\n\n“The researchers exposed dampwood termites (Zootermopsis angusticollis) to a fungal infection to immunise them. Next, they placed the immunised insects with termites that had never encountered the fungus. When they infected different groups of termites with the fungus, they found that unimmunised termites did better in these mixed groups than in a group on their own. The immunised insects are carrying out a sort of ‘social vaccination’, says Traniello.\n\n“As yet, the team doesn’t know how immunity is transferred. But Traniello has a few ideas. Termites regularly transfer gut bacteria to each other, which allows them to break down cellulose in wood. So they may be sharing fungicides produced by bacteria in their guts in the same way. Alternatively, the immunised termites might transfer inactivated fungal spores to their nest mates, which allows them to experience the pathogen safely.”"}, {"Source": "armadillo's body", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protect from predator", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/armor-protects-from-predators/", "Strategy": "Armor Protects From Predators\n\nThe body of armadillo protects from predators via flexible armor plating.\n\n“Many larger creatures recognize the value of having the least possible surface area. Rolling into a ball is a simple but effective form of defence, used by creatures as diverse as the woodlouse, the hedgehog, and the armadillo. The economy of shape is made even more effective by adding some form of flexible armour-plating on the surface of the sphere. All the vulnerable and vital organs and limbs are tucked away inside the protective casing, presenting a predator with a frustrating ball game instead of a meal.” "}, {"Source": "tree trunk", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "reduce the tendency of the tree to bend over", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/flexibility-limits-bending-in-wind/", "Strategy": "Flexibility Limits Bending in Wind\n\nThe trunks of trees reduce their tendency to bend in the wind due to their torsional flexibility.\n\n“Another use of torsional flexibility, perhaps less sophisticated, happens on a larger scale. Wind on a tree will twist it unless everything (including the wind) is perfectly symmetrical about the trunk. But twisting brings bits of tree closer to a downwind orientation and brings the bits into closer proximity to each other. Both should reduce the tendency of the tree to bend over. Clever–lowering torsional stiffness ought to reduce the requirement for flexural stiffness! While we don’t have data for any intact tree, the effect has been shown for clusters of leaves, and casual observations in storms suggest that it works on larger scales. Tree-level use is consistent with the relatively low values of torsional stiffness of fresh samples of tree trunks and bamboo culms .”"}, {"Source": "grass tree's leaves", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "efficient heat insulation", "Function2": "be the survivor of fires", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/compacted-leaves-form-efficient-heat-insulation/", "Strategy": "Compacted Leaves Form Efficient Heat Insulation\n\nThe leaves of the grass tree serve as efficient heat insulation via compacted arrangement of leaf bases.\n\n“This country [southwestern Australia] is also one of the headquarters of the grass tree…It is neither a grass nor is it a tree. It is a distant relative of the lilies. But it does have very long narrow leaves that resemble grass, and they are born in a great shock on the top of a stem that looks like the trunk of a tree and may be up to ten feet high. However the core of this trunk is not timber but fibre and what seems to be bark is, in fact, the tightly compacted bases of the leaves which are shed annually from beneath the crown as the plant grows higher. These bases are glued together by a copious flow of gum and they form a very efficient heat insulation. Since the plant sheds one ring of leaves annually, counting the rings of bases in this fire-proof jacket gives an indication of age and reveals that the grass trees not only grow only a foot or so in a decade but that a mature one may be about five hundred years old and therefore be the survivor of dozens of fires.” "}, {"Source": "woolly spider monkey's diet", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "reduce fertility", "Function2": "enhance fertility", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/foods-reduce-or-enhance-fertility/", "Strategy": "Foods Reduce or Enhance Fertility\n\nWoolly spider monkeys influence their fertility by eating specific plants.\n\n“In the New World, female woolly spider monkeys (Brachyteles arachnoides) from Brazil appear to intentionally consume certain plants that affect fertility. Wisconsin University primatologist Dr. K. Strier has noted that once a female monkey has given birth, she seeks out certain leaves that contain isoflavonoids, estrogen-like compounds that reduce fertility. Conversely, when ready to have offspring, females appear to eat more of a particular legume nicknamed the monkey ear, which produces a steroid believed to enhance fertility. Researchers are still not sure if this is just a coincidence or a deliberate choice.” "}, {"Source": "peatland plant", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "endure a highly variable water table", "Function2": "prevent flooding", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/plants-rise-above-flooding/", "Strategy": "Plants Rise Above Flooding\n\nPeatland plants survive variable water levels by growing on stilt-like tussocks.\n\n“Even plants with aerenchyma will be at risk if the water table rises so much that their leaves become inundated. Wetland Carex species, for instance, are very tolerant to water saturation in the root zone (they have aerenchyma, and in general are not dependent on mycorrhiza). Development of high tussocks is a way for species to endure a highly variable water table. This can be seen in swamp forests where the underlying soil has low permeability so that water table rises drastically after snow melt or heavy precipitation and then drops gradually. It can also be seen in some types of marsh, and along brooks with variable water flows. Examples are the stilt-like tussocks of Carex cespitosa and C. nigra var. juncea in Europe, C. stricta in North America, and Juncus effusus on both continents. Many bryophytes and lichens that are themselves unable to form high tussocks avoid flooding by growing on top of Sphagnum hummocks, and other species grow on stumps, rotting logs, and the bases of trees, examples being Ptilidium pulcherrimum and Cladonia spp.” "}, {"Source": "greenbottle fly's secretion", "Application": "antibacterial peptides", "Function1": "antibacterial peptides", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/secretions-are-antibacterial/", "Strategy": "Secretions Are Antibacterial\n\nSecretions of the greenbottle fly protects the larvae from bacteria via antibacterial peptides.\n\n“In conclusion, this preliminary investigation has shown that the secretions from L. sericata larva possess significant antibacterial activity against a range of Gram-positive microorganisms, including some clinically important strains of MRSA. The activity/activities in this secretion were considered to be of low molecular weight, highly stable and a systemic part of the larva. They possess several characteristics consistent with insect antibacterial peptides. All these features point to the possible presence of compounds within the larval secretions of L. sericata that could prove highly useful in the fight against MRSA and other nosocomial infections.”"}, {"Source": "lobelia's rosette", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "form a shield of ice", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/ice-in-rosette-protects-bud-from-frost/", "Strategy": "Ice in Rosette Protects Bud From Frost\n\nA liquid held in the rosette of a lobelia protects the plant's terminal bud from frost by forming a shield of ice over the submerged bud on cold nights.\n\n“There are also two species of lobelia on the upper slopes of the mountain [Mount Kenya]. Both form giant rosettes of leaves on the ground. They are in just as much danger of having their terminal buds frost-bitten as the cabbage groundsel and one of them takes the same preventative measures, folding its leaves over the terminal buds each night. The other surprisingly does not do this. Instead it remains widespread throughout the night. But it has a most ingenious defence…Its rosette forms a deep watertight cup that contains up to three quarters of a gallon of liquid. Each night, a plate of ice forms across the surface. This acts as a shield, preventing the frost from penetrating more deeply into the pond. The water beneath remains liquid and therefore above freezing point and the submerged bud survives undamaged. It is a minimal defence. Were the nights to last a few hours longer or the temperature to stay below zero during the day, then the contents of the ponds might freeze solid right to the bottom and the bud would be killed. As it is, however, the sun returns after a few hours and all is well.” "}, {"Source": "bornean moth caterpillar", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protect themselves", "Function2": "feed out of the sight of hungry birds", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/leaf-tents-hide-caterpillars/", "Strategy": "Leaf Tents Hide Caterpillars\n\nBornean moths protect themselves from birds by creating leaf tents.\n\n“In the rain forests of Borneo, one small moth caterpillar constructs a most ingenious device that enables it to feed out of the sight of hungry birds. It starts work on the margin of a leaf and chews a cut inwards as though it were about to remove a semicircular segment. But when it reaches the farthest extent of the curve and seems about to arch back towards the margin, it stops and returns to the edge of the leaf. It walks along it and makes another cut as if to complete the semicircle from the other direction. But just before it joins the first cut, it stops. The segment is now attached only by a small hinge. The caterpillar next spins silken threads across the hinge between the segment and the rest of the leaf. As the silk dries, it contracts. This first hoists the segment into the air and then brings it down on top of the caterpillar. Now, working from beneath, the caterpillar makes a short slit at right angles to the cut edge of the segment. It converts the segment into a tiny dome. The whole process takes a couple of hours. As a result of all this ingenious labour, the caterpillar can nibble away at the leaf surface beneath, safe from the eyes and beaks of hungry birds.” "}, {"Source": "petroleum fly larva's gut bacteria", "Application": "solvent-tolerant enzymes", "Function1": "tolerance to solvent", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/surviving-oil-ponds/", "Strategy": "Surviving Oil Ponds\n\nGut bacteria of petroleum fly larvae possibly aid survival in crude oil ponds via solvent tolerance.\n\n“Helaeomyia petrolei larvae [the larvae of flies that live in crude oil ponds and feed on insects that fall in] isolated from the asphalt seeps of Rancho La Brea in Los Angeles, Calif., were examined for microbial gut contents. Standard counts on Luria-Bertani, MacConkey, and blood agar plates indicated ca. 2 × 105 heterotrophic bacteria per larva. The culturable bacteria represented 15 to 20% of the total population as determined by acridine orange staining. The gut itself contained large amounts of the oil, had no observable ceca, and maintained a slightly acidic pH of 6.3 to 6.5. Despite the ingestion of large amounts of potentially toxic asphalt by the larvae, their guts sustained the growth of 100 to 1,000 times more bacteria than did free oil. All of the bacteria isolated were nonsporeformers and gram negative. Fourteen isolates were chosen based on representative colony morphologies and were identified by using the Enterotube II and API 20E systems and fatty acid analysis. Of the 14 isolates, 9 were identified as Providencia rettgeri and 3 were likely Acinetobacter isolates. No evidence was found that the isolates grew on or derived nutrients from the asphalt itself or that they played an essential role in insect development. Regardless, any bacteria found in the oil fly larval gut are likely to exhibit pronounced solvent tolerance and may be a future source of industrially useful, solvent-tolerant enzymes.” "}, {"Source": "zanzibar red colobus", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "neutralize toxic foods", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/dietary-supplement-neutralizes-toxic-foods/", "Strategy": "Dietary Supplement Neutralizes Toxic Foods\n\nThe Zanzibar red colobus effectively removes toxins such as phenols from the leaves it eats by eating charcoal.\n\n“As discovered during the late 1990s by Dr. Thomas Struhsaker and fellow researchers from North Carolina’s Duke University, the Zanzibar red colobus (Colobus kirkii) eats charcoal in the wild, making it the only primate species other than humans to do so. The reason for its daily — and very enthusiastic — charcoal intake (which it obtains by stealing charcoal from human charcoal burners) is that the substance is effective in removing harmful toxins such as phenols from the protein-rich leaves of the mango (Mangifera indica) and almond (Terminalia catappa) upon which it feeds. These substances would otherwise have a harmful effect on the functioning of the monkey’s digestive system.” "}, {"Source": "sea otter's teeth", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "resist damage", "Function2": "stress shielding", "Function3": "prism interweaving", "Function4": "self-healing", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/teeth-are-resilient/", "Strategy": "Teeth Are Resilient\n\nTeeth of sea otters resist damage due to 'stress shielding' by neighbors, prism interweaving (decussation), and self-healing.\n\n“Tooth enamel is inherently weak, with fracture toughness comparable with glass, yet it is remarkably resilient, surviving millions of functional contacts over a lifetime. We propose a microstructural mechanism of damage resistance, based on observations from ex situ loading of human and sea otter molars (teeth with strikingly similar structural features). Section views of the enamel implicate tufts, hypomineralized crack-like defects at the enamel–dentin junction, as primary fracture sources. We report a stabilization in the evolution of these defects, by ‘stress shielding’ from neighbors, by inhibition of ensuing crack extension from prism interweaving (decussation), and by self-healing. These factors, coupled with the capacity of the tooth configuration to limit the generation of tensile stresses in largely compressive biting, explain how teeth may absorb considerable damage over time without catastrophic failure, an outcome with strong implications concerning the adaptation of animal species to diet.” \n\n“Teeth are made from an extremely sophisticated composite material which reacts in an extraordinary way under pressure,” says Prof. Chai.\n\n“Teeth exhibit graded mechanical properties and a cathedral-like geometry, and over time they develop a network of micro-cracks which help diffuse stress. This, and the tooth’s built-in ability to heal the micro-cracks over time, prevents it from fracturing into large pieces\nwhen we eat hard food, like nuts.” "}, {"Source": "moth wing", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "detect movement", "Function2": "detect presence", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/detecting-presence-and-movement-of-predators/", "Strategy": "Detecting Presence and Movement of Predators\n\nA rigid plate below moth wings detects movements of predatory bats by acting as a microphone device.\n\n“As the bat gets that revised sonar fix and swoops in closer, the moth can hear it coming. The moth has a sort of sensitive microphone built out of a tiny rigid plate below its wings. This microphone device locates the swooping killer in the air, even in dim, dense underbrush or where there’s no light at all. The moth doesn’t have to be able to visually ‘see’ anything at all to get an exact fix on where its attacker is. With the new information, it just changes course in the air, and flies away.” \n\n“Some moths listen with their bodies through a pair of eardrum-like organs in their abdomens. Each organ consists of a thin membrane of cuticle, behind which is an airsac that enables the membrane to vibrate\nwhen it is hit by sound waves. Connected by nerves to the brain, these organs are sensitive to the frequency range of ultrsonic squeaks emitted by insect-eating bats.” "}, {"Source": "live oak", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "resist strong winds", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/branches-survive-intense-wind/", "Strategy": "Branches Survive Intense Wind\n\nLive oaks survive strong winds because of high wood strength and a low canopy that branches out in multiple subdivisions without a main axis.\n\n“The resistance of live oak has been related to the low deliquescent canopy and high wood strength and resilience … The crowns of the larger live oaks were level with or below crowns of associated laurel and water oaks.” "}, {"Source": "california sea hare's escapin", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "inhibit microbial growth", "Function2": "antimicrobial effect", "Function3": "bacteriostasis", "Function4": "bactericidal effect", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/polypeptide-inhibits-microbial-growth/", "Strategy": "Polypeptide Inhibits Microbial Growth\n\nThe California sea hare inhibits microbial growth using escapin, a polypeptide.\n\n“Escapin’s antimicrobial effects, bacteriostasis and bactericidal, were determined using a combination of two assays: (1) incubation of bacteria on solid media followed by assessment of inhibition by direct observation of zones of inhibition or by turbidity measurements; and (2) incubation of bacteria in liquid media followed by counting viable colonies after growing on agar plates. Native escapin inhibited the growth of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, including marine bacteria (Vibrio harveyii and Staphylococcus aureus) and pathogenic bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pyogenes and Pseudomonas aeruginosa). Escapin also inhibited the growth of yeast and fungi, with different efficacies. Escapin’s antimicrobial activity was concentration dependent and did not decrease when stored for more than 5 months at room temperature. Escapin was bacteriostatic and not bactericidal in minimal media (e.g. salt media) with glucose, yeast extract, and a mixture of 20 amino acids each at 50 µmol l-1, but was bactericidal in media enriched with Tryptone Peptone. Escapin was also strongly bactericidal in media with L-lysine at concentrations as low as 3 mmol l-1 and slightly bactericidal in 50 mmol l-1 L-arginine, but not in most other amino acids even at 50 mmol l-1. Escapin had high oxidase activity (producing hydrogen peroxide) with either L-arginine or L-lysine as a substrate and little to no oxidase activity with other L-amino acids. Hydrogen peroxide alone (without escapin or amino acids) was strongly bacteriostatic but poorly bactericidal, similar in this respect to L-arginine but different from L-lysine in the presence of escapin. Together these results suggest that there are multiple mechanisms to escapin’s antimicrobial effects, with bacteriostasis resulting largely or entirely from the effects of hydrogen peroxide produced by escapin’s LAAO activity, but bactericidal effects resulting from lysine-dependent mechanisms not directly involving hydrogen peroxide.”"}, {"Source": "cotton grass", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "poison neutralizing digestive juices", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/plant-poison-neutralizes-digestive-juices/", "Strategy": "Plant Poison Neutralizes Digestive Juices\n\nThe poison produced by cotton grass protects them from lemmings by neutralizing digestive juices, leading to lemming starvation.\n\n“The ability to produce poison may be the cause of one of the most celebrated, almost mythic, events in natural history – the mass suicide of the Norway lemming. These little hamster-like rodents of the Arctic tundra increase in numbers year after year until there is a population explosion, and then hordes of them are said to deliberately drown themselves.\n\n“The cause of this extraordinary behaviour may be the fact, recently discovered, that when lemmings start to feed on the cotton grass and sedges that are their main food, the plants begin to produce a poison which neutralises the lemmings’ digestive juices. If the grazing is light, the plants stop doing this after about 30 hours, but if it is intense, as it is when the lemming population reaches its climax, they do so continuously. The effect on the lemmings is not only that they cannot digest their meals. Because they cannot, their bodies produce more and more digestive fluids, draining their physical resources and bringing them even closer to starvation. As a consequence, the more they eat the hungrier they get, and when having stripped the surrounding tundra they reach the edge of the sea or a lake, they swim out into it, in a frenzied attempt to find some food somewhere that will sustain them.”"}, {"Source": "deinococcus radiodurans", "Application": "delivering deinococcus repair proteins into animal cells", "Function1": "survive extreme radiation", "Function2": "prevent oxidative damage", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/superbug-survives-radiation/", "Strategy": "Superbug Survives Radiation\n\nThe genome of Deinococcus radiodurans can survive extreme radiation because it prevents oxidative damage to its repair proteins via manganese ions.\n\n“Deinococcus radiodurans can survive doses of ionising radiation thousands of times stronger than would kill a human. So how does it do it?\n\n“Radiation shatters DNA into fragments, and it has long been thought that this is what makes it dangerous, explains Michael Daly of Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland.\n\n“Not so, Daly says: instead it is protein damage that is the killer. ‘The ability of cells to survive radiation is highly dependent on the amount of protein damage caused during irradiation.’\n\n“By exposing Deinococcus and other resistant bacteria to radiation, Daly’s team found that the resilience of a cell’s repair proteins is linked to the number of manganese ions in the cell. Manganese prevents oxidative damage to repair proteins and allows them to swing into action after radiation has damaged DNA (PLoS Biology, 10.1371/journal.pbio.0050092).\n\n“In effect, this means that it doesn’t matter if your DNA is broken up, as long as you can stitch it back together with repair proteins. The implication is that if you keep your repair systems intact, then – like Deinococcus – you’ll be able to survive high doses of radiation.\n\n"}, {"Source": "acacia tree's seeds", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "attract herbivores", "Function2": "kill the parasites' larvae", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/tastiness-protects-seeds-from-beetles/", "Strategy": "Tastiness Protects Seeds From Beetles\n\nSeeds of Acacia trees survive attacks by parasitic beetles by attracting herbivores whose digestive juices kill the parasites' larvae.\n\n“The species of acacia whose umbrella shape is so typical of the plains of East Africa encloses its seeds in small twisted pods. These are very rich in protein and many of the plant-eating animals on the plain relish them. Those seeds that remain uneaten on the ground seldom if ever germinate, whereas those that are swallowed with the pods do. It used to be thought that this was because stewing in digestive juices weakened the covering of the seeds and made it possible for the infant plant within to break out. The truth, however, is somewhat different. Within a few hours of the acacia tree shedding its pods, large numbers of a particular kind of small beetle fly in, pierce the pods with their sharp ovipositors and lay their eggs within. The eggs hatch rapidly and the tiny grubs then proceed to feed on the acacia’s seeds. Unless, that is, the pods are eaten by an animal such as an elephant. Although the elephant grinds up the pods with its teeth, many of the seeds remain unharmed and are swallowed with the mash. In the stomach all the beetle eggs are killed stone dead by the digestive juices. So when the seeds finally return to the outside world with the animal’s droppings, they have been freed from their insect pests by the elephant, just as effectively as seeds of wheat that have been treated by a farmer with insecticide.”"}, {"Source": "spider's legs", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "prevent depressurization", "Function2": "seal joint", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/mechanism-to-seal-joint-prevents-depressurization/", "Strategy": "Mechanism to Seal Joint Prevents Depressurization\n\nThe legs of spiders are protected from depressurization when damaged via a joint sealing mechanism.\n\n“One particular hydraulic device is worth a little more attention here, partly because its existence comes as yet another surprise and partly because it achieves antagonism for contractile muscle in an unusual way. The eight legs of a spider differ little from the six of an insect, but a curious special feature of spider legs has been known for almost a century. While properly equipped with flexor muscles (ones that decrease the angle between one segment and another), they lack the antagonistic extensor muscles (ones that increase that angle toward 180 degrees). Biologists casually assumed that elasticity of the interarticular membranes provided the antagonistic force, not on the face of it an unreasonable idea. But Ellis (1944) remembered that spiders die with legs severely flexed. If elasticity did the extension, they would more likely die with legs extended or at least not so flexed–as do insects. He found that cutting off the tip of a leg prevented re-extenson until the tip was resealed; and he found that mild exsanguination reduced a spider’s ability to extend any of its legs. He suggested that extension in spider legs was hydraulic, not muscular or elastic. The idea was confirmed by Parry and Brown (1959), who measured resting pressures of 6.6 kilopascals and transient pressures of up to 60 kilopascals (over half an atmosphere) in spider legs. An isolated leg could lift more weight as the pressure inside it was increased, and the spiders turned out to have a special mechanism to seal off a joint that prevented fatal depressurization when a leg was lost.”"}, {"Source": "titan arum plant's spathe", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protect from water", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/bract-forms-waterproof-structure/", "Strategy": "Bract Forms Waterproof Structure\n\nThe spadix of the titan arum plant is protected from water by a specialized bract called a spathe, that clasps the spadix tightly enough to form a waterproof bag.\n\n“The tall grey spadix [of the titan arum], which is filled with cobweb-like support fibres, becomes flaccid, topples forward and droops over the margin of the spathe. The spathe itself contracts inwards and its upper margins start to twist round the lower part of the spadix, clasping it so tightly that a huge water-tight bag is created. Safe inside it, the ovaries of the fertilised female flowers begin to swell.”"}, {"Source": "female mantled howler monkey's reproductive tract", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "control sex of offspring", "Function2": "control electrical conditions", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/sex-of-offspring-controlled-2/", "Strategy": "Sex of Offspring Controlled\n\nThe reproductive tract of the female mantled howler monkey has electrical conditions that are altered to determine the sex of their offspring via medicinal plants.\n\n“Even more remarkable, studies in the 1990s by zoologist Dr. K. Glander of Duke University suggest that females of South America’s mantled howler monkey (Alouatta palliata) may be actively employing pharmacological methods to determine the sex of their offspring. Glander noticed that the sex of a given female’s offspring seemed to be directly related to the plants she had been eating at the time of mating. And the plants in turn controlled the electrical conditions present in the female’s reproductive tract, either attracting or repelling those sperm carrying the male sex (Y) chromosome, which are believed to possess different electrical charges from those sperm carrying the female sex (X) chromosome.”"}, {"Source": "snow algae", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protect against uv damage", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/red-pigment-protects-against-uv-rays/", "Strategy": "Red Pigment Protects Against UV Rays\n\nSnow algae protects against UV damage via a red carotenoid pigment.\n\n“Other algae manage to exist in the snow itself. They live in a similar way between the individual flakes just below the surface. Their chlorophyll is masked by a red pigment. This protection against damaging ultra-violet rays is more important for them than for the sandstone algae, for sunlight shines more strongly through snow than it does through quartz. During the summer, the sun is warm enough to cause a slight melting of the surface layers, and this provides the algae with the liquid water they need. Dust, brought by the wind, supplies the necessary minerals. The algae themselves manufacture a kind of anti-freeze which keeps the contents of their bodies liquid even when the temperature of the snow falls to several degrees below zero. During the winter, the tiny cells remain largely invisible some distance below the surface, but when summer comes, they propel themselves with microscopic beating hairs and move up towards the surface, the light and the warmth. So in summer, some parts of the snow fields of both the Arctic and the Antarctic blush pink.”"}, {"Source": "blue gem plant's cell", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "survive dry spell", "Function2": "form glassy substance", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/glassiness-protects-plants-in-drought/", "Strategy": "Glassiness Protects Plants in Drought\n\nThe cells of the blue gem plant survive dry spells thanks to sugar solutions drying to form a glassy substance around chloroplasts.\n\n“Craterostigma plantagineum, a native of Africa…uses its stores of sucrose to ‘vitrify’ the fluid around its chloroplasts.” This glassy substance takes the place of water during dry spells, keeping cells from shrinking. "}, {"Source": "stonefly larva's body and eyes", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protect body", "Function2": "keep sediment particles away", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/body-sheds-dirt-particles/", "Strategy": "Body Sheds Dirt Particles\n\nThe body and eyes of stonefly larvae are protected from sediment particles by a coating of dense hairs and bristles.\n\n“In burrowing insect species, a dense cover of bristles and hairs helps to keep the sediment particles away from the body and in the stonefly Capnopsis schiller even the eyes are covered.”"}, {"Source": "lungfish's protective shell", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "secrete mucus", "Function2": "harden into a shell", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/shell-provides-drought-protection/", "Strategy": "Shell Provides Drought Protection\n\nSome lungfish survive drought by burrowing into mud and secreting mucus that hardens into a protective shell around them.\n\n“Whereas some creatures hibernate to avoid the cold, adverse conditions of winter, certain others undergo a similar process when faced with unusually elevated temperatures during the summer or severe periods of drought. This ‘summer hibernation’ is known as estivation and, although less common than true, winter hibernation, it has been recorded in several different types of animal. In some cases, in response to drought, it can last for years.\n\n“Undoubtedly the most famous estivators are lungfishes, notably the West African lungfish (Protopterus annectens) and the Congolese lungfish (P. dolloi). These species normally inhabit swamps and streams, but during hot weather their watery abodes can dry out completely and remain dry for several months. Thus, as soon as a drought begins, the lungfish digs down into the soft mud at the bottom of the watercourse, creating a tubular breathing burrow with a wide chamber at the base…Here it remains once the level of water in its swamp or stream falls below the upper end of the burrow (which is sealed by a porous lid allowing the inward passage of air), sheltered and protected from the heat outside.\n\n“Even without water, the lungfish will not dry out because it rapidly secretes vast quantities of thick mucus around itself, which hardens to form a protective cocoon inside the chamber. Able to breathe the air filtering down into its chamber, the lungfish can stay entombed in this state for months if necessary.” "}, {"Source": "male platypus's back legs", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "provide defense", "Function2": "inject poison", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/ankle-spur-protects-from-predators/", "Strategy": "Ankle Spur Protects From Predators\n\nThe back legs of a male platypus provide defense against predators and other males via poisonous spurs.\n\n“One last peculiarity of the platypus is the sharp horny spur on the back feet of the males, through which poison from a poison gland inside the leg can be injected with a slashing kick. The spur is used in defence and against other males in contests, and the poison is strong enough to be dangerous to humans — not that many of them come into contact with platypuses.” "}, {"Source": "tea plant's defense mechanism", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "resist blister blight", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/plant-resists-blister-blight/", "Strategy": "Plant Resists Blister Blight\n\nThe defense mechanism of tea plants resists blister blight leaf disease in part due to the chemical epicatechin.\n\n“Levels of (−)-epicatechin in tea cultivars resistant to blister blight leaf disease were significantly higher than those in susceptible cultivars, while the reverse was true for (−)-epigallocatechin gallate, suggesting that epicatechin was involved in the resistance mechanism. The content of the methylxanthines, caffeine and theobromine, in the leaf increased in the initial translucent stage of the disease, probably as a defense response to fungal attack. Epicatechin and epigallocatechin levels were less than in healthy tissues at this stage, but increases in the corresponding gallate esters suggested that they were being converted into esters. Although epicatechin and epigallocatechin levels decreased from translucent to mature blister stages, the decrease was not significant. The decrease in levels of epicatechin, epigallocatechin, and their esters on infection and the formation of cyanidin and delphinidin on oxidative depolymerization of the blisters suggests that proanthocyanidins may play a role in the defense mechanism. The high resistance of a purple green leafed cultivar is attributed to the additional catechin source provided by the high levels of anthocyanins present.” "}, {"Source": "tree's wood", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "resist fractures", "Function2": "resist crosswise fracture", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/wood-resists-fracture/", "Strategy": "Wood Resists Fracture\n\nWood of trees resists crosswise fracture via complex architecture.\n\n“That construction of lengthwise tubes with relatively modest cross-connections gives wood its spectacular anisotropy…Crosswise, though, most woods resist fracture well, with the highest work of fracture of any rigid biological material; the orientational difference can be as much as a hundredfold (table 15.7). Not only can we use all kinds of intrusive fasteners such as nails and screws without initiating fracture, but a tree can be injured by a crosswise ax stroke and yet not crack in the next storm. A sawyer must cut almost all the way across the trunk before a healthy tree topples.”"}, {"Source": "marine polychaete worm's tentacles", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "maintain tension", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/tentacles-maintain-tension-as-flow-increases/", "Strategy": "Tentacles Maintain Tension As Flow Increases\n\nThe tentacles of a marine polychaete worm maintain tension as flow increases by extending through a combination of muscular and passive actions.\n\n“A marine polychaete worm, Eupolymnia heterobranchia, lives in a tube in a mud flat with its front end sticking out. It stretches out its long, flexible, sticky, feeding tentacles crosswise to flow…like the main cables of an extension bridge but loaded by drag instead of gravity. According to Johnson (1993), extended straight from animal to anchor point, the tentacles could not withstand much drag. But by a combination of passive sagging and muscular activity, they extend ever farther as flow increases. Drag may increase with flow, but the tentacle-stretching tensile consequence of drag does not–tension in the tentacles remains almost constant over at least a sevenfold speed range.”"}, {"Source": "cape aloe's stem", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "insulate against fire", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/dead-leaves-insulate-against-fire/", "Strategy": "Dead Leaves Insulate Against Fire\n\nThe stems of cape aloe resist fire via dead leaf insulation.\n\n“Many aloe species in southern Africa have stems clothed with a layer of persistent dead leaves. The degree of stem coverage is species-specific. The suggestion that persistent dead leaves have an insulatory function and are adaptive in fire-prone habitat was tested on Aloe ferox. Field surveys demonstrated a significant negative relationship between mortality and degree of stem coverage and laboratory studies confirmed the insulating properties of dead leaves. The distribution of southern African tree aloes supports the prediction that bare-stemmed species would be confined to fire-free habitat whilst fully clothed species would occur in both fire-prone and fire-free habitat.” "}, {"Source": "baboon", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "cure infections", "Function2": "stop diarrhea", "Function3": "treat menstrual cramps", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/self-medicating-cures-infections-stops-pain/", "Strategy": "Self‑medicating Cures Infections, Stops Pain\n\nBaboons may cure infections, stop diarrhea, or treat menstrual cramps by eating particular plant leaves.\n\n“Certain African monkeys are accomplished herbalists, too. Baboons, for instance, cure parasitic infections caused by Schistosoma flukes by eating the fruit of the Balanites tree. They also eat leaves from the Sodom apple (Solanum incanum) to halt bouts of diarrhea. And the leaves of the candelabra tree (Cassia) are much sought after by menstruating baboons to bring relief from menstrual cramps.” "}, {"Source": "microbes' membrane", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "allow diffusion at cold temperature", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/membranes-avoid-freezing/", "Strategy": "Membranes Avoid Freezing\n\nMembranes of some microbes continue to allow diffusion at cold temperatures by having a special fatty composition that keep them relatively fluid.\n\n“Bacteria have two skins, an outer one which is a stiff molecular mesh, through which molecules of food and water can diffuse fairly easily, and an inner one, elastic and membranous, which has to be very selectively permeable, so that nutrients can get in but the internal substances of the cell do not leak out. (This, by the way, is the skin which ice damages lethally; the outer layer is tougher and serves to keep out big molecules and to sustain the cell’s shape). The cell membrane, as it is called, includes a lot of fat in its structure, and its permeability is very much influenced by fluidity of that fat…Psychrophiles have cell membranes of a special fatty composition, such that they are relatively fluid at temperatures near freezing point–and again they pay a price: their membranes become too fluid, and begin to melt, when the environment warms to the temperatures that most bacteria prefer.” "}, {"Source": "skunk's anal sac", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protect from predator", "Function2": "spray pungent liquid", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/noxious-spray-deters-predators/", "Strategy": "Noxious Spray Deters Predators\n\nThe anal sacs of skunks help protect them from predators by spraying a long-lasting, pungent liquid.\n\n“The striped coat of the skunk is a warning to intruders that it can be offensive. If threatened, it will turn its back on the intruder and squirt a nauseous smelling fluid from its anal sacs, often with surprisingly good aim…any animal that ignores its black and white warning coloration may get hit, even at a distance, by a jet of pungent liquid which will cause distress for days or even weeks.”"}, {"Source": "starfish's limb", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "shed limb", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/limb-shedding-assists-escape/", "Strategy": "Limb Shedding Assists Escape\n\nThe limbs of a starfish assist escape because they can be shed.\n\n“Starfishes, which have hard spiny skeletons and five (or more) arms or limbs in a star-like arrangement, are also adept at autotomy when caught by predators. Their subsequent regeneration, however, can be particularly dramatic. As long as the shed limb is not devoured by the predator and still contains a section of the central body disc of the starfish that shed it, this limb has the ability to regenerate into a complete starfish.”"}, {"Source": "dr. joan garey", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "induce abortion", "Function2": "reduce population size", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/eating-leaves-to-control-reproduction/", "Strategy": "Eating Leaves to Control Reproduction\n\nChimpanzees may induce abortions by eating leaves from certain Ziziphus and Combretum plant species.\n\n“Dr. Joan Garey from New York’s Mount Sinai School of Medicine has also observed these chimps eating leaves from certain Ziziphus (jujub) and Combretum species, which are used by the local women to induce abortions. Consequently, in a paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Primatologists in 1997, Garey speculated that the chimps may use these plants deliberately for the same purpose, as a means of reducing the size of the local chimp population if it has become too large.” "}, {"Source": "muskox's coat", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "provide insulation", "Function2": "withstand cold blast", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/coat-insulates-against-extreme-cold/", "Strategy": "Coat Insulates Against Extreme Cold\n\nThe coat of a muskox provides insulation via bilayer structure: a shaggy outercoat of guard hairs, and a thick silky undercoat.\n\n“The musk ox has shaggy outer hair and a thick silky undercoat in which it can withstand any blast or blizzard…”"}, {"Source": "sunflowers and other many other organisms", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "reinforce hydrostatic skeletons", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/fibers-reinforce-hydrostatic-skeletons/", "Strategy": "Fibers Reinforce Hydrostatic Skeletons\n\nHydrostatic structures found in sunflowers and other many other organisms serve various functions but almost always use helical fibers as reinforcement.\n\n“With few exceptions, nature uses the second arrangement of fibers for her internally pressurized, water-filled cylinders. These structures (often termed ‘hydrostatic skeletons’ or ‘hydroskeletons’ as well as ‘hydrostats’) have helical reinforcing fibers. And this particular arrangement is no rare or once-evolved thing. It occurs in the stems of young herbaceous (nonwoody) plants such as sunflowers; it provides a wrapping for flatworms (platyhelminths and nemerteans), roundworms (nematodes), and segmented worms (annelids); it stiffens the body wall of sea anemones; it determines the response to muscle contraction of the outer mantle of squids; and it’s a major functional component of shark skin. The material of the fibers varies widely, the functions of these hydroskeletons are even more diverse, but the wrapping is almost always helical.” "}, {"Source": "macroalgae's blade", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "stop crack", "Function2": "mitigate crack growth", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/extensibility-helps-stop-spread-of-cracks/", "Strategy": "Extensibility Helps Stop Spread of Cracks\n\nThe blades of macroalgae stop cracks from spreading by using their elasticity to round the tips of new cracks.\n\n“Use materials that don’t develop sharp tips on any cracks they might suffer. Some highly extensible materials use this device to minimize their fracture risk. Macroalgal blades are broad enough for tearing to be a real risk, and they have a low work of fracture. But their extensibility is high, and they use that extensibility to engage in spontaneous crack-tip rounding ”\n\n“Although a certain number of cycles at high stress may cause blade fracture, if these highstress cycles are separated by low-stress cycles that do not cause crack propagation, algae may have time to repair fractured tissues or round crack tips in a way that mitigates subsequent crack growth. In addition, the energy release rate below which crack growth does not occur may be effectively increased through tissue repair.”"}, {"Source": "grass tree", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "stimulate flowering", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/burning-stimulates-flowering/", "Strategy": "Burning Stimulates Flowering\n\nFlowering of grass trees following a fire may be triggered by a huge release of ethylene gas as the trees burn.\n\n“When the flames do come, they quickly burn off the great tuft of leaves [of the grass tree] which incinerate almost instantaneously in a shower of red sparks that fly high into the sky. But the stem, surrounded by its fire-guard remains unharmed and the leaves are quickly regrown. The fire, however, has an additional effect that initially is invisible. As all the vegetation goes up in flames, great quantities of ethylene gas are released. This permeates to the heart of the grass trees and causes a major change within them. A few months after the fire has passed and the leaves have regrown, a vertical green rod emerges from the centre of the leaves. It grows taller and taller until it may double the plant’s height. Then, along its length emerge a multitude of tiny white flowers. It may be the production of ethylene on a vast scale following the fire that cues the flowering of almost all the adult grass trees in the bushland.”"}, {"Source": "synovial fluid", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "lubricate joints", "Function2": "reduce friction", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/macromolecules-aid-joint-lubrication/", "Strategy": "Macromolecules Aid Joint Lubrication\n\nLubricating synovial fluid in joints protects from friction via a brush-like phase of charged macromolecules.\n\n“It is proposed that the extremely efficient lubrication observed in living joints arises from the presence of a brush-like phase of charged macromolecules at the surface of the superficial zone. This phase forms when charged macromolecules, including lubricin, superficial-zone protein, and aggrecan, cross the interface between the superficial zone and the synovial cavity as they are secreted into the synovium from within the bulk of the cartilage, and, in particular, the feasibility of such brush-like surface-phases is examined in some detail. The molecular mechanisms for the reduction in friction are proposed to be similar to those recently revealed using surface force balance studies on lubrication by charged brushes.”"}, {"Source": "blue crab's body", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "provide support", "Function2": "maintain mobility", "Function3": "create a stiff structure", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/fluid-pressure-provides-support/", "Strategy": "Fluid Pressure Provides Support\n\nThe body of the blue crab functions during exoskeletal molt using hydrostatic pressure.\n\n“The aquatic blue crab Callinectes sapidus maintains mobility by switching to a hydrostatic skeleton 10 — a fluid-based skeleton that is common in soft-bodied invertebrates 11. Hydrostatic skeletons are arranged so that the force of muscle contraction is transmitted by an essentially incompressible aqueous fluid 11–13. Muscle contraction increases the pressure in the fluid, causing the deformations or stiffening required for support, movement and locomotion.”\n\n“Like vertebrates, crustaceans usually move their limbs using muscles attached to a hard skeleton–albeit one on the outside of the body rather than the inside. But when a crab sheds its skeleton to grow a bigger shell, the muscles are left without any rigid surface to pull against. How do they do it? William Kier and Jennifer Taylor of UNC-Chapel Hill investigated, and found that, during molting, crabs use hydrostatic pressure to create a stiff structure against which muscles can pull. Fluid pressure in the claw goes up as the muscles contract; if you remove a claw during molting, it deflates like a flat tire. Once the shell has hardened, however, pressure does not change during muscle use. Soft-shelled crabs are the first animals known to use both a skeleton and hydrostatic pressure for support.”"}, {"Source": "female red kangaroo's reproductive system", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "embryo dormancy", "Function2": "developmental dormancy", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/embryos-go-into-dormancy/", "Strategy": "Embryos Go Into Dormancy\n\nThe reproductive system of female red kangaroos holds embryos in developmental dormancy via hormones.\n\n“One to three days after giving birth, a female kangaroo often mates again and another fertilized egg settles into her uterus…The fate of the egg…depends on what happens to [the first] baby. If the recently born baby has reached the pouch and latched onto a teat, the newly fertilized egg develops only to the blastocyst stage (about seventy to one hundred cells) and then stays in developmental dormancy until it receives the signal to continue to development. The blastocyst can remain dormant in the uterus for several months. If the newborn baby hasn’t made it to the pouch or if it dies while in the pouch, the female’s body releases a pulse of the hormone progesterone. This signals the blastocyst to continue to develop, and about thirty-three days later the ‘replacement baby’ will be born. The same happens once a mature joey is about to leave the pouch permanently and is nursing less: the mother’s hormones kick in and the fertilized egg begins to develop.”"}, {"Source": "wood fiber", "Application": "composite material", "Function1": "prevent structural weakness", "Function2": "deform around hole", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/continuous-fibers-prevent-structural-weakness/", "Strategy": "Continuous Fibers Prevent Structural Weakness\n\nKnotholes in wood do not crack because the fibers around them are continuous.\n\n“There has been relatively little attempt to produce an artificial analogue to wood because wood is cheap, lightweight, tough, moldable, and easily shaped. However, when a hole is drilled in timber, it weakens the structure. The tree, however, drills no holes, even though it must disrupt the trunk’s wood where a new branch pushes through. The fibers deform around a knothole, remaining continuous. George Jeronimidis of the Univ. of Reading Center for Biometrics is proposing to study how this can be used in fibrous composite materials.”"}, {"Source": "umbrella thorn tree's structure", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "preserve soil moisture", "Function2": "reduce soil evaporation", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/tree-structure-reduces-water-loss/", "Strategy": "Tree Structure Reduces Water Loss\n\nThe structure of umbrella thorn trees preserves soil moisture by having a high proportion above-ground woody mass and low amount of foliage.\n\n“According to the savannah literature, grasses utilise the topsoil water while tree roots have exclusive access to deeper water, creating a clear niche separation. However, Belsky and her colleagues observed that the shallow rooting baobab (Adansonia digitata) has the same beneficial effect on understorey soils and vegetation as the deep-rooted Acacia tortilis. One explanation could be that both species have a higher proportion of woody aboveground structure than foliage, so that more soil water is saved by reducing soil evaporation than is lost as transpiration, although interception loss would still exist. In contrast, the proportion of woody structure in most new simultaneous agroforestry systems is deliberately kept to a minimum by either frequent pruning or selection of leafy tree species .”"}, {"Source": "free-living ascomycete", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "survive unfavorable conditions", "Function2": "form pseudo tissue-like microcolonies", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/colonial-living-leads-to-long-term-survival/", "Strategy": "Colonial Living Leads to Long‑term Survival\n\nFree-living ascomycetes survive unfavorable conditions by forming pseudo tissue-like microcolonies.\n\n“The capacity to survive long periods of suspended metabolism allows free-living ascomycetes to remain as colonies made up of pseudo tissue-like microcolonies comprising 100–500 cells for several decades until conditions favourable to further growth return.”"}, {"Source": "crocodile's skin", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "reduce water loss", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/skin-prevents-water-loss/", "Strategy": "Skin Prevents Water Loss\n\nThe skin of crocodiles and alligators protects against water loss via bony scales called 'scutes.'\n\n“Crocodiles and alligators have rather different scales from those of other reptiles. Called ‘scutes’, they are bony and quite massive, but are not fused together joined to the underlying skeleton, so flexible fast movement is still possible. Each scute develops on its own, and is replaced by layers from below. The scutes are particularly massive on the back, perhaps because this is the area most exposed to the sun and most at risk of drying out…where the scutes are largest, the area of less waterproof skin between is smallest, so large scutes provide a good seal against water loss. Areas of small scutes occur on the sides and around the shoulders and hips, where greater flexibility is needed during movement.”"}, {"Source": "squirrel's liver", "Application": "human organ transplantation", "Function1": "maintain microcirculation", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/liver-survives-cold-temperatures/", "Strategy": "Liver Survives Cold Temperatures\n\nLivers of squirrels survive cold temperatures during hibernation by maintaining microcirculation.\n\n“Close investigation of hibernating states is giving scientists new insight into animal physiology and, as a bonus, human health and disease as well…Organ transplant. Harvested human organs kept at cold temperatures can only remain viable for a few days at most. So, how do squirrels’ livers and intestines stay perfectly healthy at less than 40 degrees Fahrenheit for weeks on end? In one study, ‘we found that [hibernating] squirrels maintain, in a much healthier state, the microcirculation of the liver,’ Carey said [Hannah Carey, a professor in the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison]. Insights into just how this happens could increase the viability and number of human organs available for transplant, she said.” "}, {"Source": "jellyfish and sea anemones' composite mesoglea", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "provides structural support", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/jelly-substance-provides-structural-support/", "Strategy": "Jelly Substance Provides Structural Support\n\nThe composite mesoglea of jellyfish and sea anemones provides structural support using collagen fibers in a complex gel matrix.\n\n“Then there’s the jelly of jellyfish and sea anemones (mesoglea), made up of sparse collagen fibers in a complex gel matrix.”"}, {"Source": "animal's teeth", "Application": "hard materials", "Function1": "resist compression", "Function2": "resist tension", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/teeth-resist-compression-and-tension/", "Strategy": "Teeth Resist Compression and Tension\n\nThe teeth of many animals are stiff and resistant to compression due to an outer layer of enamel, but have some resistance to tension due to an inner layer of dentine.\n\n“Consider our teeth crucial to feeding ourselves, subject to stresses and abrasions over long periods, and…none too reliable. Enamel, the outer layer on teeth, is very stiff and resistant to compression–handy for biting and chewing–but it takes tension poorly and is exceedingly brittle–stiffness and toughness seem in practice as antithetical here as in the various commercial steels. Dentine, the next layer in (and the bulk of the hard stuff in teeth), is less stiff than enamel but not quite so brittle. An off-axis load might safely develop some substantial tension in the dentine–harder dentine would most likely lead to increased functional fragility. Perhaps there’s a general principle involved–limit the hardest material to small pieces at the site of wear, as we do in making carbide-tipped drills and saws. Teeth crack without enormous provocation–their poor behavior in actual fracture is an unpleasant converse of the hardness needed for trituration. "}, {"Source": "echinoderm's ossicle", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "shape change", "Function2": "change mechanical properties", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/systems-allow-changes-in-mechanical-properties/", "Strategy": "Systems Allow Changes in Mechanical Properties\n\nSystems in nature allow organisms to change shape or their mechanical properties without changing the properties of given materials thanks to articulated struts.\n\n“Articulated strut. These share the common lattice of compression-resisting elements, but their joints (articulations) permit motion. We use them infrequently, but we do deliberately build joints into many bridges, for example, so the resulting mechanisms can distort safely under changing wind loads, varied ‘live’ or functional loads, or thermal size changes. Nature often uses the arrangement–major portions of vertebrate skeletons can be best viewed as mechanisms of articulated struts. The hard elements (ossicles) and their connections in echinoderms such as starfish provide another example.\n\nSystems build around articulated struts combine nicely with muscles; sometimes, as in insect skeletons, the muscles are on the inside, but the principle is the same. Among the best features of these systems is their ability to alter shape or overall mechanical properties rapidly without having to change the properties of specific materials…But even tensile tissues other than muscle may sometimes change properties fairly quickly in response to some chemical signal. These alterations have been studied most extensively in the so-called catch connective tissue of echinoderms. A starfish undergoes an impressive mechanical transformation as it shifts from being limp enough to crawl with its tube feet on an i "}, {"Source": "loach's alkaline body surfaces", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "tolerates high ammonia levels", "Function2": "volatilize ammonia", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/alkaline-surfaces-volatilize-ammonia/", "Strategy": "Alkaline Surfaces Volatilize Ammonia\n\nThe alkaline body surfaces of the loach protect from ammonia toxicity by volatilizing ammonia during aerial exposure.\n\n“The loach Misgurnus anguillicaudatus is unusual in that it tolerates very high ammonia levels in its tissues, but in turn these high levels, together with alkaline body surfaces, permit a significant ammonia excretion by volatilization during aerial exposure.”"}, {"Source": "crab-eating frog tadpole's membrane", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "active ion transport", "Function2": "maintain internal osmotic concentration constant", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/membranes-maintain-salt-balance/", "Strategy": "Membranes Maintain Salt Balance\n\nMembranes of crab-eating frog tadpoles allow them to survive in salt water via active ion transport.\n\n“Tadpoles are effective osmoregulators: that is, they maintain their internal osmotic concentration relatively constant over a wide range of external salinities. This is probably achieved by the active transport of ions out of the body at high environmental salinity, and by the retention of ions and elimination of water when the surrounding salinity is lower than that of the body fluids. Whatever the physiological mechanisms involved, young tadpoles can survive in concentrations of 40 per cent that of sea water (14 parts per thousand, ppt) and older ones to 50 percent sea water or higher. At 80 percent sea water (28 ppt) approximately 50 per cent of tadpoles still survive, and some still live at greater ion concentrations than that of full sea water.” "}, {"Source": "queen scallop's tentacles", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "detect predators", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/tentacles-detect-predators/", "Strategy": "Tentacles Detect Predators\n\nThe tentacles of a queen scallop provide an early warning by detecting chemicals associated with approaching predators.\n\n“The eyes are not the [queen scallop’s] only source of warning — the tentacles around the mantle edge are extremely sensitive to certain chemicals, and can probably detect the approach of a starfish long before its shadow falls, certainly in time for the scallop to close its valves or leap away.” "}, {"Source": "eyelid", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protect eye", "Function2": "wipe eyeball clean and lubricate it", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/temporary-covering-protects-from-dirt-and-impact/", "Strategy": "Temporary Covering Protects From Dirt and Impact\n\nThe eyes of mammals are protected from dirt and impacts by eyelids.\n\n“Being a particularly delicate instrument, the eye needs protection — usually, an eyelid. Most mammals have two eyelids, one above and one below, but some – such as horses and deer – have a third, inner eyelid, the nictitating membrane, which may move upwards or sideways across the eyeball. Both types of eyelid can be closed to protect the eye from a blow, or from dirt; in closing – blinking – they wipe the eyeball clean and lubricate it with teardrops.” "}, {"Source": "plant thylakoid", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "transport folded protein", "Function2": "transport dihydrofolate reductase", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/thylakoidal-system-transports-folded-proteins/", "Strategy": "Thylakoidal System Transports Folded Proteins\n\nThylakoids of plants and cyanobacteria are able to transport folded or malformed proteins across tightly sealed membranes via a protein translocation system.\n\n“A subset of lumen proteins is transported across the thylakoid membrane by a Sec-independent translocase that recognizes a twin-arginine motif in the targeting signal. A related system operates in bacteria, apparently for the export of redox cofactor-containing proteins. In this report we describe a key feature of this system, the ability to transport folded proteins. The thylakoidal system is able to transport dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) when an appropriate signal is attached, and the transport efficiency is almost undiminished by the binding of folate analogs such as methotrexate that cause the protein to fold very tightly. The system is moreover able to transport DHFR into the lumen with methotrexate bound in the active site, demonstrating that the ΔpH-driven transport of large, native structures is possible by this pathway. However, correct folding is not a prerequisite for transport. Truncated, malfolded DHFR can be translocated by this system, as can physiological substrates that are severely malfolded by the incorporation of amino acid analogs.” "}, {"Source": "thylakoidal system", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "transport folded protein", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/toxic-sap-protects-tree-seeds/", "Strategy": "Thylakoidal System Transports Folded Proteins\n\nThe fruit of Hura trees is protected from predators by a highly toxic sap.\n\n“A subset of lumen proteins is transported across the thylakoid membrane by a Sec-independent translocase that recognizes a twin-arginine motif in the targeting signal. A related system operates in bacteria, apparently for the export of redox cofactor-containing proteins. In this report we describe a key feature of this system, the ability to transport folded proteins. The thylakoidal system is able to transport dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) when an appropriate signal is attached, and the transport efficiency is almost undiminished by the binding of folate analogs such as methotrexate that cause the protein to fold very tightly. The system is moreover able to transport DHFR into the lumen with methotrexate bound in the active site, demonstrating that the ΔpH-driven transport of large, native structures is possible by this pathway. However, correct folding is not a prerequisite for transport. Truncated, malfolded DHFR can be translocated by this system, as can physiological substrates that are severely malfolded by the incorporation of amino acid analogs.”"}, {"Source": "earthworm's skin", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "stay clean", "Function2": "decrease surface adhesion strength", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/skin-stays-clean/", "Strategy": "Skin Stays Clean\n\nSkin of earthworms stays clean while moving through moist soil because of electroosmotic flow near the body.\n\n“[S]oil does not seem to adhere to earthworm surface…An important phenomenon of earthworms moving in moist soil is that the electric potential exists on an earthworm tissue…The electroosmotic flow near an earthworm body surface is a basic electrokinetic phenomenon that takes place when the earthworm moves in moist soil. The flow in a micro thin layer of water is formed in the vicinity of the earthworm body surface as a result of the electric double layer (EDL) interaction. Such a micro scale electroosmotic flow plays the role of lubrication between the earthworm body surface and the surrounding medium of moist soil and reduces surface adhesion.”"}, {"Source": "house sparrow's behavior", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "prevent malaria", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/self-medicating-to-prevent-malaria/", "Strategy": "Self‑medicating to Prevent Malaria\n\nHouse sparrows protect themselves from malaria by lining their nests with and eating quinine-containing leaves from the paradise flower tree.\n\n“During an outbreak of malaria in Calcutta during 1998, Dr. Dushim Sengupta and fellow scientists at Calcutta’s Center for Nature Conservation and Human Survival were surprised to witness house sparrows lining their nests with (and also eating) leaves from the paradise flower tree (Caesalpina pulcherrima), a species whose leaves are rich in the anti-malarial drug quinine. Confirming that their choice of leaves was deliberate, the sparrows swiftly gathered fresh leaves of this same species when the scientists removed those already lining their nests.” "}, {"Source": "insect's reproductive cycle", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "suspend reproduction", "Function2": "lower metabolic rate", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/suspending-reproduction-conserves-energy/", "Strategy": "Suspending Reproduction Conserves Energy\n\nThe reproductive or growth cycles of many insects are suspended until conditions are favorable via diapause, a hibernation-like mechanism.\n\n“Juvenile insects often undergo a period of suspended development and growth which may be accompanied by a decrease in their metabolic rate. This is known as diapause. It also occurs in adult insects that survive the winter (often referred to as overwintering), such as various species of butterfly and beetle. In these cases the diapause can be thought of as a hibernation mechanism…During overwintering diapause, fertilized eggs that were produced during the fall by the females are retained internally, and their development is halted, while still at an early stage, until the spring. Then, once the adult insects have emerged from this torpid state, their eggs ripen and are laid.” "}, {"Source": "monarch butterfly's digestive system", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "develop immunity", "Function2": "separate and store unaltered toxin", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/digestive-system-protects-against-toxins/", "Strategy": "Digestive System Protects Against Toxins\n\nThe digestive system of Monarch butterflies protects them from poisonous milkweed latex eaten to make themselves poisonous to predators.\n\n“Milkweed gets its name from a poisonous latex that exudes from its broken stem. This is so toxic that it can give a small animal a heart attack. The monarch butterfly, however, has developed an immunity to it. Its caterpillars nibble away at the leaves with impunity. But they do not digest the poison. Instead, they appropriate it and use it for their own purposes. In some way they are able to separate the toxin in the latex and store it unaltered in their bodies. This not only prevents them from succumbing to it, but makes them poisonous to any predator that might swallow them.”"}, {"Source": "strychnine tree", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protect seed", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/strychnine-protects-seeds/", "Strategy": "Strychnine Protects Seeds\n\nStrychnine trees protect their seeds by incorporating poisonous strychnine.\n\n“One of the more virulent of plant poisons, strychnine, which human beings extract for their own medicinal or murderous purposes, also comes from a seed.” "}, {"Source": "queen scallop's tentacles", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "detect predators", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/buttressing-resists-uprooting/", "Strategy": "Tentacles Detect Predators\n\nRoots of broad-based trees with stiff trunks resist uprooting through compressive buttressing.\n\n“The eyes are not the [queen scallop’s] only source of warning — the tentacles around the mantle edge are extremely sensitive to certain chemicals, and can probably detect the approach of a starfish long before its shadow falls, certainly in time for the scallop to close its valves or leap away.”"}, {"Source": "parenchyma cells", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "provide mechanical support", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/lignified-parenchyma-cells-provide-strength/", "Strategy": "Lignified Parenchyma Cells Provide Strength\n\nParenchyma cells in plants provide mechanical support when they become lignified and thick-walled.\n\n“Sometimes axially elongated cells of the ‘packing’ tissue, parenchyma, become thick-walled and lignified. These have similar functions to fibres, but their ends tend not to be pointed. Often no distinction is made between this cell type and true fibres. Cells of this type make up the bulk of the strengthening tissue in bamboos. They are arranged towards the periphery of the stem, the centre of which is often hollow, with transverse septa at intervals.”"}, {"Source": "beetle larva", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "produce a toxin", "Function2": "protect themselves", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/larvae-produce-deadly-toxin/", "Strategy": "Larvae Produce Deadly Toxin\n\nBeetle larvae protect themselves from predators by producing a deadly toxin after feeding on Commiphora tree.\n\n“In Namibia the Commiphora tree is the host plant of the leaf beetle. When its larvae feed on the leaves, they produce a toxin not found in adults, which a Kalahari Desert bushman squeezes onto an arrow tip. The poison on a single arrow can fell an adult antelope.”"}, {"Source": "feathers of doves and other birds", "Application": "superhydrophobic polymer", "Function1": "shed water", "Function2": "prevent water from attaching", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/grooves-shed-water/", "Strategy": "Grooves Shed Water\n\nThe feathers of doves and other birds shed water due to nanoscale grooves on their surfaces.\n\n“According to Prof. Edward Bormashenko from the Department of Physics at the Ariel University Center of Samaria, the surface of a dove’s wing – and that of most birds – is the perfect raincoat, keeping water and dirt from sticking to their bodies. Bormashenko’s current research into non-stick materials is based on this understanding, and could lead to self-cleaning textiles, and have important implications in the shipping, recreational sports and building industries. Applying techniques from the fields of physics and nanotechnology, Bormashenko has succeeded in duplicating the material found on bird’s wings. He calls it a superhydrophobic polymer. ‘It’s all because of the ‘roughness’ on the feathers of the bird,’ Bormashenko tells ISRAEL21c, explaining that the surface of a bird’s feathers are covered in miniscule nano-sized grooves, 100 nm to 10 microns in width. The unique grooves (at angles of 180 degrees), trap a blanket of air around the feather, and prevent liquids from attaching to the wing surface.”"}, {"Source": "giant groundsel's leaves", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "prevent frost damage", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/dead-leaves-function-as-insulation/", "Strategy": "Dead Leaves Function as Insulation\n\nLeaves of the giant groundsel protect from freezing because those that die remain on the plant and serve as insulation.\n\n“Groundsels also grow here [on Mount Kenya]. They are relatives of the dandelions and ragworts that flourish as small yellow-flowered weeds in European gardens. On Mount Kenya, they have evolved into giants. One grows into a tree up to thirty feet tall. Each of its branches ends in a dense rosette of large robust leaves. As the branches grow, so each year the lower ring of leaves in the rosette turn yellow and die. But they are not shed. Instead, they remain attached and form a thick lagging around the trunk. This is of crucial importance to the groundsel. The living leaves in the rosette contain special substances that prevent frost damage to the tissues and even though they may become covered by hoar frost during the night, they thaw out rapidly in the powerful warmth of the morning sun. But then the water within them starts to evaporate through their pores. If the liquid in the supply pipes running up through the trunk were to have frozen during the night, then the leaves would now be unable to replace their water and they would be baked dry and killed. The lagging of the dead leaves, however, prevents the pipes within the trunk from freezing and that particular danger is averted…The solution, however, generates another problem — this time a nutritional one. Retaining the dead leaves on the trunk prevents the nutrients in them from being released into the soil where they could be reclaimed by the roots. The giant tree-groundsel overcomes that difficulty in the same way as the giant cushion plant of Tasmania. It sprouts rootlets from the side of the trunk which thrust their way into the lagging and extract what nutriment remains there.”"}, {"Source": "fish gills", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "manage monovalent ion concentration", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/cells-manage-monovalent-ions/", "Strategy": "Cells Manage Monovalent Ions\n\nThe gills of fish manage monovalent ion concentrations via specialized chloride cells.\n\n“Water flow over the secondary lamellae is countercurrent to capillary blood flow, resulting in extremely efficient oxygen extraction. Gills also function in monovalent ion regulation (via specialized chloride cells) and nitrogenous waste excretion (ammonia).” "}, {"Source": "blackback land crab's body", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "provides structural support", "Function2": "increase pressure", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/pressure-provides-structural-support/", "Strategy": "Pressure Provides Structural Support\n\nThe body of the blackback land crab functions during exoskeletal molt using both gas and liquid pressure, or a pneumo-hydrostatic skeleton.\n\n“Here we show that whenever its exoskeleton is shed, the blackback land crab Gecarcinus lateralis relies on an unconventional type of hydrostatic skeleton that uses both gas and liquid (a ‘pneumo-hydrostat’). To our knowledge, this is the first experimental evidence for a locomotor skeleton that depends on a gas…The aquatic blue crab Callinectes sapidus maintains mobility by switching to a hydrostatic skeleton 10 — a fluid-based skeleton that is common in soft-bodied invertebrates 11. Hydrostatic skeletons are arranged so that the force of muscle contraction is transmitted by an essentially incompressible aqueous fluid 11–13. Muscle contraction increases the pressure in the fluid, causing the deformations or stiffening required for support, movement and locomotion.”"}, {"Source": "structural support", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "prolong reproductive life", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/investing-resources-increases-competitive-success/", "Strategy": "Investing Resources Increase Competitive Success\n\nThe investment of resources for structural support in trees allows for competitive success by prolonging the reproductive life of the organism.\n\n“The development of the ‘tree’ habit in many different plant families must reflect a high degree of competitive success for this life form. The expenditure of materials in short supply in the production of long-lived, mechanically robust forms must confer survival benefits to such plants. Synthesis of materials for mechanical support of the plant uses resources that otherwise might have been directed towards reproduction. We see an elegant use of strengthening tissues that parallels engineering solutions. Although expensive in mechanical tissues, the tree habit prolongs the period over which an individual may produce seed; over a long period successful seed formation and germination is more likely.”"}, {"Source": "jarrah's epicormic bud", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "remain dormant", "Function2": "insulate buds from fire", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/dormant-buds-ensure-fire-survival/", "Strategy": "Dormant Buds Ensure Fire Survival\n\nEpicormic buds of jarrah help the trees survive fire by remaining dormant until extreme heat triggers their growth.\n\n“Epicormic buds are formed in the angles between leaves and the stem of young plants and become dormant. In woody plants, as the stems increase in thickness, these buds extend to keep pace with the enlarging cylinder of wood but become enclosed by the outside layers of cork. The corky blanket insulates them from fire, aided by soil in the lowermost parts, and when the dormancy is broken by the heat of the fire they break through the cork and form leafy stems.” "}, {"Source": "red bat's body tissue", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "tolerate freezing", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/body-tissue-survives-freezing/", "Strategy": "Body Tissue Survives Freezing\n\nThe body tissue of the red bat can tolerate being frozen.\n\n“The American red bat (Lasiurus borealis) can survive even if its body tissues freeze when the outside temperature falls as low as 23°F (-5°C).”"}, {"Source": "arid zone plant's hair", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "reduce water loss", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/hairs-prevent-evaporation/", "Strategy": "Hairs Prevent Evaporation\n\nHairs on arid zone plants reduce water loss to wind by creating a dense felt.\n\n“Another clever device is the dense hair felt which numerous plants of arid zones wear on their surfaces to reduce the loss of moisture to the wind.” "}, {"Source": "queen scallop's tentacles", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "detect predators", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/growth-rate-aids-fire-resistance/", "Strategy": "Tentacles Detect Predators\n\nThe camel's foot tree, found in the African savanna, resists fire due to its ability to quickly resprout from underground storage structures.\n\n“The eyes are not the [queen scallop’s] only source of warning — the tentacles around the mantle edge are extremely sensitive to certain chemicals, and can probably detect the approach of a starfish long before its shadow falls, certainly in time for the scallop to close its valves or leap away.” "}, {"Source": "bird's eggshell", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "resist external loading", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/shells-resist-external-loading/", "Strategy": "Shells Resist External Loading\n\nThe eggs of birds resist external loading via composite structure.\n\n“The eggshells of birds are mechanically impressive devices, surprisingly resistant to external loading; Vincent (1990), though, complained about how little we understand them, muttering at ‘half-boiled notions’ in the literature. They’re mostly mineral but have a critical 2-4 percent of organic matter, making them into composites. Still, cracks can propagate, of which fact the chick takes advantage to get out–before pushing, it pecks around a circle so it can then break the egg along the dotted line.” "}, {"Source": "west african termite mounds", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "shed water", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/mounds-shed-water/", "Strategy": "Mounds Shed Water\n\nMounds of West African termites are built to shed water via mushroom-like shape.\n\n“In West Africa and other areas where there is heavy rain, the colonies build nests like mushrooms with flat roofs which shed the water.” "}, {"Source": "queen scallop's tentacles", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "detect predators", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/plant-growth-adapts-to-environment/", "Strategy": "Tentacles Detect Predators\n\nWall cress adapts to environmental conditions by sensing information through touch which triggers biochemical growth controls. \n\n“The eyes are not the [queen scallop’s] only source of warning — the tentacles around the mantle edge are extremely sensitive to certain chemicals, and can probably detect the approach of a starfish long before its shadow falls, certainly in time for the scallop to close its valves or leap away.” "}, {"Source": "tall spadix of the titan arum plant", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "keep tall spikes upright", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/fibers-keep-tall-spikes-upright/", "Strategy": "Fibers Keep Tall Spikes Upright\n\nThe tall spadix of the titan arum plant remains upright because it is filled with cobweb-like support fibers.\n\n“The tall grey spadix [of the titan arum], which is filled with cobweb-like support fibres, becomes flaccid, topples forward and droops over the margin of the spathe. The spathe itself contracts inwards and its upper margins start to twist round the lower part of the spadix, clasping it so tightly that a huge water-tight bag is created.”"}, {"Source": "grains of paradise plant", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "reduce inflammation", "Function2": "inhibit production of c-reactive protein", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/gorilla-diet-protects-heart/", "Strategy": "Gorilla Diet Protects Heart\n\nGingerols in Grains of Paradise plant protect gorillas from heart disease by reducing inflammation and inhibiting production of C-reactive protein.\n\n“The ultimate answer to captive gorillas’ heart problems may be quietly growing in West Africa’s vine-choked swamps: a member of the ginger family, Aframomum melegueta, better known as ‘grains of paradise.’ This plant, which wild western lowland gorillas preferentially eat, contains a powerful anti-inflammatory compound. As scientists learn more about the inflammatory process that underlies heart disease, the lack of Aframomum and other African plants in captive gorillas’ diets has emerged as a chief suspect in their poor health.” "}, {"Source": "american dog tick's defensins", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "destroy bacteria", "Function2": "introduce voltage-dependent channels into bacterial membranes", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/antimicrobial-peptides-destroy-bacteria/", "Strategy": "Antimicrobial Peptides Destroy Bacteria\n\nDefensins in the American dog tick destroys the bacteria that cause Lyme disease by introducing voltage-dependent channels into bacterial membranes.\n\n“Defensins are a family of antimicrobial peptides possessed by both vertebrates and invertebrates, which destroy invading bacteria by introducing voltage-dependent channels into bacterial membranes …However, more is known about B. burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme disease. This well characterized spirochete is transmitted to humans when an infected I. scapularis tick in the nymph or adult stage feeds on a human. Interestingly, the tick D. variabilis is not a competent vector for B. burgdorferi because it destroys the spirochetes before they can be transmitted to a host.” "}, {"Source": "eucalyptus tree's bark", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "protect buds", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/bark-protects-buds-from-fire/", "Strategy": "Bark Protects Buds From Fire\n\nSome eucalyptus trees protect their dormant, vegetative buds from fire via thick bark.\n\n“In most angiosperm trees dormant epicormic buds are present in the outer bark, a position where they could be killed by fire. By contrast, in eucalypts the greatest epicormic bud initiation potential is at the level of the vascular cambium, which is protected by the maximum bark thickness. This might explain the pronounced ability of eucalypts to produce bole and branch epicormic shoots after moderate to intense fire.” "}, {"Source": "parasitic wasp's blood", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "antifreeze compound", "Function2": "protect from freezing temperature", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/glycerol-acts-as-antifreeze/", "Strategy": "Glycerol Acts as Antifreeze\n\nThe blood of a parasitic wasp protects from freezing via glycerol.\n\n“Glycerol acts as an effective antifreeze compound in the blood of some insects, rising in concentration in larvae of the parasitic wasp Bracon cephi before the onset of winter, and falling again in spring.”"}, {"Source": "milkweed's toxic latex", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "ward off herbivores", "Function2": "poisonous", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/toxic-latex-protects-from-herbivores/", "Strategy": "Toxic Latex Protects From Herbivores\n\nAny broken part of milkweeds wards off herbivores via a poisonous latex that it exudes.\n\n“Milkweed gets its name from a poisonous latex that exudes from its broken stem. This is so toxic that it can give a small animal a heart attack.” "}, {"Source": "thigh bone of bird and mammal", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "provides structural support", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/bones-supporting-beams-provide-strength/", "Strategy": "Bones’ Supporting Beams Provide Strength\n\nThigh bones of birds and mammals withstand strain as size increases by reorganizing internal structure of trabeculae (\"little beams\").\n\n“Many bones are supported internally by a latticework of trabeculae [Latin: “little beams”; they provide structural support, especially near joints]…We analysed trabecular geometry in the femora of 90 terrestrial mammalian and avian species with body masses ranging from 3 g to 3400 kg. We found that bone volume fraction does not scale substantially with animal size, while trabeculae in larger animals’ femora are thicker, further apart and fewer per unit volume than in smaller animals…[T]rabecular scaling does not alter the bulk stiffness of trabecular bone, but does alter strain within trabeculae under equal applied loads. Allometry of bone’s trabecular tissue may contribute to the skeleton’s ability to withstand load, without incurring the physiological or mechanical costs of increasing bone mass.” "}, {"Source": "malaysian rainforest", "Application": "improved architectural designs that incorporate acoustics", "Function1": "amplify sound", "Function2": "adjust pitch to match the resonant frequency of its surroundings", "Function3": "boost sound volume", "Function4": "play tree hole like a pipe organ", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/frog-plays-tree-holes-like-organ/", "Strategy": "The Frog That Plays Tree Holes Like a Pipe Organ\n\nThe tree-hole frog amplifies the sound of its call by adjusting its pitch to match the resonant frequency of its surroundings.\n\nIntroduction\n\nIn a Malaysian rainforest, a male tree-hole frog wriggles inside a water-filled tree hollow, getting ready to call a mate. His call is a single-note pulse, and the louder it sounds, the farther it will reach, increasing the likelihood that a female will hear and respond to it.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nLike other frogs, the tree-hole frog uses vocal cords and a vocal sac to croak. Instead of expelling exhaled air like most other animals do when they make noise, frogs pass exhaling air across their vocal cords, then into their vocal sacs. The vocal sac itself is a natural sound amplifier, vibrating like the top of a kettle drum to transfer the sound of its call into the air.\n\nBut tree-hole frogs don’t simply rely on their own anatomy to amplify sound. They also use their watery holes as echo chambers. The frogs adjust the pitch of their calls until they find the resonant frequency of their surroundings.\n\nThe resonant frequency is the frequency at which a substance vibrates at its highest amplitude. For example, when the frequency of sound matches the resonant frequency of a wineglass, the glass vibrates so hard that it breaks.\n\nPipe organs form a particular note by forcing air through a pipe of a specific diameter and length, which causes the pipe to vibrate at its resonant frequency. If a tree-hole frog sat inside the pipe of a pipe organ and adjusted his pitch to match the pipe’s resonant frequency, the pipe would vibrate along with the frog’s vocal sac, boosting the sound volume. In a sense, a tree-hole frog plays a tree hole like a pipe organ.\n\nOne thing that affects the resonant frequency of a tree hole is the amount of water inside it. When scientists put a male tree-hole frog in a tube and slowly drained water from it, the frog continually tweaked his call to match the changing resonant frequency. Furthermore, when the frog found the resonant frequency, his croaks were longer in duration with fewer breaks in between, suggesting that when the amplifying effect is found, it’s worth the energetic cost to increase the chances of finding a mate.\n\nThe Potential\n\nLearning how tree-hole frogs use their surroundings to boost sound could lead to improved architectural designs that incorporate acoustics. Schools for hearing-impaired children could be designed to naturally amplify sound. Electronic devices such as televisions and audio players could be designed to use less energy by amplifying sound based on the resonance of their locations."}, {"Source": "dictyophorus grasshopper's blood", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "deter predators", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/secretions-deter-predators/", "Strategy": "Secretions Deter Predators\n\nBlood secretions of Dictyophorus grasshoppers deter predators by forming a noxious froth when mixed with air.\n\n“A number of insects also release blood in order to deter predators. Some of the most dramatic examples occur among grasshoppers of the genus Dictyophorus. When threatened, hydrostatic pressure within the grasshopper’s body increases, forcing blood plasma out of weak pores in the body’s cuticle. As it emerges, the blood mixes with air and converts into a disgusting froth that covers the insect’s body surface. The froth contains a repellent so noxious that any creature brave enough to attempt to eat this vile-looking insect soon drops it and beats a hasty retreat. Once alone again, the grasshopper reabsorbs much of its blood by decreasing its body’s internal hydrostatic pressure.” "}, {"Source": "mesembryanthemum's seed-containing structure", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "long-term protection", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/seed-compartment-impervious-to-rain/", "Strategy": "Seed Compartment Impervious to Rain\n\nA seed-containing structure in some mesembryanthemums provides long-term protection for some seeds because it is impervious to rain.\n\n“There is still a chance that the rain may not last long enough to sustain the seedlings and that they will die soon after they have germinated. Some mesems take out an insurance against even that possibility. They keep a small proportion of their seeds locked away in a compartment that no amount of raindrops can dislodge. These will only be released months, if not years later when the whole capsule has finally decayed. Then they take their chance with the rest of the seeds in the sandy ground.”"}, {"Source": "pupae of blue butterflies", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "attract ants", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/vibrations-attract-ants/", "Strategy": "Vibrations Attract Ants\n\nThe pupae of blue butterflies attract protective ants by rubbing together teeth-like projections on their bodies to create vibrations.\n\n“The pupa of the Australian blue butterfly (Jalmenus evagorus) uses vibration to attract ants, whose presence deters would-be predators. In turn, the ants drink the sweet-tasting fluid secreted by the pupa. In 2000, Harvard University researchers Dr. Mark Travassos and Dr. Naomi Pierce revealed that the pupa attracts the ants by rubbing together a series of closely aligned teeth-like projections on its body, vibrating the branch to which it is attached. Alerted by the vibrations, nearby ants run to the pupa to feast on the fluid.” "}, {"Source": "fruit-eating bat", "Application": "searching strategy", "Function1": "find food", "Function2": "adjust trajectory", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/echolocation-pinpoints-target/", "Strategy": "Off‑Target Clicks Help Fruit Bats Find Food\n\nThese fruit-eating bats home in on a meal by aiming sound waves to the side of their intended target, then adjusting their path to reduce the difference in timing between the waves bouncing back.\n\nIntroduction\n\nIt’s a sweltering night in Saudi Arabia. Suddenly, something the size of a small dog swoops by through the air. Is it a bird? A drone? No, it’s an Egyptian fruit bat, in search of overripe figs.\n\nLike other bats, this outsized flying mammal finds its food by clicking its tongue to produce sound waves and observing how they bounce back. At first it aims its clicks widely as it searches for a piece of fruit. Once the returning sound waves reveal food item, however, the search strategy changes. Rather than pointing the sound waves directly the object of its desire, the bat aims them slightly left and then slightly right of the target. Although this strategy seems counterintuitive, it improves the accuracy with which the bat can land on its favored food.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nSound waves travel in an expanding, cone-shaped path from their source. The best way for an animal using echolocation to find an object in the first place  is to point its clicks in lots of different directions. But these initial calls don’t provide much information about how the searcher and the searched are moving side to side relative to each other. As a result, such an approach has limited value in helping the animal fine-tune its position as it moves closer to its target.\n\nEnter the sound waves at the perimeter of the cone. If the bat aims its clicks to the side of the object, the sound waves that bounce back from the slanted part of the cone of sound contain more information about the relative movement between the searcher and the searched  than would those aimed directly at the object. By listening for the bounce back of sound waves at the edge of the cone where the difference in timing is larger, the bat can more easily tell if it’s getting “warmer” or “colder” from one click to the next and adjust its trajectory accordingly.\n\nThis is similar to the effect that we perceive when viewing an object in light that shines nearly parallel to a surface, as the sun does at dawn and dusk. In this “raking light,” shadows are greatly extended, making tiny objects and textures dramatically more noticeable. The bats are making use of “raking sound.” By angling their high-pitched sounds to either side of an object of interest, the echo comes back not as a bright, direct beam, but in steeply angled waves that exaggerate any relative change in position of the object, revealing more information to the bat with every click it makes.\n\nThe Potential\n\nThe “sweet spot” the fruit bat has found between maximizing its odds of finding food and maximizing its odds of landing on it accurately is similar to strategies other animals likely use to follow sounds, scents, or other signals from a desired object. This suggests it is broadly beneficial as a “homing-in strategy.” Humans might apply a similar strategy to optimizing the search function for drones or other robots that use light, sound, or scent to track objects. The side-to-side switch-out also could be helpful for keeping aircraft on the straight and narrow during taxiing or flight or improving self-driving vehicles’ ability to stay in their lane with the fine-tuned finesse a skilled driver might use."}, {"Source": "water strider's body part", "Application": "devices that provide advanced warning of impending earthquakes or mudslides", "Function1": "sense minute, fast-moving waves", "Function2": "communicate", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/legs-detect-small-vibrations-for-communication/", "Strategy": "The Insect That Uses Waves to Communicate\n\nWater striders communicate with each other using body parts that send and sense slight vibrations in the water around them.\n\nIntroduction\n\nInsects of all kinds can use their six legs to walk on solid surfaces—but water striders have a special twist. The hairs on the feet of these long-legged bugs contain grooves that hold air bubbles, making it possible for them to walk on the surface of water without breaking through.\n\nBut that’s not their only claim to fame. These insects also have specialized structures on their legs and undersides that sense minute, fast-moving waves in the water around them. This ability allows water striders to communicate with each other by rapidly moving their legs up and down, vibrating the surface of the water in a way that other striders’ sense organs can detect.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nLike other insects, water striders have movement-sensing hairs called trichobothria on various parts of their bodies. But water striders have a special variation on the theme: They have several extra-long trichobothria sticking out of the ventral side of the end of their legs. These trichobothria just touch, but don’t pierce, the surface of the water – like a cat’s whiskers tickling the water in its bowl as it takes a drink.\n\nInsects also have a sensory organ called a chordotonal organ near their joints that lets them know when their joints move and can also sense other forces. Each is made up of structures called scolopidia. The scolopidia in turn are made up of three parts: a nerve cell that’s attached to the central nervous system and that includes a long, thin pressure-sensing extension called a dendrite; a scolopale cell, which serves as a sheath around the dendrite; and an attachment cell, which connects the rest of the scolopidium to the insect’s skin. Water striders have more scolopidia than other bugs, presumably making them super-sensitive to motion.\n\nWhen a neighbor rapidly moves its leg up and down, it makes tiny waves that travel across the surface. When these waves reach the legs of another strider, they cause them to activate these two sets of extra-sensitive sensory organs and alert the insect’s nervous system of the motion.\n\nTogether, the activated nerve cells translate the movement into information about the vibrations’ frequency and location of origin and so about the source that sent them. Humans are not water striders, so we’ll likely never be completely sure of what the messages are—but scientists have evidence that they include information about the sex of the sender and also provide warning signals if one strider is venturing too far into another’s personal space.\n\nThe Potential \n\nWater striders’ ability to sense minute vibrations with distinct meanings offers abundant inspiration for devices humans can use to detect movement and convey information. For instance, it might inspire the invention of devices that provide advanced warning of impending earthquakes or mudslides by catching small waves of movement traveling through the ground or air. It might serve as a model for enhancing structural engineers’ ability to test the resilience of buildings to vibrations caused by traffic or forces of nature. Or it might lead to the development of ways to communicate between humans, robotic devices, or both, that don’t rely on sight or the audible vibrations we call sound."}, {"Source": "hammerhead shark's eye", "Application": "human vision", "Function1": "maximize stereoscopic vision", "Function2": "maintain a wide field of view", "Function3": "triple the area of precision depth perception", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/shark-eyes-maximize-stereoscopic-vision/", "Strategy": "Shark Eyes Maximize Stereoscopic Vision\n\nHorizontal eye stalks allow eyes to rotate forward, creating a wider field of binocular vision.\n\nIntroduction\n\nCircumnavigating the island of New Zealand, undulating through the Gulf of California, and cruising along the Red Sea, hammerhead sharks are some of the ocean’s most widespread and spectacular creatures.\n\nTheir head shape is instantly recognizable, but the full range of functions it might serve remains something of a mystery. There are theories and evidence that it may make swimming easier, enhance the ability of smell, and improve detection of electric fields. Recent evidence reveals it also increases the size of this predator’s three-dimensional field-of-view.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nYou may have heard the phrase, “Eyes in front, I hunt. Eyes on the side, I hide,” which emphasizes the fact that most predators have their eyes facing forward, so that each eye’s visual field overlaps. The overlapping visual fields are assimilated by the brain to create a 3D sense of the world that can help predators accurately judge the distance to their prey for an accurate strike. By having their eyes on the sides of their head, prey species sacrifice stereoscopic vision but gain a nearly 360-degree visual field, useful for detecting potential predators approaching from any angle.\n\nAll sharks are predators, but in general, the shape of their heads and position of their eyes provide only a small (about 10-degree) stereoscopic visual field in front of them. The scalloped hammerhead (Sphyrna lewini) triples that and sees stereoscopically across a sweep of 32 degrees. This is due to the fact that while hammerhead species’ eyes are on the sides of their “hammers”, they have moved into a slightly more forward-facing position over the generations as the hammer increased in width. This gives hammerheads the best of both worlds: maintaining a wide field of view while tripling their area of precision depth perception. This may help hammerheads to better track and capture the fast-moving fish species they prey upon.\n\nThe Potential\n\nHammerhead-style visual inputs could have many beneficial applications for humans. Medical technology is frequently challenged with detecting small objects (such as tumors) in contexts in which greater scale and three-dimensionality may reduce search time while increasing accuracy.\n\nHammerhead sharks may also have lessons for people who work to create large, three-dimensional experiences. Virtual reality (VR), originally inspired by human vision, is in a period of early growth and experimentation that could also look to other species’ visual systems to drive innovation. For example, VR feeds that mimic visual data from hammerhead-like eye positions could be used to give us the sense of having an expanded visual field, yet without completely sacrificing depth perception.\n\nOther potential applications include the placement of vehicle visual sensors, which need to maintain total environmental awareness (e.g., vehicles approaching from any side) while also identifying sudden, near-field hazards (e.g., a crossing deer)."}, {"Source": "australian blue butterfly's pupa", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "vibration", "Function2": "attract ants", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/fish-thrives-in-freshwater-and-seawater/", "Strategy": "Vibrations Attract Ants\n\nSalmon can spend part of their lives in freshwater and part in seawater due to adaptive changes in their physiology.\n\n“The pupa of the Australian blue butterfly (Jalmenus evagorus) uses vibration to attract ants, whose presence deters would-be predators. In turn, the ants drink the sweet-tasting fluid secreted by the pupa. In 2000, Harvard University researchers Dr. Mark Travassos and Dr. Naomi Pierce revealed that the pupa attracts the ants by rubbing together a series of closely aligned teeth-like projections on its body, vibrating the branch to which it is attached. Alerted by the vibrations, nearby ants run to the pupa to feast on the fluid.”"}, {"Source": "snow algae", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "keep the liquid cell contents of snow algae liquid", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/algae-protects-from-freezing/", "Strategy": "Algae Protects From Freezing\n\nThe liquid cell contents of snow algae are kept liquid in freezing temperatures because the algae manufacture their own antifreeze.\n\n“Other algae manage to exist in the snow itself. They live in a similar way between the individual flakes just below the surface. Their chlorophyll is masked by a red pigment. This protection against damaging ultra-violet rays is more important for them than for the sandstone algae, for sunlight shines more strongly through snow than it does through quartz. During the summer, the sun is warm enough to cause a slight melting of the surface layers, and this provides the algae with the liquid water they need. Dust, brought by the wind, supplies the necessary minerals. The algae themselves manufacture a kind of anti-freeze which keeps the contents of their bodies liquid even when the temperature of the snow falls to several degrees below zero. During the winter, the tiny cells remain largely invisible some distance below the surface, but when summer comes, they propel themselves with microscopic beating hairs and move up towards the surface, the light and the warmth. So in summer, some parts of the snow fields of both the Arctic and the Antarctic blush pink.” "}, {"Source": "railroad worm's luciferase", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "emit red light", "Function2": "emit yellow-green light", "Function3": "emit high-energy light", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/railroad-worms-glow-in-multiple-colors/", "Strategy": "Railroad Worms Glow in Multiple Colors\n\nThe sizes of the active sites on railroad worms’ luciferase enzymes controls the energy level, and hence color, of the light they produce.\n\nIntroduction\n\nA moonlit forest filled with flitting balls of light may seem like a scene from a fairy tale, but it’s a real-world phenomenon thanks to some insects’ internal chemical reactions. While most bioluminescent beetles have a yellow or green glow, one, known as the railroad worm, also produces a red light.\n\nBut how, exactly, do they create this multicolored light show? Although bioluminescence can occur either through a chemical reaction of the creature’s own, or through the presence of bioluminescent symbiotic bacteria, railroad worms use the former. A specialized enzyme known as luciferase has an active site to which a luciferin molecule binds. Subtle changes to the molecular structure alter the colored glow of different bioluminescent species.\n\nYellow-green luciferases have a smaller active site, which means that when the luciferin binds, it is more tightly compressed, creating an electrostatic repulsion between the two molecules that releases high-energy light, which we perceive as green or yellow. In the case of red luciferase, the active site is larger and less rigid, which leads to a reduction in the electrostatic repulsion between the luciferin and the luciferase. The light produced is less energetic and is perceived as red.\n\nJust how much of an energy difference is this? Red light is at the lower end of the visible spectrum, with red photons of light emitting about 1.8 electric volts of energy, compared to the 2.4 electric volts emitted by a green photon.\n\nBut how, exactly, do they create this multicolored light show? Although bioluminescence can occur either through a chemical reaction of the creature’s own, or through the presence of bioluminescent symbiotic bacteria, railroad worms use the former. A specialized enzyme known as luciferase has an active site to which a luciferin molecule binds. Subtle changes to the molecular structure alter the colored glow of different bioluminescent species.\n\nYellow-green luciferases have a smaller active site, which means that when the luciferin binds, it is more tightly compressed, creating an electrostatic repulsion between the two molecules that releases high-energy light, which we perceive as green or yellow. In the case of red luciferase, the active site is larger and less rigid, which leads to a reduction in the electrostatic repulsion between the luciferin and the luciferase. The light produced is less energetic and is perceived as red.\n\nJust how much of an energy difference is this? Red light is at the lower end of the visible spectrum, with red photons of light emitting about 1.8 electric volts of energy, compared to the 2.4 electric volts emitted by a green photon.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nA close relative of fireflies and native to the Americas, railroad worms (Phrixotrix hirtus) have several yellow-green dots of light along their backs, bringing to mind the brightly lit windows of a train passing in the night. A red light is emitted from their heads, which helps them both to navigate in the dark and to intimidate predators. As adults, males morph into beetles, while the females remain in a glowing, worm-like state. This helps males locate females for reproduction.\n\nInterestingly, they have been found to have control over their light-emitting powers, glowing more intensely when disturbed and alternating between colored glows.\n\nThe Potential\n\nMedical treatments seek to locate and target specific tissues within the body in minimally invasive ways, and one method that allows for this is known as bioimaging. Using light and fluorescence, among other tools, it can be used to visualize biological processes as they occur, or to allow improved 3D imaging.\n\nBeetle enzymes that produce bioluminescence are commonly used for bioimaging, and the red enzymes are highly useful for targeting tissues that typically absorb and neutralize lights in the blue-green spectrum. In mammalian cells, hemoglobin and myoglobin-rich tissues, like muscles and blood, are particularly difficult to image, but utilizing enzymes which produce red light could help target these tissues in biotechnological applications.\n\n"}, {"Source": "nasal epithelium", "Application": "artificial intelligence that can sense thousands, or maybe millions,", "Function1": "absorb odor molecules", "Function2": "transport odor molecules", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/how-mucus-helps-crack-the-smell-code/", "Strategy": "How Mucus Helps Crack the Smell Code\n\nInhaled molecules absorb into mucus in the nasal epithelium and bind with olfactory receptors, triggering a unique code that tells the brain what it’s smelling.\n\nIntroduction\n\nHiking through the Black Hills in South Dakota, you come upon a stand of tall pine trees. They could be ponderosa pines, but it’s hard to tell just by looking from the ground. What do you do? One option is to put sight behind you and smell their bark, in search of the tell-tale scent of vanilla or butterscotch.\n\nUntil recently, the human sense of smell was thought to be somewhat weak. Scientists had previously estimated humans could distinguish just 10,000 different smells. That may sound pretty good, but a 2014 study found that we can actually smell up to  1 trillion distinct odors. Humans often lean more heavily on our other senses��especially vision—to understand the world around us. But smell helps us recall memories, augments how we taste food, brings us joy (or disgust), and can alert us to danger.\n\nHow does the nose take in molecules from the air and tell our brains what we’re smelling?\n\nThe Strategy\n\nMost of the air we breathe through our nose isn’t smelled at all—it proceeds straight to the lungs and gives us the oxygen we need. On its way though, some of it passes over a small region in the top of the nasal cavity called the nasal epithelium.\n\nThe air around the ponderosa pines contains some molecules released by the trees’ bark. When we sniff it, some of those molecules are absorbed into a layer of mucus that coats the nasal epithelium. Air flow through the nasal cavity can actually impact the efficiency that molecules absorb into the mucus. The harder we sniff, the more molecules reach the mucus, and the stronger we sense an odor.\n\nThe mucus itself has several functions important to the sense of smell. For one, it protects the epithelium from drying out. It also contains proteins that bind with odor molecules. In part, these proteins help absorb hydrophobic molecules that would otherwise be repelled by the moist membrane. Mucus proteins also degrade molecules to clear the way for new scents to arrive. And these proteins transport molecules to special nerve cells called receptor cells, where the actual “smelling” begins.\n\nThere, the odor-causing molecules bind with the nerve cells, which directly connect to the olfactory bulb of the brain just above them. While we can register five types of taste (sweet, sour, salt, bitter, and umami), we have more than 100 million olfactory receptor cells that fall into about 400 types.\n\nScientists believe that each type of receptor cell is tuned to recognize certain molecules. Receptors of the same type “plug into” the same junction (called a glomerulus) in the olfactory bulb. Scientists think that each scent activates specific patterns of receptor cells, which then stimulate a unique combination of glomeruli—like how combinations of letters spell different words—to tell the brain what it’s smelling.\n\nMore recent science shows that the glomeruli don’t “spell” words based solely on the structures of  the original odor molecules. In 2010, researchers found that enzymes in the mucus convert some molecules into other forms before they bind with receptor cells. Specifically, they found that mucus enzymes change some odor-causing molecules that contain aldehydes and esters into acids and alcohols. As a result, smell signals sent to the brain represent a combination of the original and mucus-altered molecules.\n\nThe Potential\n\nWe already use detectors to identify airborne chemical dangers such as the presence of carbon monoxide and ammonia gases. However, often each technology is limited to “smelling” just one or a few molecules because they require a particular type of sensor. Mimicking the full array of scent detectors behind how we and other animals smell could lead to artificial intelligence that can sense thousands, or maybe millions, of smells.\n\nRefrigerators might be outfitted with sensors that identify food spoilage to prevent illness. Instead of training people and search dogs to find illegal drugs or explosives, detectors placed around airports could do the work. Ecological monitors could smell the pheromones of animal species to track their locations and migration patterns. Imagine how many lives could be saved if a hand-held device simply smelled cancer tumors?\n\nThere, the odor-causing molecules bind with the nerve cells, which directly connect to the olfactory bulb of the brain just above them. While we can register five types of taste (sweet, sour, salt, bitter, and umami), we have more than 100 million olfactory receptor cells that fall into about 400 types.\n\nScientists believe that each type of receptor cell is tuned to recognize certain molecules. Receptors of the same type “plug into” the same junction (called a glomerulus) in the olfactory bulb. Scientists think that each scent activates specific patterns of receptor cells, which then stimulate a unique combination of glomeruli—like how combinations of letters spell different words—to tell the brain what it’s smelling.\n\nMore recent science shows that the glomeruli don’t “spell” words based solely on the structures of  the original odor molecules. In 2010, researchers found that enzymes in the mucus convert some molecules into other forms before they bind with receptor cells. Specifically, they found that mucus enzymes change some odor-causing molecules that contain aldehydes and esters into acids and alcohols. As a result, smell signals sent to the brain represent a combination of the original and mucus-altered molecules."}, {"Source": "fruit fly", "Application": "machine learning model", "Function1": "track odors", "Function2": "locate a food source", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/how-fruit-flies-find-fruit/", "Strategy": "How Fruit Flies Follow a Scent\n\nInsects use an alternating pattern of searches and surges to make sense of an inconsistent trail.\n\nIntroduction\n\nThere may be in your home right now a creature that is the marvel and envy of aeronautical engineers and computer scientists alike. Place a blueberry anywhere in your kitchen, and you will likely soon find the diminutive and intrepid fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) hovering nearby. Move the blueberry and turn on a rotating room fan, or try the experiment outside on a windy day. The fly will still find the treasure. How do these insects track odors to their source in a complicated and ever-changing environment?\n\nThe Strategy\n\nInsects like fruit flies initially determine the location of a food source using olfactory information. The plumes of odor that emanate from a food source do not typically flow out in a cartoonish stream. Air currents and turbulence break up the plume into smaller, more short-lived filaments. An insect then must infer the food source location amidst a background of many other unrelated smells.\n\nInsects follow a characteristic set of behaviors to help them use this sporadic olfactory information to locate a food source. Upon first detecting a filament of odor, they turn and move upwind, toward the source. When the odor filament ends, they begin moving laterally, across the direction of wind flow. Once they detect another filament, they move upwind again, homing in whiff by whiff. In this way, they use an accumulation of small experiences to build towards an ultimate determination of the food source.\n\nThe Potential\n\n Working with incomplete information is the norm in the real world. Creating computational programs that effectively model navigation by insects could have far-ranging applications in human technologies that aim to navigate in similarly-constrained situations. For example, this could be helpful in rescue operations, or searching for sources of pollution, where information is incomplete and time is critical."}, {"Source": "tunsian desert ant's antennae", "Application": "homing devices", "Function1": "detect odors", "Function2": "pinpoint source of scent", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/the-tunsian-desert-ants-antennae-detect-environmental-smells-from-left-and-right/", "Strategy": "How Tunsian Desert Ants Smell in Stereo\n\nThe antennae of the Tunisian desert ant create a detailed olfactory map by detecting smells in left and right channels.\n\nIntroduction \n\nA species of desert ant in Tunisia, Cataglyphis fortis, travels long distances through the country’s saltpans in search of food. Returning ants orient themselves to their nest entrance using both visual and scent-based landmarks. A desert ant knows it has found its way back home by remembering the scent around its nest entrance, with its two antennae acting as its homing device.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nThis desert ant needs the extra help to find its way back to its nest after a foraging trip because it can travel more than 100 meters (328 feet) away from its nest in search of food. While visual landmarks may be useful in directing an ant back toward the general vicinity of its nest entrance, the entrance itself is inconspicuous without its scent marker.\n\nIn addition to visual landmarks, these ants use path integration, which is a mental map that tracks the direction and distance of the ant’s travels, and results in an estimate of the path the ant needs to take to get back to its starting point from its current location. This map can be thought of as a series of paths an ant knows to follow to find its way back home—even without any landmarks or points of reference—and they are constantly being updated while an ant is out foraging.\n\nPath integration is not always the fastest way to get home since it doesn’t involve exploring more efficient routes, but it is reliable.\n\nPerhaps even more fascinating than path integration is the map of smells the ants create and commit to memory. Odors are memorized according to whether they come from the left or the right of the ant throughout its previous return journeys from foraging. It has been experimentally proven that ants lacking use of one of their antennae are incapable of following their map of smells to return home. This means that the antennae are working together to pinpoint the source of a scent, much like how separate left- and right-channel speakers allow us to better determine the apparent source of a sound.\n\nThe Potential\n\nOlfactory detection could be useful in homing devices, such as those in self-driving vehicles or vehicles that are operated remotely and which might lose access to other navigational cues. Building the ability to create and remember olfactory maps into homing devices, in addition to their use of visual landmarks, would improve their effectiveness and efficiency in finding targets.\n\nPath integration offers a model for navigation. This could be particularly significant for rescue devices searching through unmapped and potentially dynamic environments such as wreckage and rubble."}, {"Source": "shark's ampullae of lorenzini", "Application": "smart fishing", "Function1": "sense bioelectric field", "Function2": "sense electric field", "Function3": "detect electric field", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/the-sea-creatures-that-sense-electricity/", "Strategy": "How Sea Creatures Sense Electricity\n\nSome marine animals sense bioelectric fields using gel-filled pores that electrically connect external fields to internal nerve cells.\n\nIntroduction\n\nA great white shark cruises through coastal waters searching for prey, much as its ancestors have done for hundreds of millions of years. While it relies on sight, smell, and sound, it also has senses that humans lack.\n\nSpecifically, sharks (and other animals) have special organs called ampullae of Lorenzini that allow them to sense electric fields that other animals emit.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nAll living organisms generate electric fields around their bodies. Movement—especially when muscle and nerve fibers ignite with action—creates some electric fields. Other fields result from charged ions produced as part of normal biological processes. Fish, for example, exude bioelectric fields at their mouths and gills because mucous linings in these areas directly contact the ocean and spill ions into the surrounding water. The salty seawater itself is laden with charged ions that help spread these fields out from the fish’s bodies.\n\nBut only some organisms can sense bioelectric fields. The Elasmobranchii, a subclass of fish which includes sharks, rays, and skates, is one group of animals that possesses this sense, called “electroreception.”\n\nSharks have noses to smell, eyes to see, and ears to hear similar to humans and other animals. We need those organs to convert sensory signals into nerve impulses that our brains can interpret. To detect electric fields, animals with electroreception have organs called “ampullae of Lorenzini,” named for the scientist who thought their bulbous structure resembled tiny flasks called ampules.\n\nExternal bioelectric fields cause negative electric charges to accumulate at the surfaces of special skin pores. Individual canals conduct the electric signal from each pore to an ampulla of Lorenzini, which contains sensing receptor cells. A glycoprotein gel that has conductive properties similar to that of seawater fills each canal and ampulla and works like an extension cord to electrically “connect” the pore’s surface to the receptor cells. Protons move through the gel, attracted by the external negative charge, and the receptor cells detect the accumulated charges.\n\nThe stronger the field, the more charge accumulates, and the harder the receptor cells stimulate their associated nerve fibers. In that way, the ampullae act like electrical transducers, converting the bioelectric field data into impulses  sent to the brain via a network of nerves that wrap around their outsides.\n\nJust as a sky-scraping antenna picks up more radio signals than a toothpick-sized version, biological differences affect the strength and sensitivity of a species’ electroreception. The quantity of pores and how they’re distributed on the body determine how well the brain integrates multiple signals into a complete “picture” of the external electric field. The number of pores can vary significantly; scientists found that a Port Jackson shark has fewer than 150 pores while a scalloped hammerhead has more than 3,000.\n\nThe location of pores also influences their function. Some stingrays have pores around their mouths and heads for sensing prey. Pores on their backs sense when another predator may be lurking above or behind.\n\nSimilar to tuning a radio to a particular station, electroreception can shift during different life stages to focus on particular signals.\n\nAcute sensing of predators benefits juveniles when they are young and vulnerable. When skates and bamboo sharks are embryos still developing inside eggs, they sense the biofields of nearby predators and stop their tail movements to reduce the chances that their own electric fields will give them away as potential snacks.\n\nLater in life, some species become more adept at sensing prey. When it’s time to mate, a surge in hormones appears to help male stingrays  turn into true love machines, becoming divining rods that detect breeding females.\n\nThe Potential\n\nInstead of casting nets that capture everything under the sea, imagine fishing boats that could emit electric fields to attract a specific species. Such “smart” fishing could help prevent overfishing of threatened and endangered species. Underwater robots could be outfitted with localized biofield emitters to deter marine life from mining or other industrial operations without overwhelming the area’s natural biofield signals. Perhaps electoreception devices could help people “see” the world in a new way. When we look beyond what humans currently perceive in the world, the possibilities of what we can learn are positively electrifying."}, {"Source": "male sea lamprey's gills", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "attract female sea lamprey", "Function2": "act as pheromone", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/pheromone-sends-long-range-signal/", "Strategy": "Pheromone Sends Long‑range Signal\n\nSpecial glands in male sea lamprey gills release a bile that acts as a sex pheromone to attract long-distance females.\n\n“We show that reproductively mature male sea lampreys release a bile acid that acts as a potent sex pheromone, inducing preference and searching behavior in ovulated female lampreys..the male of this fish species signals both its reproductive status and location to females by secreting a pheromone that can act over long distance.”"}, {"Source": "arabidopsis leaf", "Application": "light-triggered technology", "Function1": "perceive day length", "Function2": "trigger flowering", "Function3": "alter gene expression", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/leaves-transmit-signals-to-initiate-flowering/", "Strategy": "Leaves Transmit Signals to Initiate Flowering\n\nThe leaves of Arabidopsis protect the plant from blooming too soon by using light as an environmental cue to initiate a protein-signaling pathway that triggers flowering.\n\nPlants can perceive day length. This keeps them from flowering too early in the season–such as when pollinators are not as active or cold temperatures could freeze their reproductive parts. In order for flowering to occur, there must be communication between the leaf, where light is absorbed, and the shoot apex, where flowering occurs.\n\nPlants have evolved a signaling pathway that involves activation of FLOWERING LOCUS T (FT), a protein whose expression is regulated by the gene, CONSTANS (CO). CO’s rhythm of expression is controlled by the circadian clock in which the amount of dark hours affect flowering. When days are longer and nights are shorter, the plant is exposed to more light and less darkness. CO expression rises and a product of FT moves to the areas of growth, activating flowering-time genes that enable flowering. Overall, this is a long-distance signaling pathway, triggered when light is detected, that alters gene expression to promote flowering. This mechanism has applications in light-triggered technology, such as heating and security systems in buildings. An important aspect of this mechanism and it’s application in technology is that flowering is not only dependent of day-length, but also on quality of light. Plants tend to flower more readily when exposed to far-red light, which is common in shady environments. Plants grown under far-red enriched light contain more CO mRNA, and thus flower more readily than plants grown under white light.\n"}, {"Source": "rock ant's behavior", "Application": "digital, distribution, and other networks", "Function1": "lead student ants to a food source", "Function2": "develop first-hand knowledge", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/ants-teach-other-ants-how-to-find-food/", "Strategy": "Teachers Wait for Students to Get Bearings\n\nRunning together, teacher ants lead student ants to a food source, allowing them to wander and develop first-hand knowledge of the route. \n\nIntroduction\n\nGood teachers take their students by the hand and show them the way. Unless they’re ants. Then they take them by the antenna.\n\nScientists have shown that veteran and inexperienced rock ants (Temnothorax albipennis) maintain a tactile dialogue in which the former pass on their knowledge and the latter follow their lead. Despite their reputation as tiny, pre-programmed robots, ants actively teach and learn.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nThe lessons happen in the form of something called “tandem running.” Naïve ants that don’t know where to look for food seek ants that do. But they don’t merely follow the leader. They don’t run after them. The two—teacher and pupil—run together, keeping up a two-way conversation.\n\nThe experienced ants aren’t laying down a chemical trail for inexperienced ants to follow. And they aren’t just broadcasting knowledge that inexperienced ants may or may not seize and follow up on.\n\nThe “teacher” ants slow down to wait for the inexperienced ones. They pause, while the “student” ants often take big loops—likely to get the lay of the land and identify landmarks to guide their way the next time they seek food on their own. The “teacher” ants proceed only when their students tap their antennae on their teachers’ legs and abdomens to communicate that they are close by and ready to proceed with the lesson. The teacher-pupil pair move in tandem, slowing down when the distance between them grows large and speeding up again when they are only an antenna-length apart.\n\nThe behavior satisfies two definitions of teaching. First, it involves two-way dialogue between teacher and pupil. Second, the teacher changes its normal behavior—at a cost to itself—so that the student can learn more quickly.\n\nIn experiments, scientists showed that teacher ants can get to food sources four times faster if they aren’t burdened by students. The teacher pays this price in exchange for teaching others how to get food efficiently. The immediate cost to the individual pays off by increasing the fitness of the community as a whole.\n\nFurther experiments showed that, after their initial lesson with their teachers, student ants don’t repeat the same meandering path they may have taken during their lesson. They have learned about their surroundings and take speedy and direct routes from their nests to food sources.\n\nThe Potential \n\nTeaching and learning is much more complicated than just imitating a more experienced colleague. It’s a continual dialogue, in which teachers present information and then wait for students to contextualize and internalize it before proceeding. Remarkably, though it’s a complex process, you don’t need a big brain to do it. You don’t really need a brain at all. Such models can be a model for digital, distribution, and other networks as well."}, {"Source": "starling's eye", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "distinguish color", "Function2": "detail", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/cone-photoreceptors-allow-for-specialized-vision/", "Strategy": "Cone Photoreceptors Allow for Specialized Vision\n\nThe starling is a diurnal bird, meaning it is active during the day. Like many animals, the starling contains photoreceptors in the back of its eyes that allow it to see color, shape, and detail. Yet unlike most animals, the starling has a distinct composition of photoreceptor types that make it capable of seeing heightened levels of detail, and UV light.\n\nPhotoreceptors are cells in the back of the eye that convert ambient light into electrical impulses. The electrical impulses then travel to the brain where color, shape, and detail are registered. There are two types of photoreceptors: rods and cones. Rods register general forms, and are optimized in darkness. They are more common in nocturnal species. Cones register color vision and fine detail, and are utilized in bright environments. They are more common in diurnal species.\n\nIn the starling, there are significantly more cones than rods making the starling better at seeing fine details. More significant, however, is that the types (or classes) of cones vary between the left and the right eye. This makes one eye more specialized for seeing the general features, and the other eye better seeing fine details.\n\nThere are two types of cones: single and double. Double cones are larger in size, and and absorb a wider range of wavelengths (light, in this case) than single cones. Single cones are divided into four classes that correspond to the maximum wavelength that can be absorbed. These are long wave sensitive (LWS), medium wave sensitive (MWS), short wave sensitive (SWS), and ultraviolet sensitive (UVS) cones.\n\nDouble cones are good at distinguishing between general shapes, but not good at distinguishing between individual colors and details. Single cones, on the other hand, absorb a smaller range of wavelengths but can distinguish more detail within the wavelengths they do absorb. For example, a double cone is like a box of markers with four colors (red, yellow, green, blue). You can draw an image, but there will not be a lot of detail. Now, if each color were in its own box of four varying hues (i.e., the red box contains maroon, burgundy, red, red-orange) the detail of the image would be far greater.\n\nWhat this creates is a specialized system of visualization. The right eye of the starling contains a greater amount of rods and double cones. These will be utilized for distinguishing movement, shape, and general color. The left eye contains more single cones that will be used to distinguish between complex hues, details, and UV frequencies.\n\n"}, {"Source": "woodlice", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "avoid dead and dying members of their own species", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/chemical-reception-discourages-taxis/", "Strategy": "Chemical Reception Discourages Taxis\n\nWoodlice reduce risk by avoiding dead and dying members of their own species via chemical signals they release.\n\nInsects and arthropods of various taxa avoid their dead and dying so as to prevent predation or the spread of disease. They respond to chemicals called necromones that are released by the dead or dying individual."}, {"Source": "fish host's chemical cues", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "respond to chemical cues", "Function2": "anchor itself to fish host", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/discharge-trigger-responds-to-fishs-chemical-cues/", "Strategy": "Discharge Trigger Responds to Fish’s Chemical Cues\n\nThe filament injection organ of Myxobolus cerebralis detects a potential fish host via receptors that recognize chemical compounds present in fish mucus.\n\nThe actinospore phase of a myoxozoan parasite emerges from its invertebrate worm host and must infect a fish host in order to complete its life cycle. The actinospore features a single-use filament ejection organ, which it uses to anchor itself to fish to implant new parasite cells. Since premature triggering of the filament capsule would mean death for the individual actinospore, they must respond to chemical cues originating specifically from fish. Moreover, the chemical trigger must be a compound that fish secrete involuntarily so as to reduce the likelihood of the fish developing resistance. The epidermal mucus coating of a salmon, a host species for Myxobolus cerebralis, is well adapted to supplement its swimming, ion/gas exchange, defense against physical damage, and immune system. M. cerebralis takes advantage of chemical compounds present in this mucus to signal that a fish host is nearby, triggering release of the parasite’s anchoring-filament. This adaptation is extremely effective in identifying a suitable fish host because the signaling compounds in the mucus are associated with critical metabolic processes, so the fish must produce them. They are also very water insoluble, so their detection by the parasite at certain concentrations indicate extreme proximity to host fish. An interesting aspect of the trigger mechanism is that it is not species-specific, just fish-specific. This may be an adaptation to increase the likelihood of adaptation to new host species."}, {"Source": "melanophila acuminata beetle's infrared sensory organ", "Application": "sensors", "Function1": "detect fire", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/sensilla-detect-fire/", "Strategy": "Sensilla Detect Fire\n\nSensilla in the infrared sensory organ of the Melanophila acuminata beetle detect fire by a structure of lipids channeling photons to a protein region highly sensitive to hydrogen resonance.\n\nMany animals have highly developed sensory organs. While much research has gone into understanding the sensory systems developed my mammals, Dr. H. Beckmann suggests researchers and innovative developers take a closer look at smaller organisms such as the fire beetle (Merimna) and snakes. These organisms use microbolometer systems to detect infrared radiation. Microbolometer systems are essentially thermosensors that measure the “temperature of an absorbing surface that is heated by IR radiation” . These microbolometer systems are complex systems compact enough to fit side-by-side on the ventrolateral sides of the second and third abdominal sternite of the beetle. These beetles (and snakes) have organs that are penetrated by a single neuron with its mass of dendrites attached closely; though the structural arrangement differs among species. When tested, the Melanophila beetles’ (another beetle that senses forest fires) sensors did not respond to light nor moderate air movements or changes in temperature near the organs. However, they did respond to IR stimuli, suggesting that these organs are highly developed for specific use. Understanding the function of these sensory organs can lead to development of more accurate and precise sensors."}, {"Source": "titan arum plant's inflorescence", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "emit odor", "Function2": "release pheromone", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/odor-attracts-specific-insects/", "Strategy": "Pheromone Sends Long‑range Signal\n\nThe inflorescence of the titan arum plant attracts specific pollinators by emitting an intense, carrion-like odor.\n\n“We show that reproductively mature male sea lampreys release a bile acid that acts as a potent sex pheromone, inducing preference and searching behavior in ovulated female lampreys..the male of this fish species signals both its reproductive status and location to females by secreting a pheromone that can act over long distance.”"}, {"Source": "big brown bat's sonar", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "navigate dense or cluttered landscapes", "Function2": "avoid obstacle", "Function3": "better understand the location of objects", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/sonar-adjusts-to-surroundings/", "Strategy": "Sonar Adjusts to Surroundings\n\nSonar of big brown bats enables navigation of dense or cluttered landscapes via frequency shifting.\n\n“Researchers monitored big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus) in a flight chamber using both microphones and thermal-infrared video cameras…\n\n“By using more than one frequency for consecutive calls, the bats could better understand which call an echo was coming in from, and therefore, where the object was.\n\n“’They’ve evolved this so they can fly in clutter,’ James Simmons, a professor of neuroscience at Brown University and coauthor of the study, said in a prepared statement. ‘Otherwise, they’d bump into trees and branches.’” \n"}, {"Source": "parasitic fly's eardrum", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "locate sound", "Function2": "detect sound direction", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/eardrums-provide-directional-hearing/", "Strategy": "Eardrums Provide Directional Hearing\n\nThe eardrums of a parasitic fly can help locate its host through sound thanks to the see-saw shape of the membranes.\n\nOrmia ochracea, a parasitic fly, can determine the direction of a sound to within two degrees, a feat previously ascribed only to owls, cats, and humans. The discovery is surprising because flies ordinarily have no sense of hearing at all. Ormia, however, relies on its powerful ears to locate singing crickets, on which they deposit tiny larvae that eat the cricket from the inside out. Ormia’s hearing mechanism is unique in that it involves a set of eardrums located behind the head. The eardrums act as tiny directional microphones, amplifying sound while indicating the direction from which the sound came. Unlike a regular microphone, whose hearing \"membrane\" is clamped down on all sides, Ormia’s hearing mechanism consists of two membranes fastened with a hinge in the center so that it rocks like a see-saw. If sound waves come on both sides at exactly the same time and with the same amplitude, the see-saw doesn’t move. But if sound comes to one side before the other, it moves because the two pressures are unequal.\n"}, {"Source": "fruit fly's taste neuron", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "detect co2", "Function2": "mediate taste acceptance", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/taste-neurons-detect-co2/", "Strategy": "Taste Neurons Detect CO2\n\nSpecialized taste neurons of fruit flies detect CO2 to mediate taste acceptance.\n\n“There are five known taste modalities in humans: sweet, bitter, sour, salty and umami (the taste of monosodium glutamate). Although the fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster tastes sugars, salts and noxious chemicals, the nature and number of taste modalities in this organism is not clear…Here we identify a novel taste modality in this insect: the taste of carbonated water…The taste of carbonation may allow Drosophila to detect and obtain nutrients from growing microorganisms. Whereas CO2 detection by the olfactory system mediates avoidance, CO2 detection by the gustatory system mediates acceptance behaviour, demonstrating that the context of CO2 determines appropriate behaviour. This work opens up the possibility that the taste of carbonation may also exist in other organisms.” "}, {"Source": "mosquito's fine hair", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "hear sound", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/long-range-hearing-without-an-eardrum/", "Strategy": "Long‑range Hearing Without an Eardrum\n\nMosquitoes use fine hairs to hear sounds up to 10 meters (32 feet) away\n\nInsect antennae are important non-visual sensory organs. Mosquitoes use their antennae as movement receivers that respond to oscillations of air particles within the insects’ surroundings. This is auditory sensing, also known as hearing. Male mosquito antennae are particularly well-adapted to detect sound as a means of finding mates. They can specifically recognize the frequency of female mosquitoes’ wing beats while flying."}, {"Source": "euchaeta rimana's antennae", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "detect changes", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/hairs-detect-changes-in-water-current/", "Strategy": "Hairs Detect Changes in Water Current\n\nThe antennae of Euchaeta rimana, a copepod, detect changes in the smooth water current (created by the shrimp's mouthparts) via motion-sensitive hairs.\n\n"}, {"Source": "mosquito's antennae", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "sense air movement", "Function2": "conduct it to nerve cells", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/legs-detect-airborne-vibrations/", "Strategy": "Spiders’ Leg\n\nTiny leg hairs help spiders sense subtle air movement by conducting it directly to nerve cells.\n\nStructurally, mosquitoes have two antennae beneath their eyes, each with two segments. The primary segment in males is composed of a ‘plumose’ shaft, meaning it is coated in long, feather-like fibrils or hairs. These hairs are shorter at the tip of the shaft and increase in length toward the rear. The primary segment is connected directly to the secondary segment, which holds the Johnston organ. The Johnston organ is a spherical base, densely packed with neurons. This bundle of sensory receptors is extra sensitive to the forces acting on the shaft hairs. When the hairs are moved, the forces are immediately transmitted and recognized by the sensitive neurons in the Johnston organ."}, {"Source": "silkworm moth's antennae", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "increase sensitivity to odors", "Function2": "direct air flow", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/antennae-enhance-odor-detection/", "Strategy": "Antennae Enhance Odor Detection\n\nThe antennae of silkworm moths increase sensitivity to odors because the shape and structure of sensillae direct air flow through them.\n\n\n"}, {"Source": "greater mouse-eared bat's internal magnetic compass", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "hear sound", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/internal-magnetic-compass-recalibrates/", "Strategy": "Internal Magnetic Compass Recalibrates\n\nThe internal magnetic compass of greater mouse-eared bats can be calibrated with directional reference from the setting sun.\n\nIt was previously believed that organisms required ear drums for long-range hearing (up to several meters away). Ear drums work by picking up pressure from sound waves and relaying that information to the brain as sound. Because mosquitos such as the Aedes aegypti have antennae instead of ear drums, it was thought that mosquitoes could only hear sounds at close distances (a few inches or several centimeters away)."}, {"Source": "mourning cuttlefish's eye", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "provide high definition polarization vision", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/high-resolution-polarisation-improves-vision/", "Strategy": "High‑resolution Polarisation Improves Vision\n\nEyes of the mourning cuttlefish provide high definition polarization vision due to the orthogonal arrangement of microvilli in photosensitive rhabdoms.\n\n"}, {"Source": "brownsnout spookfish's auxiliary eyes", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "hear sound", "Function2": "hear best in the frequency range", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/extra-eyes-direct-light/", "Strategy": "The Fish That Cracked the\nMystery of Mirror Vision\n\nAuxiliary eyes of the brownsnout spookfish create a clear image using mirrors to reflect and focus light.\n\nIt is now known that mosquitoes can hear sounds as far away as 10 meters (32 feet). They hear best in the frequency range between 150 to 500 hertz, which overlaps well with the frequencies of female mosquitoes in flight."}, {"Source": "harvester ant's antennal contact", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "communicate food availability", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/food-availability-regulates-foraging-speed/", "Strategy": "Food Availability Regulates Foraging Speed\n\nAntennal contact behavior of harvester ants communicates food availability through feedback based on rate of coming and going.\n\n\n"}, {"Source": "owl's earsmosquito's ears", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "map sound", "Function2": "pick up sensory cues", "Function3": "locate object", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/ears-map-sounds/", "Strategy": "Ears Map Sounds\n\nThe ears of the owls can map sounds three-dimensionally because of their asymmetric placement.\n\nThe mosquitoes’ frequency range for hearing also overlapps with human speech. The most energetic frequencies of an average human vowel are in the range of 150 to 900 hertz, so they technically should be able to hear people speaking. However, there is currently no evidence that they use this to locate and hone in on people. It is well known that mosquitos pick up sensory cues such as carbon dioxide, odors and warmth to locate people."}, {"Source": "nerve cell's protein", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "trigger neurotransmitter release", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/protein-triggers-neurotransmitter-release/", "Strategy": "Protein Triggers Neurotransmitter Release\n\nProteins in nerve cells of animals trigger neurotransmitter release in response to electrochemical signal.\n\n\n"}, {"Source": "escherichia coli cell's outer membrane", "Application": "sensitive directional microphone", "Function1": "send signals", "Function2": "detect sound", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/receptors-guide-bacterial-navigation/", "Strategy": "Receptors Guide Bacterial Navigation\n\nOuter membranes of Escherichia coli cells direct the cell toward food using \"taste\" receptor protein clusters that send signals to the motor proteins of the flagella.\n\nThis research offers the opportunity to develop highly sensitive directional microphones and hearing aids. All microphones and sound detection equipment are based on capturing sounds by detecting pressure differences, similar to ear drums. A microphone designed based on how a mosquito hears would detect fluctuations in air velocity, and could be designed as a fine hair or fiber for detecting sound."}, {"Source": "seabird's olfactory sense", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "locate prey", "Function2": "reduce grazing pressure", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/olfactory-cues-aid-in-prey-detection/", "Strategy": "Olfactory Cues Aid in Prey Detection\n\nThe olfactory senses of seabirds help them locate prey via detection of dimethyl sulfide released by phytoplankton.\n\nIn pelagic ecosystems, phytoplankton contain high concentrations of DMSP (dimethylsulfoniopropionate), an osmolyte that helps marine algae regulate their internal osmotic environment and may also serve as a cryoprotectant. When phytoplankton are eaten by zooplankton such as crustaceans, DMSP is released into the water, where it is converted into DMS (dimethyl sulfide) and acrylic acid. DMS then travels to the surface of the water and is released into the atmosphere, where it gives off a distinct smell that attracts several procellariiform seabirds, including albatrosses, petrels, and shearwaters, which feed on crustaceans. This establishes a mutually beneficial relationship where phytoplankton release DMS, which seabirds use as a cue to find and eat prey, thereby reducing the grazing pressure on the phytoplankton. This relationship suggests that DMS serves as a “keystone” infochemical in marine trophic interactions."}, {"Source": "marine snail's shell", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "amplify bioluminescence", "Function2": "selectively diffuse blue-green lightwaves", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/shell-amplifies-bioluminescence/", "Strategy": "Shell Amplifies Bioluminescence\n\nOpaque shell of marine snail amplifies bioluminescence by selectively diffusing blue-green lightwaves.\n\n“Some living organisms produce visible light (bioluminescence) for intra- or interspecific visual communication. Here, we describe a remarkable bioluminescent adaptation in the marine snail Hinea brasiliana. This species produces a luminous display in response to mechanical stimulation caused by encounters with other motile organisms. The light is produced from discrete areas on the snail’s body beneath the snail’s shell, and must thus overcome this structural barrier to be viewed by an external receiver. The diffusion and transmission efficiency of the shell is greater than a commercial diffuser reference material. Most strikingly, the shell, although opaque and pigmented, selectively diffuses the blue-green wavelength of the species bioluminescence. This diffusion generates a luminous display that is enlarged relative to the original light source. This unusual shell thus allows spatially amplified outward transmission of light communication signals from the snail, while allowing the animal to remain safely inside its hard protective shell.”\n\n“…in order to perform an ecological function, the bioluminescent signal of H. brasiliana must overcome the physical barrier of the shell to be visible from the outside…Under natural light, the shell of H. brasiliana is opaque with a brown-yellow proteinaceous coating (periostracum) over the main whorl. Surprisingly, when shining a beam of white light into the aperture of the shell, most wavelengths of the light were transmitted directly through the shell quite efficiently (greater than 75%), except for the blue-green wavelengths (450– 550 nm; figure 1)…Paradoxically, we found that a discrete beam of blue-green light shone into the shell aperture (mimicking emitted bioluminescence) scattered these wavelengths efficiently to other parts of the shell otherwise not exposed to the original source and was emitted as a diffuse and spatially amplified light signal .” \n\n“The mechanisms by which such wavelength-specific diffusion takes place in the shell of H. brasiliana still remain to be characterized, and are likely to be linked to the structural morphology of the calcium layers rather than the overlaying pigmented proteinaceous periostracum.” "}, {"Source": "silicon cricket's hearing organs", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "detect sound vibrations", "Function2": "detect sound direction", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/stretch-receptors-aid-sound-detection/", "Strategy": "Stretch Receptors Aid Sound Detection\n\nThe hearing organs of the silicon cricket detect sound vibrations and their direction via chordotonal organs called stretch receptors.\n\n“Crickets can locate conspecifics by phonotaxis to the calling (mating) song they produce, and can evade bats by negative phonotaxis from echolocation calls…The physics of this system is well understood; the mechanism is a pair of sound receivers with effectively four acoustic inputs, one on each foreleg, which are the external surfaces of the tympana, and two on the body, the prothoracic or acoustic spiracles. Connecting tracheal tubes between these four inputs mean that phase cancellation occurs as sounds travel inside the cricket, producing a directional response at the tympana to frequencies near to that of the calling song. The amplitude of vibration of the tympana, and hence the firing rate of the auditory afferent neurons attached to them, vary as a sound source is moved around the cricket and the sounds from the different inputs move in and out of phase. The outputs of the two tympana match when the sound is straight ahead, and the inputs are bilaterally symmetric with respect to the sound source. However, when sound at the calling song frequency is off-centre the phase of signals on the closer side comes better into alignment, and the signal increases on that side, and conversely decreases on the other. Consequently the cricket can turn towards the sound source by turning to the side with the higher tympanal vibration amplitude.”"}, {"Source": "dog's olfactory system", "Application": "super-sniffers", "Function1": "sense of smell", "Function2": "detect diseases and disorders", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/senses-detect-epileptic-seizures/", "Strategy": "Canine “super‑sniffers” Use Odor to Detect Disease\n\nThe olfactory system of a dog detects diseases and disorders by responding to chemicals given off by affected individuals.\n\nIntroduction \n\nLook around at animals in the woods, on a farm, or even in our homes, and it’s clear that there’s an incredible variety of how they use each of the senses. Birds of prey are masters of sight. Bats and moths are known for their keen sense of hearing. For canines, the sense of smell rules. In the wild, an exquisite sense of smell gives wolves and others a leg up when it comes to finding prey and communicating with each other. In domestic dogs, it has become the foundation of an unexpected talent: the ability to help detect the presence of certain diseases and disorders in humans.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nDogs have a remarkable sense of smell. When they sniff, a bit of the air they take in goes to a maze-like structure in their heads called the olfactory recess. Thanks to the extensive surface area this structure offers, dogs have more than half a billion cells available to sense scent—some 15 times what humans have. The part of the nervous system these cells send signals to, called the olfactory bulb, is three times the size of that in humans. These adaptations allow a dog to respond to the presence of molecules in the air with exquisite sensitivity: Some dogs can detect a single odor molecule among a trillion others.\n\nThe Potential\n\nIf these chemicals are released in advance, they might also help anticipate the onset of an incident such as diabetic insulin imbalance or an epilieptic seizure. . Being able to know ahead of time that a seizure is coming on could be a literal lifesaver, allowing individuals to get out of the water, move away from hard objects, or otherwise enter a safe area before the seizure occurs.\n\nThe most direct approach to tapping this talent is using dogs directly as detectives. But that might not always be practical. Understanding the mechanism by which a dog’s olfactory system can pick out a single scent from among many others, even at extremely low concentrations, could open doors to the development of “e-noses” that electronically detect the presence of single molecules of interest in a sample.\n\nThis could lead to improved detection of illicit substances, the ability to provide evidence of the location of a person or movement of a person over time, and more. It also could inspire development of devices that use olfactory cues in place of visual or tactile elements—for example, a smart lock or smart ignition system that activates when a person with a unique scent profile shows up."}, {"Source": "dolphin's biosonar", "Application": "medical imaging", "Function1": "send ultrasonic sounds", "Function2": "determine the shape of the returning signals", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/biosonar-gives-an-accurate-imaging/", "Strategy": "Biosonar Gives an Accurate Imaging\n\nHigh resolution biosonar of dolphins, bats and mole rats gives an accurate imaging by using real-time data processing.\n\n“Biosonar animals send ultrasonic sounds called ‘pings’ into the environment. The shape of the returning signals, or echoes, determines how these animals ‘see’ their surroundings, helping them to navigate or\nhunt for prey. In a matter of tens of milliseconds, the neurons in the animal’s brain are capable of a full-scale analysis of their surroundings represented in three dimensions, with little energy consumption. Even with the aid of a supercomputer, which consumes\nthousands of times more energy, humans cannot produce such an accurate picture, Prof. Intrator says…’Animals explore pings with multiple filters or receptive fields, and we have demonstrated that exploring each ping in multiple ways can lead to\nhigher accuracy,’ he explains. ‘By understanding sonar animals, we can create a new family of ultrasound systems that will be able to explore our bodies with more accurate medical imaging.'”"}, {"Source": "bacteria", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "sense each other", "Function2": "sense local density", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/bacteria-use-chemical-signals-to-communicate/", "Strategy": "Bacteria Use Chemical Signals to Communicate\n\nBacteria sense each other using chemicals to determine local density.\n\nYou can’t play tic-tac-toe alone; jumping rope requires at least 3 people; and in a professional soccer match each team needs 11 players. A minimum number of individuals are required in order to do certain things.\n\nIt’s the same for bacteria. These tiny organisms, which live unseen on almost every possible surface, including in the air and water, often live as independent cells. However, sometimes bacteria need to form larger groups in order to do new things, like protect themselves or produce new chemicals. When a minimum number of bacteria are in a certain area, they can suddenly change what they’re capable of doing, such as forming colonies with different physical abilities, producing different chemicals, and behaving in ways that can make them harder to get rid of. How do bacteria know when they have enough individuals to make the switch?\n\nBacteria use chemicals to communicate with each other. They can communicate about lots of things, including keeping track of the overall number of bacterial cells in a certain area. Bacteria pass ‘messages’ to each other by releasing different chemicals. Bacteria have sensors on the outside of their cells that allow them to pick up these chemical signals from other bacteria. When a lot of bacteria are in a certain area, there are lots of signals being picked up by the sensor. When the communication chemicals reach a certain threshold, this triggers to the other bacteria that there are enough of them to make the switch to start behaving as a colony.\n\nHaving systems for knowing when conditions are right to take action is something bacteria have mastered, and it’s a skill people often could use as well. Timing a policy change, introducing a new idea at a meeting, or altering one’s own behavior can perhaps all be done better by attending to cues around us.\n"}, {"Source": "talpid's snout", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "detect pressure", "Function2": "detect objects and prey", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/snout-detects-pressure/", "Strategy": "Snout Detects Pressure\n\nThe snout of talpids can detect pressure and other sensory input thanks to the Eimer's gland, a mechanosensory organ.\n\n“Talpids also possess an Eimer’s gland, a mechanosensory organ present on the rhinarium. This organ is highly sensitive and responds to the onset and offset of pressure, to sustained depression of the epidermis, and to changes in the angle of the stimulation. This organ may be used to detect prey by determining surface texture, and in the star-nosed moles the Eimer’s gland may detect the electrical fields of prey in water.” "}, {"Source": "alligator's face", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "detect disturbance", "Function2": "discriminate object", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/receptors-detect-tiny-disturbances/", "Strategy": "Receptors Detect Tiny Disturbances\n\nFaces of alligators detect tiny disturbances in the water and discriminate objects using touch-sensitive receptor cells in their scales.\n\nThe American alligator is a large reptile recognizable by its heavily armored body covered in thick scales. These alligators live in swamps, rivers, and lakes of the southeastern United States. Even with a scaly and tough-looking exterior, parts of the alligator’s body are highly sensitive to touch—even more sensitive than a human’s fingertips. This is achieved with an array of sensory organs in the alligator’s scales.\n\nThe touch-sensitive organs are called integumentary sensory organs. On the surface of a scale, the sensory organs appear as small, dark dome-shaped spots typically ~0.5 mm in diameter. Thousands of these sensory organs cover the alligator’s face. They are especially dense around the teeth, inside the mouth, and at the tip of the snout.\n\nUnder each dome lies a dense network of touch-sensitive receptor cells (known as mechanoreceptors) and nerves. When part of the dome is pushed down by an object the alligator encounters or even moving water, this stimulates the touch-sensitive receptor cells. The cells are sensitive to deflections as small as 4 μm, just a fraction of the width of a human hair. The stimulated receptor cells then send signals along connected nerve cells to the central nervous system, which includes the alligator’s brain. There are a variety of receptor cells and nerves in each dome-shaped organ: some respond to continuous stimulation (like a constant push) while others are more sensitive to changing stimuli (like vibrations).\n\nResearchers hypothesize that these extremely touch-sensitive areas around the mouth help the alligator locate, capture, and examine prey even when visual and sound cues are absent. The alligator will open its mouth slightly while searching for food in the water, using its integumentary sensory organs to detect disturbances in the water from a moving object. Once the alligator finds and bites the object, it can examine the object with its mouth to see if it’s edible."}, {"Source": "honeybee's abdomen", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "decrease drag", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/raised-abdomen-reduces-drag/", "Strategy": "Raised Abdomen Reduces Drag\n\nAbdomen of honey reduces drag during flight by being raised to increase streamlining.\n\n“Our results have revealed, for the first time, the existence of a visually driven streamlining response in flying insects. This response, which can be elicited without exposing the insect to any airflow, presumably serves to reduce the aerodynamic drag that would otherwise be produced by the abdomen during real flight.”"}, {"Source": "bat wing", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "provide immediate sensorimotor feedback", "Function2": "provide aerodynamic feedback", "Function3": "monitor flight speed and/or airflow conditions", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/hairs-help-flight-maneuverability/", "Strategy": "Hairs Help Flight Maneuverability\n\nTactile hairs in wing membranes of bats serve as flight control organs by providing immediate sensorimotor feedback.\n\n“Bats are the only mammals capable of powered flight, and they perform impressive aerial maneuvers like tight turns, hovering, and perching upside down. The bat wing contains five digits, and its specialized membrane is covered with stiff, microscopically small, domed hairs. We provide here unique empirical evidence that the tactile receptors associated with these hairs are involved in sensorimotor flight control by providing\naerodynamic feedback. We found that neurons in bat primary somatosensory cortex respond with directional sensitivity to stimulation of the wing hairs with low-speed airflow…the hairs act as an array of sensors to\nmonitor flight speed and/or airflow conditions that indicate stall. Depilation of different functional regions of the bats’ wing membrane altered the flight behavior in obstacle avoidance tasks by reducing aerial maneuverability, as indicated by decreased turning angles and increased flight speed.”"}, {"Source": "vampire bat's pit organ", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "detect infrared radiation", "Function2": "detect heat", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/ion-channels-detects-heat/", "Strategy": "Ion Channels Detects Heat\n\n'Pit organs' around the nose of vampire bat detects infrared radiation using ion channels.\n\n“Histological studies of the bats’\nfacial structures indicate that thermal stimuli are most probably perceived in the three pits surrounding the central nose leaf: the thin, hairless and glandless skin is underlaid with dense connective tissue. Thermography reveals that the surface temperature of the nasal region is up to 9°C lower than that of the neighboring parts of the face.”\n\n“Vampire bats (Desmodus rotundus) are obligate blood feeders that have evolved specialized systems to suit their sanguinary lifestyle.\n\nChief among such adaptations is the ability to detect infrared radiation as a means of locating hotspots on warm-blooded prey. Among vertebrates, only vampire bats, boas, pythons and pit vipers are capable of detecting infrared radiation. In each case, infrared signals are detected by trigeminal nerve fibres\nthat innervate specialized pit organs on the animal’s face. Thus, vampire bats and snakes have taken thermosensation to the extreme by developing specialized systems for detecting infrared radiation. As\nsuch, these creatures provide a window into the molecular and genetic mechanisms underlying evolutionary tuning of thermoreceptors in a\nspecies-specific or cell-type-specific manner(…)Here we show that vampire bats tune a channel* that is already\nheat-sensitive, TRPV1, by lowering its thermal activation threshold to about 30 °C. This is achieved through alternative splicing of TRPV1 transcripts to produce a\nchannel with a truncated carboxy-terminal cytoplasmic domain. These splicing events occur exclusively in trigeminal ganglia, and not in dorsal root ganglia, thereby maintaining a role for TRPV1 as a detector\nof noxious heat in somatic afferents.” \n\nIon channels are pore-forming proteins that regulate the flow of ions across the membrane in all cells.\n\nThe channel acts like a little thermostat. “Altering its structure by leaving out part of the gene tunes the\nability of the channel to detect heat. By expressing different forms in different tissues, the bats have split the function of the sensor, maintaining its original function but also gaining the ability to detect body heat for more efficient hunting.” "}, {"Source": "brittlestar's arm", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "focus light efficiently", "Function2": "guide and focus light inside the tissue", "Function3": "signal enhancement", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/photosensory-organs-assemble-at-low-temperatures/", "Strategy": "Photosensory Organs Assemble at Low Temperatures\n\nArms of brittlestars have crystal lenses that focus light efficiently, yet are assembled from natural materials at sea temperature.\n\n“Certain single calcite crystals used by brittlestars for skeletal construction are also a component of specialized photosensory organs, conceivably with the function of a compound eye. The analysis of arm ossicles in Ophiocoma showed that in light-sensitive species, the periphery of the labyrinthic calcitic skeleton extends into a regular array of spherical microstructures that have a characteristic double-lens design(…)The microlenses are optical elements that guide and focus the light inside the tissue(…)The optical performance is further optimized by phototropic chromatophores that regulate the dose of illumination reaching the receptors. These structures represent an example of a multi-functional biomaterial that fulfills both mechanical and optical functions.”\n\n“Brittlestars form a nearly perfect optical device with micron-scale, lightweight, mechanically strong, aberration-free, birefringence-free, individually-addressed lenses, which offer a unique focusing effect,\nsignal enhancement, intensity adjustment, angular selectivity, and photochromic activity.” \n"}, {"Source": "chimpanzee's teaching behavior", "Application": "education", "Function1": "proactive and reactive teaching", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/education-sustains-technological-complexity/", "Strategy": "Engaged Teaching Passes on Complex Lessons\n\nChimpanzees maintain a culture of complex tool use by being both proactive and reactive in teaching their young.\n\nIntroduction \n\nMedicine, robots, satellites––how have humans become so technologically advanced? The forces that have enabled these extraordinary material achievements are important to understand if we hope to innovate intelligently and sustainably. Chimpanzees, as renowned tool users and our species’ closest living relatives, can provide some insight into this question.\n\nThe Strategy\n\nJust like with human communities, there are significant behavioral differences between various chimpanzee groups. This diversity gives researchers the possibility of examining how distinct groups compare in terms of tool use and the teaching behavior that passes it down to each generation.\n\nVisiting one population in the Republic of Congo, you’d see that chimpanzees use a large set of complex tools to aid in a variety of tasks, such as fishing for termites. Using gestures and vocalizations, juveniles in this group request to use the tools of adults much more often than juveniles in groups with a simpler toolkit, and their requests are granted more often. Also, when juveniles of this population struggle in using tools, adults take the initiative to hand over their own tools for the juveniles to use.\n\nAcross the continent, a chimpanzee population in Tanzania uses a much simpler tool set for fishing termites. When researchers observed this group, juvenile’s requests to use adult tools were usually denied. And when juveniles struggled in using tools, adults didn’t take the initiative to provide their own tools for juveniles to use.\n\nThe Potential\n\n These patterns suggest that chimpanzee communities can maintain more complex tool use patterns when the teaching effort or teaching willingness is relatively high. Investments in this kind of education appear to be part of what allows complex tool use to persist, and perhaps to come about in the first place. Seeing such teaching patterns in our closest living relatives is like seeing our own in a rippled reflection. It lends support to the idea that among humans, too, advancement of technology may go hand in hand with an investment in education."}, {"Source": "insect's exoskeleton", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "detect strain and load", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/cuticle-hole-detects-strain-and-load-changes/", "Strategy": "Cuticle Hole Detects Strain and Load Changes\n\nExoskeleton of insects detects strain and load change via campaniform sensilla.\n\n“In insects, the campaniform sensillum is a hole extending through the cuticle arranged such that its shape changes in response to loads. The shape change is rotated through 90° by the suspension of a bell-shaped cap whose deflection is detected by a cell beneath the cuticle. It can be sensitive to displacements of the order of 1 nm. The essential morphology [is] a hole formed in a plate of fibrous composite material.”\n“A campaniform sensillum (figure 1) is a kind of strain sensor found in insects, e.g. the blowfly (Calliphora vicina). The campaniform sensillum is basically an opening in the cuticle (with a size of 5–10 μm in diameter for the circular shape one) covered  by membrane layers. The shape of the opening is generally ellipse and sometimes almost circular. Deformation in the insect’s cuticular layer is sensed by the campaniform sensillum using mechanical coupling, transduction and an encoding mechanism to transfer the environmental information to the insect’s nervous system. Previous work by one of the authors (JFVV) showed that the mechanical coupling mechanism was resolved into discrete components: a cap surrounded by a collar, a joint membrane and an annulus-shaped socket septum with a spongy compliant zone (the spongy cuticle). The coupling mechanism is a mechanical linkage which transforms the stimulus into two deformations in different directions: monoaxial transverse compression of the dendritic tip of a sensory neuron cell, which acts as a transducer, and vertical displacement of the cap. The natural campaniform sensilla, regardless of the high Young modulus of the exocuticle layer of the insect (k ≈ 109 Nm−2), can still detect changes. These sensors are as sensitive to displacement in that stiff structure as the receptors in the human ear are to sound [8]. This sensitivity is among others due to their unique membrane-in-recess microstructure. The membrane located inside a blind hole amplifies the strain.”"}, {"Source": "zebra finch's brain", "Application": "teaching method", "Function1": "learn efficiently", "Function2": "improve performance", "Function3": "facilitate communication", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/brain-acts-as-both-teacher-and-student/", "Strategy": "Feedback Loop Helps Brain Teach Itself Quickly\n\nTwo brain regions in zebra finches act as \"student\" and \"tutor\" to learn songs efficiently.\n\nFor zebra finches, music is what determines whether they will keep their genetic legacy alive or be erased from the gene pool. That makes the month during which a zebra finch learns to sing the song demonstrated by its father the most important month of its life. With such high stakes, finding the perfect tutor is essential. As it turns out, the finch’s own brain might be the best teacher of all. Scientists have found that one part of the brain, deemed the “tutor,” teaches another part of the brain, the “student,” in a coordinated effort to improve performance of the finch’s song.\n\nBirds, like musicians, hone their songs through practice. Zebra finches sing, compare what they hear to a memory of the song, and adjust the parts that are not quite right. The student part of the brain changes its control on the respiratory muscles used to sing to make adjustments to the song. However, it is the tutor part of the brain that decides what these changes should be.\n\nMuch like in humans, each brain region has its own learning style. The criteria that help a region learn best follow a set of rules that facilitate communication between neurons. These rules are vital for learning, and different parts of the brain have different rules. If the tutor region sends information to a student region based on the wrong set of criteria, the performance will be dreadful. It would be like trying to teach in French to a class that only understands Russian.\n\nIn this circuit, however, it is not only the student that learns. The teaching signal must balance its lessons on multiple levels. Sometimes, it is best to correct an erroneous sound immediately. Other times, a broader correction on the song as a whole is more helpful. The tutor part of the brain receives feedback about how well it is teaching and adapts accordingly. Simply put, while the tutor is helping the student learn to sing, the tutor is also learning how to be a more effective instructor. Given the rules that the student region needs to succeed, the teaching signal adapts within those constraints to improve the zebra finch’s song.\n\nWhat works in a zebra finch’s brain can also lead to success in the human classroom. Consistent feedback on the effectiveness of an instructor’s efforts towards a student, and the ability to make adjustments accordingly, can lead to more effective teaching than when only the student’s performance is evaluated, and the teaching method remains static."}, {"Source": "cat's olfactory bulb", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "detect x-ray", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/olfactory-bulb-detects-x-rays/", "Strategy": "Olfactory Bulb Detects X‑rays\n\nThe sensory system of cats detects X-ray radiation with the olfactory bulb, rather than the eyes.\n\n“In 1965, a team of biologists at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Long Beach, California, performed experiments that seemed to show that cats could detect X rays. In conditioning experiments, cats reacted to five-second exposures of X-ray radiation in order to avoid a mild rebuff. In attempting to pinpoint the body region responsible for this remarkable feat, the researchers found that the olfactory bulb behind the nasal and oral passages was the most responsive region, rather than the eyes.” "}, {"Source": "dolphin's chirp", "Application": "optical wireless signals", "Function1": "multi-rate", "Function2": "ultra-short wave forms", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/chirps-carry-through-water/", "Strategy": "Chirps Carry Through Water\n\nChirps of dolphins carry through water because they are multi-rate, ultra-short wave forms.\n\n“Dr. Mohsen Kavehrad, director of the Center for Information and Communications Technology Research at Penn State, is using multi-rate, ultra-short laser pulses or wavelets that mimic dolphin chirps to make optical wireless signals that can penetrate fog, clouds, and other adverse weather conditions. The multi-rate feature increases the chances that some of the pulses will get through the obstacle. The new approach could help bring optical bandwidth, capable of carrying huge amounts of information, to applications ranging from wireless communication between air and ground vehicles on the battlefield to short links between college campus buildings to metropolitan area networks that connect all the buildings in a city.”"}, {"Source": "human fingertip", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "increase touch sensitivity", "Function2": "respond to tactile stimulus", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/fingertips-increase-sensitivity-to-touch/", "Strategy": "Fingertips Increase Sensitivity to Touch\n\nFingertips increase touch sensitivity due to mechanoreceptors underneath the surface of the skin\n\nHuman fingertips are probably the most sensitive skin areas in the animal world; they can feel the difference between a smooth surface and one with a pattern embedded just 13 nm deep. This is due to epidermal ridges on the surface of the fingertip, which allow humans to differentiate between a wide range of textures, materials, temperatures, and pressures. While each person has a unique pattern of ridges (i.e. fingerprints), the pattern is not crucial to the function. Just underneath the ridges are mechanoreceptors, a type of sensory receptor that responds to tactile stimulus. Friction caused by movement of the fingertip along a surface or material stimulates the mechanoreceptors, which then transmit the tactile information to the brain.\n\nThere are four major types of mechanoreceptors on smooth (non-hairy) parts of mammalian skin: lamellar corpuscles, tactile corpuscles, Merkel nerve endings, and bulbous corpuscles. Lamellar corpuscles respond to changes in vibration and pressure, while tactile corpuscles are particularly sensitive to light touch. Merkel nerve endings respond to general changes in pressure and location, as well as deep static touch, such as edges and overall shape. Bulbous corpuscles are sensitive to skin stretching and slippage of an object against the skin, allowing for improved grip."}, {"Source": "blacktip reef shark's skin", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "detect thermal signals", "Function2": "locate prey", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/skin-detects-thermal-signals/", "Strategy": "Skin Detects Thermal Signals\n\nThe skin of the blacktip reef shark enables it to locate prey via a gel that detects thermoelectric signals.\n\n“[T]he thermoelectric properties of an extracellular gel… from the electrosensors of sharks… develops significant voltages in response to tiny temperature gradients. This bulk property of the gel indicates that temperature can be translated into electrical information without the need for ion channels, a sensitivity that may help sharks to locate thermal fronts as feeding areas.”"}, {"Source": "tunsian desert ant's antennae", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "detect odors", "Function2": "navigate", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/smell-used-for-navigation/", "Strategy": "Smell Used for Navigation\n\nThe antennae of desert ants help them navigate by detecting odors stereoscopically.\n\n“Desert ants in Tunisia smell in stereo, sensing\nodours from two different directions at the same time.\n\n“By sniffing the air with each antenna, the ants form a mental ‘odour map’ of their surroundings.\n\n“They then use this map to find their way home, say scientists who report the discovery in the journal Animal Behaviour.\n\n“Pigeons, rats and even people may also smell in\nstereo, but ants are the first animal known to use it for navigation.”"}, {"Source": "butterfly's feet", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "detect sweetness", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/feet-sensitive-to-sweetness/", "Strategy": "Feet Sensitive to Sweetness\n\nThe feet of butterflies taste sweetness using extremely sensitive taste hairs.\n\n“No matter where they are on an insect’s body, taste sensors normally take the form of hairlike structures called taste hairs. Each one usually has five sensory nerve cells (neurons) at its base, four of which are concerned with taste. Of these, one always responds to sugar, a second to water, and the other two to various salts…Butterflies also have feet that can sense sweetness. When they have been starved, they can detect sugar diluted in water down to concentrations as low as 0.003 percent using their feet. This is a sensitivity 200 times greater than that of the human tongue.”"}, {"Source": "feather of hummingbird", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "produce iridescent colors", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/microstructures-produce-iridescent-colors/", "Strategy": "Microstructures Produce Iridescent Colors\n\nThe feathers of hummingbirds are iridescent due to the inhomogeneous interference structure of platelets on feather barbules.\n\n“To summarize, hummingbird iridescence is due to interference colors produced by a stack of about three films whose optical thickness is one-half the peak wave length. Each film is a mosaic of platelets of elliptical form. Each platelet is about 2.5 microns long and one micron wide. The platelets are not homogeneous and consist of air bubbles encased in a matrix of refractive index about two. The different hummingbird colors are produced by a combination of effects. The platelet thickness decreases moderately as one passes from red through green to blue, and the air content increases simultaneously. In theory, of course, platelet thickness could remain constant and the color change\nwould arise solely by variation in air content. Conversely air content could be constant and the platelet thickness varied. Nature for reasons\nbest known to herself has elected to vary both factors together.”\n\n“First, we repeated the examination of barbular surfaces with the optical microscope. We confirmed the presence of the platelet mosaic on the iridescent surfaces of fifty or so hummingbird species. Only the platelets are colored; the interstices are dark. The platelets are minute, about 2.5 microns across the long axis of the ellipse, and one micron across the short axis. Ten thousand of them laid end to end would measure a little over an inch. Their size varies little throughout the hummingbird species which we have examined. The length of 2.5 microns is a good average and the limits of variation would be no more than 30 per cent either way. Along its length the barbule is divided into cells separated by diagonal lines crossing the width of the barbule. At the points where the barbule joins the ramus and where the pennulum develops, the colored platelets disappear and one sees only a few random uncolored or faintly colored ellipses in these areas. The barbule proper then has a surface which is 15-20 microns wide and 100 microns long, divided by diagonal boundary lines into a series of cells which look like parallelograms, each cell made up of a mosaic of 100 or more beautifully colored elliptical platelets” "}, {"Source": "banana peel", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "signal ripeness", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/luminescence-signals-ripening/", "Strategy": "Luminescence Signals Ripening\n\nPeels of bananas signal ripeness by appearing blue in the UV region due to fluorescent intermediates of chlorophyll breakdown\n\n“FCCs (fluorescent catabolites of chlorophyll) were first described about ten years ago as shortlived intermediates of chlorophyll breakdown in higher plants  and were occasionally also detected in extracts of artificially degreened leaves. In yellow peels and leaves of bananas (Musa cavendish), FCCs were identified here as abundant sources of easily seen in vivo luminescence in higher plants. Chlorophyll breakdown in bananas differs from that in other higher plants analyzed so far. Exploratory investigations on fresh yellow banana leaves further suggest the  major catabolites from the leaves to differ from those in the (banana) fruit (see Figure S5 in the Supporting Information). These findings, the striking structural features of the major FCCs from banana peels, and the observed accumulation in the peels can be explained by two possible considerations: 1. Fluorescent intermediates of chlorophyll breakdown are a newly discovered source for color in plants. The color of fruit is particularly important for the specific interaction with frugivorous animals. Indeed, many animals have a larger window of vision in the UV region, and the blue luminescence of bananas may give them the distinct signal that the banana fruit is ripe.”"}, {"Source": "channel catfish's body", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "detect food particles", "Function2": "sensitive taste buds", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/fish-body-is-a-swimming-tongue/", "Strategy": "Fish Body Is a Swimming Tongue\n\nThe body of the channel catfish is sensitive to food particles in the water because it is covered in taste buds.\n\n“Certain fish take the distribution of taste buds to extreme limits, becoming in effect swimming tongues. Species as diverse as carp, cod, mullet, and sturgeon have taste receptors sprinkled liberally all over their bodies. The entire body of the channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) is covered in taste buds, with the densest concentration found on the whiskerlike barbels around its mouth. Investigations carried out by electrophysiologist Dr. J. Caprio have revealed that these particular taste buds are extremely sensitive and are able to detect certain proteins in water at concentrations as low as 1-100 micrograms per liter.”"}, {"Source": "purple sea urchin's body", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "see without eyes", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/vision-without-eyes/", "Strategy": "Vision Without Eyes\n\nThe body of purple sea urchins may allow spatial vision due to diffuse photoreceptors on the body surface and spines that shield wide-angle light.\n\n“Sea urchins don’t seem to have any problems avoiding predators or finding comfortable dark corners to hide in, but they appear to do all this without eyes. So how do they see? It appears that sea urchins may use the whole surface of their bodies as a compound eye, and the animals’ spines may shield their bodies from\nlight coming from wide angles to enable them to pick out relatively fine visual detail.”"}, {"Source": "mammal's whisker", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "detect detailed surface textures", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/whiskers-detect-details/", "Strategy": "Whiskers Detect Details\n\nThe whiskers of some mammals help detect detailed surface textures via tapered ends.\n\n“The role of facial vibrissae (whiskers) in the behavior of terrestrial mammals is principally as a supplement or substitute for short-distance vision. Each whisker in the array functions as a mechanical transducer, conveying forces applied along the shaft to mechanoreceptors in the follicle at the whisker base. Subsequent processing of mechanoreceptor output…allows high accuracy discriminations of object distance, direction, and surface texture. The whiskers of terrestrial mammals are tapered and approximately circular in cross section…We argue that a tapered whisker provides some advantages for tactile perception (as compared to a hypothetical untapered whisker), and that this may explain why the taper has been preserved during the evolution of terrestrial mammals…\n\n“…We suggest that one of the main advantages of whisker taper, at least for active whiskers, is to provide a small diameter at the whisker tip, to allow for a finer probe of small surface features.”"}, {"Source": "fire-bellied toad's lungs", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "detect sound waves", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/lungs-help-detect-sound/", "Strategy": "Lungs Help Detect Sound\n\nThe lungs of the fire-bellied toad allow the toad to hear in the absence of a tympanic middle ear, because sound waves permeate through the mouth and skin, then resonate in the lungs before passing to the inner ears.\n\n“How is it possible for a land vertebrate to hear if it has neither external nor middle ears to transmit sounds from the outside world to its inner ears? One species that can do so is the fire-bellied toad (Bombina orientalis). It is responsive to a wide range of airborne noises, and is also a versatile vocalist — but how can it detect sound waves? In 1999, Ohio State University researchers Dr. Erik Lindquist and Dr. Thomas Hetherington unmasked its remarkable secret.\n\n“Sound waves travel through its mouth and skin, entering its lungs, where they resonate before passing through the soft tissue around the lungs and into the inner ears. This auditory system should function underwater, too. Indeed, since sound waves travel faster through water than air, it should be more efficient there.”"}, {"Source": "orchid flower", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "produce a scent unique to that plant", "Function2": "produce a scent that mimics the female pheromone", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/more-successful-pollination/", "Strategy": "More Successful Pollination\n\nThe flowers of individual plants of a given orchid species improve the odds for successful pollination by producing a scent unique to that plant.\n\n“However, all individual plants of one species, while they produce a scent that mimics the female pheromone in its essentials, do not smell exactly the same. Each plant differs sufficiently from others to suggest to the bee that this next one, with a slightly different fragrance, will give him the satisfaction that has eluded him so far.”"}, {"Source": "flower's petal", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "attract specific pollinators", "Function2": "discriminate against flowers without conical cells", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/bumblebees-get-a-foothold/", "Strategy": "Bumblebees Get a Foothold\n\nThe petals of flowers attract pollinators by providing non-slip surfaces via conical epidermal cells.\n\n“Approximately 80% of angiosperms produce petals with similar conical epidermal cells , and numerous suggestions as to their function have been made. These include the possibilities that they enhance petal colour, act as a direct tactile cue, increase the temperature of the flower, influence scent production or release, or influence the wettability of the flower surface.” \n\n“The plant surface is by default flat, and development away from this default is thought to have some function of evolutionary advantage. Although the functions of many plant epidermal cells have been described, the function of conical epidermal cells, a defining feature of petals in the majority of insect-pollinated flowers, has not. The location and frequency of conical cells have led to speculation that they play a role in attracting animal pollinators. Snapdragon (Antirrhinum) mutants lacking conical cells have been shown to be discriminated against by foraging bumblebees. Here we investigated the extent to which a difference in petal surface structure influences pollinator behavior through touch-based discrimination…We show that foraging bumblebees are able to discriminate between different surfaces via tactile cues alone. We find that bumblebees use color cues to discriminate against flowers that lack conical cells—but only when flower surfaces are presented at steep angles, making them difficult to manipulate. This facilitation of physical handling is a likely explanation for the prevalence of conical epidermal petal cells in most flowering plants.”"}, {"Source": "inner ear hair cell's receptive organelle", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "increase ear sensitivity", "Function2": "enhance signal detection", "Function3": "stimulate receptor potential", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/added-noise-enhances-ear-sensitivity/", "Strategy": "Added Noise Enhances Ear Sensitivity\n\nReceptive organelles, or hair bundles, of the inner ear hair cells have increased sensitivity for signal detection due to added noise creating nonlinear stochastic resonance.\n\n“In this multicellular model for peripheral auditory coding the enhancing effect of Brownian noise on the high sensitivity of the auditory system was demonstrated. It was shown that the noise quantitatively accounts for the detection of weak pure tones which would otherwise either evoke receptor potentials too small to elicit spikes at all or too few spikes sufficient for determination of the stimulus frequency.”"}, {"Source": "whirligig beetle's eyes", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "match the refractive indexes", "Function2": "observe objects under water and above the surface", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/eyes-allow-clear-vision-in-both-air-and-water/", "Strategy": "Eyes Allow Clear Vision in Both Air and Water\n\nEyes of the whirligig beetle have different surfaces to match the refractive indexes of both air and water.\n\nThe whirligig beetle hunts on the surface of water, with one eye submerged underwater to hunt for prey, while the other eye stays above the water to keep watch for predators. Air and water have different refractive indexes, which affects the focusing of the eye. Most species have eyes adapted to one environment and do not focus well in the other environment. To accommodate this, whirligig beetles have eyes with different structures to match the refractive indexes of both air and water, allowing them to observe objects both under water and above the surface simultaneously, without compromising focusing sensitivity.\n\nThe above water eye is “rough” and covered in bumpy nanostructures arranged in a maze-like pattern, while the underwater eye is smooth. The nanostructures on the rough eye reflect light to match the refractive index of the air to that of the eye. The underwater eyes have a refractive index close to that of the water, so they have a smooth surface that does not require nanostructures."}, {"Source": "fruit fly's antenna", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "selective hearing", "Function2": "stretch auditory receptors", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/antenna-provides-selective-hearing/", "Strategy": "Antenna Provides Selective Hearing\n\nThe antenna of a fruit fly is used for selective hearing thanks to its multi-part, swiveling structure.\n\n“The fly Drosophila melanogaster has very small hearing organs each of which consists of 3 antennal segments and a feather-like arista. These parts constitute together the sound receiver. When a desired sound is heard, the arista rotates one of the antennas and penetrates a hook into the second antenna (the internal one) and stretches the auditory receptors. At such conditions the auditory receptors can function and enable hearing. Otherwise the Drosophila melanogaster hearing is prevented.”\n"}, {"Source": "nocturnal gecko's pupil", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "clear vision", "Function2": "see in color in low-light conditions", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/pupil-enables-clear-vision-in-extreme-light-conditions/", "Strategy": "Pupil Enables Clear Vision in Extreme Light Conditions\n\nThe pupil of nocturnal geckos enables clear vision in extreme light conditions by becoming very large at night and constricting to a thin slit with several pinholes during the day.\n\nNocturnal geckos must see well to move around and hunt at night. Large eyes and pupils, highly light-sensitive cells (photoreceptors), and a short focal length (the distance from the center of the eye’s lens to the point where light converges) make not only viewing and then capturing prey possible at night, but also help geckos to see in color in low-light conditions.\n\nThese same nighttime visual adaptations pose a problem during the day because they would normally lead to a defocusing of the image and blurring of colors. The combination of a large pupil and short focal length creates an optics problem where the eye bends some wavelengths (or colors) of light more than others. Nocturnal geckos, however, appear to have strategies to counteract this. First, their eyes have multifocal lenses. This means that different parts of the lens each focus a different range of wavelengths onto the eye’s light-sensitive cells. The result is increased focus for all the colors of light the eye can perceive. Second, when a nocturnal gecko’s pupil is fully constricted in high-light conditions, it forms two sets of pinholes along a vertical slit. Scientists hypothesize that when the pupil is fully constricted the four small stacked pupils that form reduce the total amount of light entering the eye, while still enabling the different parts of the multifocal lens to receive light.\n\nThe unique nocturnal gecko eye might have two additional functions alongside preventing visual disturbances during the day. The multiple pupils generate several images on the retina with varying levels of focus, which the gecko can interpret to judge distance. The iris is also a similar color to the gecko’s scales, and so the thin slit with pinholes may facilitate daytime vision while increasing the nocturnal gecko’s ability to blend into its environment."}, {"Source": "platypus's bill skin", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "detect tactile stimulation", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/bill-skin-detects-touch/", "Strategy": "Bill Skin Detects Touch\n\nThe bill skin of the platypus and echidna detects tactile stimulation via the push-rod, thought to be a type of mechanoreceptor.\n\n“The other prominent receptor in the bill skin of both the platypus and echidna is the ‘pushrod,’ which is thought to be a mechanoreceptor responding to tactile stimulation.” "}, {"Source": "bees' eyes", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "detect color, detect polarized light", "Function2": "navigate", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/eyes-help-navigate-using-the-sun/", "Strategy": "Eyes Help Navigate Using the Sun\n\nThe eyes of bees help them navigate by detecting polarized light.\n\n“Bees have an amazing ability to discern and employ polarized light. They use the position of the sun to navigate their way to and from the hive.” "}, {"Source": "chameleon's cornea", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "judge distance", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/eyes-judge-distance-without-head-movement/", "Strategy": "Eyes Judge Distance Without Head Movement\n\nThe cornea of a chameleon, rather than the lens, focuses incoming light to create an image, allowing chameleons to judge distance moving only their eyes.\n\n“In most higher animals, the eyes have a lens for focusing incoming light onto the retina to create an image. The chameleon, however, uses the cornea for this purpose, and therefore avoids drawing attention to itself when trying to see how far away a potential prey is. Most other animals judge distances by moving their heads from side to side, causing closer objects to appear to move more quickly than distant ones. This is known as the parallax effect. But the chameleon can achieve this effect by only moving its eyes. This ability means that the chameleon does not attract the attention of predators when it looks around.” "}, {"Source": "dragonfly's eyes", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "sense motion", "Function2": "high flicker-fusion frequency", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/eyes-see-300-images-per-second/", "Strategy": "Eyes See 300 Images Per Second\n\nThe eyes of dragonflies sense motion well due to high flicker-fusion frequency.\n\n“Although insects cannot see as sharply as we can, they compensate by being better at sensing motion. The rate at which the eye can distinguish separate static images before they fuse to create the illusion of continuous movement is called the flicker-fusion frequency. Our eyes can see around 50 images per second in good light, less in dim conditions. That’s why movies appear to move even though they are really a series of separate frames. With a flicker-fusion frequency six times faster than ours, dragonflies see 300 images per second, so they would see a movie for what it truly is – a slide show made up of a sequence of static images.” "}, {"Source": "great white shark's nostrils", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "detect minute quantities of blood", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/nostrils-detect-minute-quantities-of-blood/", "Strategy": "Nostrils Detect Minute Quantities of Blood\n\nThe nostrils of great white sharks can detect minute quantities of blood due to highly sensitive nasal sacs.\n\n“The first of a great white shark’s senses to come into play when seeking prey is smell. The nasal sacs in a shark’s nostrils can detect minute quantities of blood — as low as 1 part in 1,000,000,000 — seeping from an injured animal.” "}, {"Source": "rainbow trout's trigeminal cranial nerve", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "detect magnetic fields", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/fish-respond-to-magnetic-fields/", "Strategy": "Fish Respond to Magnetic Fields\n\nThe trigeminal cranial nerve of rainbow trout helps them detect magnetic fields by containing magnetosensitive nerve fibers.\n\n“In 1997, the first known magnetoreceptors — directly linking magnetite to neural connections and activity — were found in vertebrates. A team of zoologists from Auckland University, led by Dr. Michael Walker, had been studying this mysterious sense in trout, and knew that a region of its skull contained magnetite.\n“Recording neural activity from that region, they discovered that a specific subgroup of nerve fibers within a branch of the trigeminal cranial nerve called the ros V nerve fired in response to changes in the surrounding magnetic field. They also found magnetite in a tissue layer directly beneath the trout’s olfactory (smell) organs. When they injected a colored dye into the ros V nerve’s newly exposed magnetosensitive fibers, the dye revealed that the fibers terminated and ramified all around the magnetite-containing cells within the trout’s olfactory tissue.” "}, {"Source": "honeybee's abdomen", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "detect magnetic fields", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/body-detects-magnetic-fields/", "Strategy": "Body Detects Magnetic Fields\n\nThe abdomens of honeybees may be able to detect magnetic fields and use them in navigation thanks to magnetite.\n\n“The bodies of honeybees also contain magnetite. In the 1970s, Princeton University zoologist Dr. Joseph Kirschvink showed that the magnetite lies in bands of cells in each segment of the bee’s abdomen. It is most concentrated just below the ganglion (a compact mass of nerve cells).” \n\n“‘How do MGs found in the abdomen function as magnetoreceptors’ is an enigma yet to be resolved. Suffice to note that peripheral neurons of insects may play a role independent of the brain, such that a male cockroach can continue with mating, with its head bitten off by his female partner. Certainly, a magnetoreception system for positioning and orientation exists in honeybees, and this simple, primitive, and highly accurate sensing mechanism may be present in all other magnetotactic organisms.” "}, {"Source": "japanese tree frog", "Application": "graph coloring", "Function1": "take turns calling", "Function2": "enhance the chance of finding a specific mate", "Function3": "desynchronize calls", "Function4": "differentiate vibrations", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/mating-calls-follow-algorithm/", "Strategy": "Frogs Use Math to Make Themselves Heard\n\nMale Japanese tree frogs apply a mathematical algorithm to take turns calling, enhancing the chance a female can find a specific mate.\n\nMale Japanese tree frogs use their calls to attract mates, who are able to locate the male frog from the vocal expression. Potential for confusion arises for females locating their male callers when the males are in close proximity to each other; but the tree frogs have adapted to such confusion by desynchronizing their calls. Desynchronizing simply means that these frogs have the capacity to time their vocal expression at altered intervals so the females are able to differentiate the vibrations and then choose which male they will locate. The process of the desynchronization follows a mathematical algorithm that has been calculated by researchers from Polytechnic University of Catalonia.\nThis algorithm has practical application for color graphing in which colors are associated with certain nodes on the graph. When nodes are connected to each other, there is opportunity for overlap among colors; the new algorithm eliminates this overlap and allows for distinct node-to-node connection. The networking between nodes is similar to wireless connections wanting to avoid frequency overlap."}, {"Source": "homing pigeon", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "detect location", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/navigating-without-landmarks/", "Strategy": "Navigating Without Landmarks\n\nHoming pigeons navigate without the Sun or other landmarks as guides because they use magnetosensitivity to detect their location.\n\n“The most magnetosensitive creatures may be birds — and none more so than homing pigeons. Even if deprived of familiar landmarks and sunlight, so that they cannot use the Sun to help them find their way, the pigeons can still return — if their magnetic sense is not tampered with…As yet, no avian magnetoreceptor has been conclusively identified. However, a small but mysterious black-colored structure containing magnetite and nerve fibers is located between the brain’s dura mater (outer membrane) and the skull of pigeons and various migratory passerines. Magnetite packets are also found in the necks of these birds.” "}, {"Source": "bird's photoreceptor neuron", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "detect magnetic fields", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/eyes-see-magnetic-fields/", "Strategy": "Eyes 'see' Magnetic Fields\n\nPhotoreceptor neurons in the eyes of some birds help navigation by detecting magnetic fields using magnetic sensing molecules called cryptochromes.\n\n“Birds also possess an even more remarkable visual talent — they can actually see the Earth’s magnetic field…Most scientists theorize that the bird’s perception of the magnetic field looks like two color-coded spots overlying the bird’s normal vision. These dots correspond to the north and south poles, but can be seen by the bird only in certain wavelengths of light, usually the violet end of the visible spectrum. They may vanish entirely in light wavelengths at the red end of the spectrum, depending upon the species.” \n\n“Due to the fact that a known visual pathway connects the only brain structures that have been shown to be active during magnetic orientation, our findings strongly support the hypothesis that migratory birds perceive the magnetic field as a visual pattern and that they are thus likely to “see” the magnetic field.” "}, {"Source": "whales", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "navigate accurately", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/navigation-underwater/", "Strategy": "Navigation Underwater\n\nWhales navigate with incredible accuracy underwater using Earth's magnetic fields.\n\n“Whales use the Earth’s magnetic fields to accomplish feats of astonishingly accurate underwater navigation as they travel the oceans of the world.” "}, {"Source": "swift", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "sense atmospheric ionization", "Function2": "avoid electrical storms", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/senses-help-avoid-storms/", "Strategy": "Senses Help Avoid Storms\n\nSwifts can avoid electrical storms by sensing atmospheric ionization prior to a storm's arrival.\n\n“By sensing atmospheric ionization, the swift can detect an electrical storm before it arrives and elude danger by flying at right angles to its path, returning only once the storm has ended.” "}, {"Source": "japanese tree frog", "Application": "graph coloring", "Function1": "produce super-rapid electrical pulses", "Function2": "attract mate", "Function3": "desynchronize calls", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/electricity-helps-communications/", "Strategy": "Frogs Use Math to Make Themselves Heard\n\nA protein allows the baby whale fish to create super-rapid electrical pulses.\n\nMale Japanese tree frogs use their calls to attract mates, who are able to locate the male frog from the vocal expression. Potential for confusion arises for females locating their male callers when the males are in close proximity to each other; but the tree frogs have adapted to such confusion by desynchronizing their calls. Desynchronizing simply means that these frogs have the capacity to time their vocal expression at altered intervals so the females are able to differentiate the vibrations and then choose which male they will locate. The process of the desynchronization follows a mathematical algorithm that has been calculated by researchers from Polytechnic University of Catalonia.\nThis algorithm has practical application for color graphing in which colors are associated with certain nodes on the graph. When nodes are connected to each other, there is opportunity for overlap among colors; the new algorithm eliminates this overlap and allows for distinct node-to-node connection. The networking between nodes is similar to wireless connections wanting to avoid frequency overlap."}, {"Source": "male mole cricket's burrow", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "amplify sound", "Function2": "direct sound", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/burrow-amplifies-sound/", "Strategy": "Burrow Amplifies Sound\n\nThe male mole cricket amplifies and directs its calling song by digging a double-mouthed burrow that functions as an amplifier.\n\n“The male mole cricket Gryllotalpa vineae digs a double-mouthed burrow in the ground, which functions as a horn-like amplifier to amplify and direct sound; the invention looks something like an early gramophone.” "}, {"Source": "cassowaries", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "communicate over long distances", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/communicating-over-long-distances/", "Strategy": "Communicating Over Long Distances\n\nCassowaries communicate over long distances in dense rainforest using low frequency booming sounds.\n\n“Although some birds can detect wavelengths in the infrasound range, there has been little evidence that birds produce very low frequencies. We made nine recordings of a captive Dwarf Cassowary (Casuarius benneti) and one recording of a wild Southern Cassowary (C. casuarius) near Crater Mountain, Papua New Guinea. Both species produced sounds near the floor of the human hearing range in their pulsed booming notes: down to 32 Hz for C. casuarius and 23 Hz in C. benneti. Recordings of C. benneti indicate four levels of harmonics with the 23 Hz fundamental frequency. Such low frequencies are probably ideal for communication among widely dispersed, solitary cassowaries in dense rainforest. The discovery of very low-frequency communication by cassowaries creates new possibilities for studying those extremely secretive birds and for learning more about the evolution of avian vocalizations.” "}, {"Source": "colon bacilli's membrane", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "avoid bitter and sour taste", "Function2": "gather sweet taste", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/membranes-distinguish-sweet-from-sour/", "Strategy": "Membranes Distinguish Sweet From Sour\n\nThe membrane of colon bacilli cells find sweet-tasting chemicals and avoid bitter or sour ones via sensory proteins.\n\n“Chemoreception occurs even in unicellular organisms…Protozoa such as amoebae and microbes such as colon bacilli show chemotaxis; they gather and escape from some chemical substances. The former is called positive chemotaxis and the latter negative chemotaxis. Colon bacilli show positive chemotaxis for amino acids tasting sweet and negative chemotaxis for chemical substances tasting strongly bitter or sour. This behavior is quite reasonable because substances tasting sweet become energy sources for living organisms whereas substances tasting strongly bitter or sour are often harmful.” "}, {"Source": "bee's scent mark", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "send signals", "Function2": "temporary scent marks", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/temporary-chemical-signals-guide-others/", "Strategy": "Temporary Chemical Signals Guide Others\n\nSome species of bees send signals to other bees via temporary scent marks.\n\n“When a bumblebee finds a nectar-rich flower, it tags the blossom with a scent mark, identifying the flower as being worth a return visit. Since bumblebees are social insects that work for the good of the colony, researchers suspect that individual members of a hive leave marks that help their hivemates find the best blossoms.\n\n“Solitary bees are a different story. Foraging only for her own young, each female is in direct competition with all others of the same species. But Francis Gilbert, of the University of Nottingham, and colleagues have shown that solitary bees also rely on scent markings to identify the best food sources…like bumblebees, solitary bees rely on at least two separate components in their scent markings. One is a self-repellent that wears off within about thirty minutes, dissipating as the plant renews its stock of nectar. By the time the flower once again has a full supply, the scent has degraded to the point that the bee is no longer repelled by it. The other component is a short-term attractant, lasting less than three minutes. The scientists suggest that the bee might use this mark if it doesn’t extract all the available nectar during an initial visit, facilitating a return within seconds to finish the job.” "}, {"Source": "male proboscis monkey's nose", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "amplify threatening call", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/nose-amplifies-threatening-call/", "Strategy": "Nose Amplifies Threatening Call\n\nThe nose of the male proboscis monkey amplifies its threatening call by serving as a resonating chamber.\n\n“A large mobile nose, like that of the elephant, may also be known as a proboscis: hence the name of the proboscis monkey, a curious-looking primate, the male of which has a long bulbous nose that hangs over his mouth. This kind of nose is used as a resonating chamber, and is erected to amplify the male’s threatening call through the forest canopy of Borneo.” \n"}, {"Source": "golden tortoise beetle's armor", "Application": "textile development", "Function1": "reflective glare", "Function2": "wide-angle diffusion", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/antennae-sense-vibrations/", "Strategy": "Reflector Causes Color and Surface Change\n\nThe antennae of male mosquitoes sense vibrations via fine, hair-like structures that respond to oscillations of air particles.\n\nWhen gazing upon the golden tortoise beetle one may think they are observing a dew drop on the surface of a leaf, for its metallic sheen gives off a reflective glare. One glance away, however, and one may think the beetle has disappeared to be replaced by a red lady beetle. Not to be fooled, this insect is the same one as before! Under the hard, transparent armor of the beetle is an intricate multilayer filled with a pattern of grooves. The layers become thicker farther down the layered column (a structure referred to as a “chirped” multilayer).\n\nMoisture causes humidity to fill these grooves. When the beetle is disturbed, in virtually any manner, the fluid in these grooves is displaced in the top-most parts of the multilayer thus revealing a deep, less-reflective red-color in the bottommost layer. This layer manifests a wide-angle diffusion, lacking the metallic properties that the gold coloring displayed. This type of morphism is explained using the “switchable mirror theory” where random porous patches provide a scattered pattern of space in which moisture may be displaced. This contradicts many well known theories where a “hydraulic mechanism” is used to explain color change when liquid is injected into an area (as opposed to displaced out of an area). The remarkable thing about the golden tortoise beetle is that it is able to toggle between these two very different colors and shading. The full mechanism is not entirely understood, but it is certain that if it could be understood, applications in the textile and sensory areas of development could benefit greatly."}, {"Source": "bacteria", "Application": "project management", "Function1": "alter behavior based on environment signal", "Function2": "pay attention to chemical concentration", "Function3": "follow own instincts", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/smart-swarming/", "Strategy": "Bacteria Use Simple Rules to Make Smarter Moves\n\nBacteria create swarms by making choices based on both their own and other bacteria’s choices\n\nIntroduction \n\nHave you ever stared at your GPS, wondering what is the most efficient path from where you are to where you’re going? Swarms of bacteria figure it out all the time without even a glance at a smartphone or other navigational aid. Their secret? An elaborate form of guess-and-check informed by feedback from neighbors that are making smart or not-so-smart choices themselves—combined with unusual adaptability in whether they follow the crowd or their own instincts.\n\nThe Strategy \n\nMany birds, fish, and other animals travel in flocks or swarms, in which large groups of individuals gather information from each other and the environment allowing them to travel as a unified group rather than as individuals headed every which way. Often this works in their favor, leading them to food, providing protection from predators, or allowing them to minimize the energy expended in moving from one place to another. But if an individual misinterprets signals from the environment as to which direction is more favorable, it not only leads itself away from the optimal path, it can take others with it as well.\n\nWhen more sophisticated organisms such as birds and fish move in groups, they use their brains to process large amounts of information related to the position of those around them and integrate that into the decision about how to move. Bacteria seem to be able to get around the problem of misinterpreting signals by following simpler rules than more complex organisms do regarding how to alter their direction based on signals from the environment and each other. Rather than always interpreting those signals similarly, they alter their responses based on whether the concentration of a chemical that attracts them is increasing in the direction they are currently moving. If it isn’t, they pay attention to the direction of the movement of other bacteria around them. But if  it is indeed toward a more favorable setting, they pay less attention to their neighbors and follow their own instincts instead. Computer modeling has shown that this ability to alter “rules of movement” depending on the circumstances ultimately leads to a more beneficial outcome for the entire group of organisms—with a less complex algorithm to follow.\n\nThe Potential\n\nThe ability to use simple rules to efficiently find favorable conditions has boundless applications. It already is being used to help give robots protocols for movement that allow them to take into consideration environmental conditions as well as preprogrammed instructions for achieving a goal. And, although applications are most obvious related to physical movement, it’s possible that the sets of rules could be applied to other types of robotic “decisions” as well, such as when to deploy different kinds of tools and how to react to changes in weather, presence of living organisms, or other variable factors in the environment. In addition, the strategies bacteria use could be applied to improving project management, workflows, and other activities that involve multiple steps and benefit from course correcting using information gathered along the way.\n\n\n"}, {"Source": "mammals' external ear‑flaps", "Application": "not found", "Function1": "aid hearing", "Function2": "collect and concentrate sound waves", "Hyperlink": "https://asknature.org/strategy/ear-flaps-concentrate-sound-waves/", "Strategy": "Ear‑flaps Concentrate Sound Waves\n\nThe external ear-flaps of many mammals aid hearing by collecting and concentrating sound waves.\n\n“It is only among mammals that ears become noticeable, even striking, because of the visible external ear-flaps behind the narrow opening of the outer ear tube…The most obvious use of the ear-flap, though not necessarily the most important, is to gather and concentrate sound waves.”"}]
\ No newline at end of file